comment Taiwan

●

Taiwan reviews - cultural creativity (Taiwan Soft Power ) ★ Top rankings since 1998 ★

the pages: ads. animation music product design arts cartooning movie architecture visual comm. tour food medical

★
News: ◆ New York Times, 2021-7-13: Japan, while still wary of being drawn into the rivalry between the United States and China, ...as Washington and Beijing have ramped up both their rhetoric and military presence around Taiwan, Japanese white paper warned that China’s rapid expansion of its military threatened to ... undermine peace in the region ◆ Economist, 2021-5-1: Taiwan - The most dangerous place on Earth. America and China must work harder to avoid war over the future of Taiwan ◆ New York Times, 2021-4-9: "military conflicts often seem unlikely until the moment they begin", The Atlantic : a Chinese invasion “could happen at any moment” and that Biden should be prepared ◆ New York Times, 2021-4-8: the Biden administration might manage to deter China without provoking it through more forceful warnings that stop short of an explicit promise to defend Taiwan ◆ Washington Post, 2021-3-26: Xi might be in favor of a risky push for reunification — especially if China continues to believe that a weakened America isn’t ready to fight back ◆ Washington Post, 1-28-2021: Taiwan Is the Biggest Risk for a U.S.-China Clash ◆ Reuters, FoxNews, 1-28-2021: China warns Taiwan independence ‘means war’ ◆ Wall Street Journal, 1-21-2021 : Biden Sends Important Foreign-Policy Signal With Taiwan Inauguration Invite ◆ Foreign Policy, 1-22-2021 : The U.S.-Taiwan relationship is likely to remain more low-key ◆ WSJ, 12-28-2020: The loss of democratic Taiwan’s independence against its will would be a geopolitical earthquake. The Pacific balance of power would shift decisively in China’s favor ◆ NY Times, 12-14-2020: Pound for Pound, Taiwan at the center of the battle for global technological supremacy is the most important place in the world, As the Cold War between China and the United States intensifies, that importance will only continue to grow ◆ Reuters , 12-10-2020: Taiwan is suffering a serious and worsening decay in the readiness and training of its troops, particularly its army units... ◆ NY Times, 11-24-2020: Biden Faces Pressure from Democrats and Republicans to Stand Up to China by Embracing Taiwan, He will continue to support a peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues ... won't use Taiwan to poke Xi Jinping in the eye and make him look weak ◆ Economist, 11-19-2020: : Why commercial ties between Taiwan and China are beginning to fray? geopolitical, competition, and generational change. ◆ New York Times, 10-1-2020 : As China and the U.S. vie for tech dominance, Taiwan’s chip companies are feeling the heat. They are forced to heed American tech policy, but many of their customers — and their customers’ customers — are in China. ◆ Hudson.org, 9-23-2020: Senator Marco Rubio : Helping Taiwan to win an all-out conflict against China would not be a way to reach that goal, “That’s not possible.” Instead, Washington should assist Taipei “to have the capability to raise the cost of military adventurism there to a level that China’s not willing to pay...". ◆ National Interest , 9-12-2020: Washington would establish “a new bilateral economic dialogue” with Taipei to “explore the full spectrum of our economic relationship—semiconductors, healthcare, energy, and beyond, with technology at the core.” . ◆ Financial Times (UK), 8-28-2020: Taiwan has removed a hurdle to a bilateral trade deal with the US, pledging to ease restrictions on American pork and beef imports as it aligns itself more closely with Washington in the face of the growing military threat from China. ◆ N.Y. Times, 8-17-2020: U.S. Tries to Bolster Taiwan’s Status, Short of Recognizing Sovereignty. ◆ New York Times, 8-15-2020: Beijing continues to take a tough stance on Taiwan, but is dialing down its belligerence to avoid provocative moves that might give President Trump more opportunities to attack. ◆CNN, 8-14-2020: What Taiwan needs form the US is a strong stable marriage not a hot passionate romance ... a long-term antagonistic relationship between the US and China wasn't sustainable after November... Taiwan needs to think about it. ◆ MirageNews (Australia) 8-11-2020: Q: red line for the U.S. in terms of us going in and defending Taiwan?   Pompeo: We thoroughly intend to uphold our obligations and commitments with respect to the historical understandings between the United States and China on Taiwan.
　

