What do you mean always default to 'a'? Meta-E opens the Tag dialog with a combo box that contains all the valid tag names that can be inserted at cursor location. The valid tag names are extracted from the schema associated with the edited document.
He means exactly that -- since he is using XHTML, 'a' happens to be the first valid tag name.
Yes, in version 9.1 Meta-C copies the current line when there is no selection. It was requested by other oXygen users. In version 9.2 we will add the option "Cut/Copy whole line when nothing is selected" for the text editor in Options -> Preferences -> Editor. With this option the function of cut/copy the whole line can be disabled. There is a conflict between your request and the request of other users about the Cut and Copy operations when nothing is selected.
Meta-comment: I think we'd do a lot better to be precise, and say CMD and CTL when we mean them, and not use META, which is something else. On the issue, I would really like the copy operation to do nothing if nothing is selected. If I make this mistake, I'd like the clipboard left alone. I hope this remains an option in the future.
You are the only user that requested to clear the clipboard when nothing is selected in the editor panel.
I don't think FJ was requesting the clipboard be cleared, I think he was complaining about it. (I could be wrong -- it's still early morning for my brain :-)