New Blood: New Hope – Can Taiwan Finally Escape the Impasse of the Last 30 Years?

Taiwan has always been in an awkward position in its relationship with China. At different times, Taiwan has been the aggressor, the victim, had the upperhand, been at the bottom of the pile… While the actual position of its relationship hasn’t been that important to Taiwan’s political and economic position, in recent years Taiwan’s relationship has vacillated between ice cold and tepidly warm.

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This vacillation in its diplomatic relationships with China, Japan, the US or Europe, hasn’t been conducive to good business, developing the economy here, or increasing the security of Asia Pacific. In fact, since the 1992 warming with Beijing, relationships have hit several low points with the mainland with the missile threats, the missile crisis in 1996, the cold-shouldering of Taiwan under Chen Shui Bien from 2000 ~ 2008.

Whatever one’s position on the final state for Taiwan’s future, whether it is independence, status quo or reunification, no one can deny rationally that the uncertainty is a factor that limits business opportunities, creates additional risk, and uncertainty.

With the new presidency here in Taiwan, and the assumption of office by Ma Ying-Jeou one can only hope that we are about to enter a period of increasing stability with the PRC. Seeing the news story on the BBC website with the headline “China talks to resume”, filled me with some hope perhaps the first in nearly 10 years that Taiwan could at least begin to emerge from the shadow of its big neighbor.

I don’t expect much to evolve from the talks in the short term, there are just too many practical issues that need to be worked out first: trade, travel, communications, visas, currency exchanges, ownership rules, … But if Taiwan is to ensure its own security for the future, attempts at cutting itself off from the PRC for whatever dumb ideological reason will only serve to increase its insecurity.

However, by tying the PRC increasingly into the well-being and fate of Taiwan – both politically and economically – seems to be the only real way to create a scenario in which the PRC cannot afford to cut off what has become a part of its own society, anymore than Germany (despite antagonisms that are historical) could cut itself off from France, or the UK from Europe, …

This is something that the PRC would be hard pressed to admit, but increasing its own involvement indirectly or directly with Taiwan would make it significantly harder for the PRC to launch any kind of strike against Taiwan. Their generals may whine, complain and moan, but the generals don’t provide jobs and social stability any more. It’s the factories, the companies, the money, … that all comes from the wider economy, both domestic and foreign.

Here’s hoping that President Ma Ying Jeou makes progress in talks, helps to open up Taiwan to China more, strengthens Taiwan’s future both locally, nationally, and internationally.

Living in Taiwan: Photographs found on Flickr

I’ve lived in Zhuwei for nearly 8 years now, and I realized how few pictures I’ve taken of the streets around our area… Fortunately, for those who don’t live here, you can find lots of pictures of the area on Flickr.

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Just Flickr to this location and take a look at the snaps.

Zhuwei literally means ‘bamboo garden’ but I haven’t really seen many bamboo gardens in this area!

If you’re intending to visit Tamshui, check out both Wikipedia and Wikitravel entries for either. There aren’t any decent hotels in the area, so I’d suggest staying DOWNTOWN unless you like semi-decent accommodation! If you read Chinese in traditional characters, then there’s a fairly decent website introducing Tamsui.

Be warned if you come to Zhuwei, there are actually two Zhuwei’s – one in Taipei Hsien (ours) and one in Taoyuen nearer the airport. There’s not much to see in Zhuwei, but the views across the river towards Tamsui and Taipei are incredible on a good day.

So, enjoy.

Make Money With Affiliate Marketing

About the author: Emilia Johansson works with AffiliateTips.com on a daily basis. She has many years of experience in affiliate marketing and has been working with different online projects since 1998.

What can we never can get enough of? For sure, it’s time and money. It’s sad to see that a big part of the American population spend more time working than they do with their family. Adding to our concern is the fact that the yearly cost of living increases around eight to ten percent while the income only increases around two to three percent. As this is happening before our eyes many seek a job by the side to get an extra income. This is where affiliate marketing comes in as it’s a great way to make with the Internet.

What’s great about affiliate marketing is that it’s easy to do and the start-up costs are exceptionally low. Time will also be on your side – as the Rolling Stones said. Many have been so successful with affiliate marketing that they’ve been able to quit their day jobs and started working from home instead. There are however a few things one has to take into consideration while working as an affiliate. Read this article in order to get tips and tricks about everything from how to find affiliate programs to how you get heard in the crowd.

How to Find Affiliate Programs

The first thing you have to do if you want to work as an affiliate is of course to find an affiliate program. How does one know what affiliate program to choose as there’s thousands to decide from? Start with having a look at your website or blog. What segment are you an opinion leader in and who are your visitors? If it’s education you’re passionate about then you should look for great education affiliate programs. Don’t stare yourself blind on the commissions either, conversions are just as important if not even more. When you’ve done this you’re up to a great start – now you have to get noticed.

Getting Noticed With a Blog

As many blogs are offered for free it’s an extremely inexpensive way to make money as an affiliate. Create a blog which is dedicated to a specific topic, preferably something you feel passionate about. To get a rank on the search engines you need to update your blog on a daily basis and put in specific keywords which are relevant for your niche.

Money making affiliate marketers working with blogs place specific ads or banners on their site. What these ads have in common is that they are all relevant to the blog’s content. For example, if you write about education, you really only should have ads which in some way is related to the topic. It’s the only way you’ll make money with affiliate marketing.

Devote Yourself to The Merchant

Another way many affiliates make money is through creating a website which is entirely devoted to some specific merchant’s products. These websites are, as blogs, inexpensive to make but they require knowledge about how a website is created. If you know this then you can promote products through writing about news happening in the industry, events and if you’re really good it’s not a bad idea to tailor the site to a specific brand and its products.

Even more important here than with blogs, is that you know how to work with search engine optimization. If you have this know-how you’ll be able to maximize your traffic and hopefully also increase your income immensely.

We hope we’ve been able to help you a little bit with your dreams of working at home. Of course, success isn’t going to happen over a night but if you stick to it you might soon be able to work from home as an affiliate!

This is a guest post by Emilia Johansson from AffiliateTips.com.