          Taiwan  in full aspects    ★   this site's world No. 1 in 2020~21, 2017~19, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2010~12    ★   Top rankings since 1998   ★
　

　

The web-site: home brief Taiwan TW FB tour personality food medical CovID-19 diplomacy restaurants night markets buffet women speech massage prostitutes watching u fraud  judiciary police corruption  foreign labor illegal migrants prosecutors soft power univ death penalty  happiness housing market transportation avia image creativity human rights US cartoons  US Design intl Human rights  judicial persecution oppression bully univ military drugs news democracy

　

understanding Taiwanese - from CovID-19 flare-up
　

★ Benefit has precedence over human lives /
Taiwanese patients in serious situation waiting for one week but failed to get Remdesivir, because the government placed obstacles on their applications for using the specific remedy for curing coronavirus, which increased Taiwan's death rate ― double global average.
★ Politicians first, Elders' lives - the 6th~10th /
Taiwan's CDC says 90 per cent of those who died of Covid-19 were over 60 (TTV news, 2021-7-4), The CDC USA noted at Jun. 9, 2021 that The risk increases for people in their 50s and increases in 60s, 70s, and 80s... However, Taiwan once eliminated elders aged 65-75 from vaccination list, and later gave those aged 60+ and with chronic disease 10th ~ 6th low priorities to get vaccinated, instead, top officers (a huge number , and is expanding "unlimitedly" ) got 2nd priority, in spite of WHO advice : government leaders and admin. personnel should be narrowly interpreted to "a very small number of individuals".

★ human lives do not matter /
Taiwan's government deliberately to place obstacles (Foxconn says "invisible power") on civil organizations to purchase western vaccines. Guardian (UK) :  it still seemed “in the DPP’s electoral interest " not to get any Pfizer BNT vaccines from Chinese agents.  (ps: Taiwan's gov is unable to get enough vaccines, which is far from needed)

for full details : Taiwanese personality,   CovID-19 in Taiwan

　

　

pic.: While typing in Taiwan's big rotten case ― "Formosa TV news, 1-19-2021: Taiwan's biggest judiciary scandal of the century", "Apple Daily, 1-19-2021:
rotten & stinky judiciary shakes Taiwan to the core" and "China Times, 1-19-2021: Taiwan judiciary crashes" etc, pro. hacker's attacks came,
therefore, there's no other choices but to paste hard-copy jpg as above instead of typing in all of them.
　

　

　　

★ pic.: No.1 "comment Taiwan" on AOL, 2021-6-27, 2021-5-1, 3-8-2021, 2-20-2021,1-18-2020, 12-05-2019

★ No. 1 "comment Taiwan" on DuckDuckGo , 2021-6-27

● pic.: No.1 "comment Taiwan" on Yandex of Russia , 2021-6-27, 8-13-2020, 8-5-2020, 6-12-2020, 5-21-2020, 2-28-2020, 1-17-2020, 1-11-2020,
12-18-2019, 12-1-2019, 11-26-2019, 11-7-2019

★ No. 1 "comment Taiwan" on US Yahoo search engine , 2021-6-27, 2021-5-1, 3-8-2021, 2-20-2021, 1-19-2021, 1-1-2021, 12-6-2020, 11-9-2020

★ No. 1 "Taiwan cultural creativity" on Google, 2021-6-26, 2021-5-9, 2021-5-4, 2-18-2021, 1-1-2021, 12-3-2020

● pic.: No.1 "Taiwan cultural creativity" on Yahoo search engine , 2021-6-26, 2021-5-9, 12-3-2020, 4-26-2020, Oct. 23, 2019, Oct. 1, 2018

pic. left.: No.1 "Taiwan cultural creativity" on Baidu of China , 2021-6-26, 2021-5-9, , 12-3-2020
pic. right: No.1 "Taiwan cultural creativity" on Microsoft Bing , 2021-6-26, 2021-5-9, 12-3-2020

★ No. 1 "comment Taiwan" on Dogpile, 2021-6-27, 2021-5-5, 10-1-2020, 8-13-2020, 8-2-2020, 6-12-2020, 5-19-2020

★ No. 1 "comment Taiwan" on Yandex of Russia, 2021-6-26, 6-12-2020, 4-26-2020

★ pic.t: No. 1 "comment Taiwan" on Baidu ( largest search engine in China ), 8-13-2020

Michelin Stars (2020) comparison among Asian cities
Michelin Guide cities	number of starred restaurants	number of 3-stars restaurants	number of 2 stars	1 star
Tokyo (Japan)	226	11	48	167
Hong Kong, Macau	85	10	19	56
Kyoto (Japan)	100	8	21	77
Osaka (Japan)	111	3	16	79
Seoul (Korea)	31	2	7	22
Singapore	44	2	5	37
Taipei (TW)	26	1	6	19
Shanghai (China)	23	1	2	20

