The event, which carries US$100,000 in prize money, has attracted the participation of 130 players from around the world.

The four Grand Slam tournaments, each with total prizes of around US$6 million, attracts top players and wide media coverage.

If the government hopes to raise Taiwan's profile and project a good country image, then it should set up a US$10 million fund with private donations to hold major tennis and golf tournaments, which will attract star players and major news coverage.

(B) Common sense overdue Taiwan has long been a patriarchal society, which means that male-dominated thinking has permeated the law.

But two grand justices demonstrated common sense last week when they declared that Social Order Maintenance Act is unconstitutional because it stipulates punishment for prostitutes but not for their patrons.

The grand justices ruling was based on the view that sex industry transactions occur between two parties, and the law should not discriminate against one side. There are many other backward and feudal provisions in our laws and they should be revised or scrapped one by one. CHINA TIMES: No rash credit measures necessary to address housing issue High housing prices and the property market have become the focus of attention in the society, as the media reported on central bank worry over a possible bursting of the real-estate bubble. Pundits have also been discussing the issues of high housing prices and the widening wealth gap.

However, a closer look at the housing situation and at various surveys reveals that the property market is still far from reaching the top. In fact, housing prices in most areas have not yet hit the level of the last surge.

If prices rebound, sales would drop and the market would right itself.

As there is no risk of the housing bubble bursting at this time, there is no need for the government to overreact. What the government can and should do is focus on infrastructure and urban planning and trust the market to right itself.

UNITED DAILY NEWS: Fall of Berlin Wall and cross-Taiwan Strait links The Berlin Wall fell Nov. 9, 1989, which the West considers a symbol of the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War.

Viewed from a broader historical perspective, however, the weakening of communism and the end of the East-West confrontation originated in the Taiwan Strait.

The rest of the world believes the awakening originated with former Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev's new thinking in 1978, but we believe it really came from Deng Xiaoping's promotion of opening and reforms in 1978.

The world also thinks the wall fell in 1989 due to protests by the people, but we believe it was inspired by a spate of protests that took place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing between April 15 and June 4 that year.

The world also thinks that the end of the Cold War originated with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, but we think it originated with the late President Chiang Ching-kuo's lifting of martial law and the opening of cross-Taiwan Strait exchanges in 1987.

The fall of the Berlin Wall was an accident. In comparison, Chiang's moves underwent more than a decade of reflection and preparation.

For more than two decades, the situation of Taiwan's comprehensive democracy versus China's reform and openness has been maintained, despite the fact that among other splintered countries such as East and West Germany and North and South Korea, Taiwan and China are like David and Goliath in terms of military might and overall national strength. There is no need to praise the fall of the wall. The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should know that the opening of the Taiwan strait is more significant.

During the past 60 years, the two sides have moved from liberating Taiwan or recovering the mainland to China's reform and openness and cross-strait exchanges and peaceful development. The two sides have always moved ahead of history and both sides have the opportunity to create a new model for human history.

LIBERTY TIMES: It is a tragedy that China sucks the blood of the Ma Ying-jeou administration while the Ma administration in turn sucks the blood of the Taiwanese people.

The critical time for Taiwan seems to have come nearer, with talks on the signing of a cross-Taiwan Strait memorandum of understanding on financial supervisory issues and an economic cooperation framework agreement entering their final stages.

Although the inking is imminent, the public is still being kept in the dark about the contents and progress of these issues. Instead, they are bombarded by officials and government-funded research institutes about the benefits they will bring.

The Ma administration only knows how to brainwash its people but it has no clue about how Taiwan will counter the onslaught of cheap products and laborers from China, or how to address the impact on Taiwan's industry and financial market after funds from China flood in.

Taiwan's economic strength is being weakened daily, mainly because of an outflow of its funds, technology and talent, and now that the Ma administration wants to open the door wider, it will mean the acceleration of the collapse of the country's economy. The Ma administration is an accomplice in China's scheme to destroy Taiwan's economy.

(By Lilian Wu)