　

　

Taiwan's soft power vs. Asia's soft power

Till 2019-2020, Taiwan has not been included in Portland or USC Soft Power survey ranking list , Taiwan's soft power is behind Asian's "world top 20" nations , including Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, China, India, UAE. for details : click Soft Power

world best surveys Taiwan's rankings
in top 25~30 list comparison with
other Asia & Pacific countries

Brand Finance - Global soft power Index 2020, top 60 n/c https://brandirectory.com

2019/2020
Top 30 SOFT POWER by Portland failed No. 8 Japan, No.9 Australia, No. 17 New Zealand, No. 19 S Korea, No. 21 Singapore, No. 27 China

US News: 2020 Best Countries Overall
The Best Countries in the World not included No.3 Japan, No.5 Australia, No. 11 New Zealand,
No. 15 China, No. 16 Singapore , No. 20 Korea,
No.22 UAE , No.25 India, No. 26 Thailand,
No. 30 Qatar

2018/2019 Monocle's Soft Power survey failed No. 3 Japan, No.8 Australia, No. 11 New Zealand, No.15 Korea, No. 19 China, No. 21 Singapore, No. 25 India

2018/2019 Soft Power 30 Study by USC Center on Public Diplomacy failed No.5 Japan, No. 10 Australia, No. 18 NZ, No. 20 S. Korea, No. 21 Singapore, No. 27 China

2017/2018 Monocle's Soft Power survey failed No. 4 Japan, No.9 Australia, No. 13 New Zealand, No.17 Korea, No. 19 China, No. 22 Singapore, No. 24 India

2017/2018 Soft Power 30 Study by USC Center on Public Diplomacy failed No.6. Japan, No. 8. Australia, 18. NZ, No. 20 Singapore, No. 21 S. Korea, No. 25. China

2016/2017 Monocle's
Soft Power survey failed No. 3 Japan, No.6 Australia, No. 13 New Zealand, No.17 Korea, No. 20 China, No. 23 Singapore, No. 24 India

2015/2016 Monocle's
Soft Power survey failed No. 4 Japan, No.6 Australia, No. 13 New Zealand, No.15 Korea, No. 21 China, No. 23 Singapore

Monocle's
Soft Power survey 2010 ~ 2015 failed Japan, Australia, New Zealand, S. Korea, Singapore, China, UAE , India, etc, were in the top 25 list

　

　

　

★ According to a survey of 2020, Singapore ranks No.1, Japan No.7, Korea No. 9 on "enterprise", Japan ranks No. 5, China No.10 on "engagement", Korea ranks No. 5 on "digital", Japan ranks No.6, China No. 8 on "culture", No any Asian country ranks top 10 on "education" and "govt."
　

★ Best Countries overall in 2020: 1 Swiss 2 Canada 3 Japan 4 Germany 5 Australia 6 UK 7 USA 8 Sweden 9 Nederland 10 Norway 11 NZ 12 France 13 Denmark 14 Finland 15 China 16 Singapore 17 Italy 18 Austria 19 Spain 20 Korea 21 Luxembourg 22 UAE 23 Russia 24 Portugal 25 India 26 Thailand 27 Greece 28 Brazil 29 Israel 30 Qatar 31 Saudi Arabia 32 Malaysia 33 Mexico 34 Poland 35 Turkey

　

　　
　

　

　　
Taiwan's travel & tourism - 10th in Asia

World Economic Forum (WEF) <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> released at 9-4-2019 shows Taiwan had the sub-region's largest decline in competitiveness from 30th down to 37th.   Taiwan ranks No.10 among Asian countries.   for details : click tourism
　

WEF travel & tourism category Taiwan's rankings and/or score comparison

prioritization of travel and tourism No75 Singapore No.6 , Hong Kong No. 11

Natural & cultural resources No.58 score 2.6 China No.1, score 6.0 , France No.2, 5.0, Spain No.3, 5.7, Japan No.7, 5.3, Indonesia No.18, Thailand No.21, Korea No.24, Vietnam No.26, Malaysia No.31, HK No.40, Philippines No.46, Sri Lanka No.52, Nepal No.56

Natural resources No. 87 Hong Kong No. 42, Singapore No.120
　

cultural resources & business travel No. 36 score 2.6 China No1, score 7.0

price competitiveness No. 78 China 5.7

Health & Hygiene No.43, score 6 score worse than Korea, Japan, Mongolia

international openness No. 60 only better than China, Mongolia

Safety & security No. 26 human resource & labor market: Taiwan No.18

ps: Compared to the report of 2017, Taiwan significantly tightened visa requirements (37th down to 119th), waning cultural resources and business travel (26th to 36th) and recalibrated figures showing a drastic reduction in protected areas (20th to 118th).

For full details : http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TTCR_2019.pdf

　

According to World Economic Forum (WEF) <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> (released at 4-6-2017), Taiwan's most important indexes for promoting tourism, like "Attractiveness of Natural Assets" (parks, beaches, mountains, wildlife, etc) ranks world No.87, "Natural Resources" ranks No.55,   "Environmental Sustainability" ranks No.75 (No.69 in 2015), "Price Competitiveness" ranks No. 46, "Hotel Price Index" ranks No. 89 (82 in 2015), Taiwan got "n/a" on China's world top 5 indexes such as "World heritage natural sites" as well as "World heritage cultural sites".
comment Taiwan travel and tourism, No.1 on internet, pls. click for details

　

●   UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage /    https://ich.unesco.org/en/lists
Taiwan us at the end

ranks
Asian country heritage items selected

1 China 40

2 Korea 24

3 Japan 20

4 Mongolia 15

5 India 13

6 Indonesia 10

7 Saudi Arabia 8

8 Cambodia 5

9 Philippines 4

10 Qatar 3

10 Malaysia 3

10 Pakistan 3

13 Thai 2

14 Singapore 1

14 Sri Lanka 1

14 Vietnam 1

14 UAE 1

18~2X
Myanmar, Laos, Nepal 0

　 Taiwan 0

◆ Taiwan is doing De-sinicization (getting rid of Chinese culture) for political reason.
◆ sg.news.yahoo.com/singapore-hawker-culture-gets-nod-included-unesco-intangible-cultural-heritage-list-140941296.html 12-16-2020: Singapore’s hawker culture was officially approved on Wednesday (16 December) to be inscribed into UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity. The biggest thanks must go to the generations of hawkers for nourishing a nation’s stomach and spirits.   Taiwan is proud of its night market culture, but was not selected.

　

　

　　

US News & World Report 2020, Asian countries' world influence rankings
Cultural Influence	No. 6 Japan, No. 8 Australia, No. 9 Singapore, No. 16 China, 17. NZ, 18. Thailand, 20. Korea, 22. UAE, 30. India, 35. Qatar, 39. Malaysia, 40. Saudi Arabia, 41. Phil	Cutting-edge centers of art, entertainment and fashion
Quality of Life	No.5 Australia, No. 8 nz, 14. Japan, 15. US, 19. China, 20. Singapore, 23. Korea, 25. UAE, 27. Malaysia, 28. Thai., 30. India, 31. Philippines, 32. Indonesia, 33. Vietnam, 36. Qatar	Through all phases of life, these countries treat their citizens well
Heritage	No.6 India, No. 9 Thailand, 10. Japan, 11. China, 18. USA, 21. Vietnam, 22. Singapore, 27. Australia, 29. Indonesia, 30. Korea, 32. Malaysia, 37. NZ	A deep vein of history courses through these countries
Adventure	No.5 Thailand No.7 Nrw Zealand, 10. Australia, 17. Philippines, 25. Singapore, 29. Malaysia, 33. USA, 34. Japan, 38. Vietnam, 40. India	The best countries to fulfill your wanderlust
www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/influence-rankings

Taiwan "judicial Independence" was ranked No. 13 among Asia & Pacific countries

	WEF (World Economic Forum) Judicial independence 2019 rankings , The Global Competitiveness Report
Asian country rankings	No.1 New Zealand 89.2(score) 2(world rank), No.2 Japan 86.5 5, No.3 Hong Kong 84.1 8, No.4 Australia 82.9 10, No.5 Singapore 77.4 14, No.6 Saudi Arabia 77.1 16, No. 7 UAE 75.4 20, No.8 Qatar 73.3 23, No.9 US 70.4 25, No.10 Jordan 69, No. 11 Malaysia 68.7, No. 12 Kuwait 59.5 , No.13 Taiwan 59.4 , No. 14 China 58.2
link	www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TheGlobalCompetitivenessReport2019.pdf
ps	WEF Judicial independence 2017/2018 rankings : China's rank was better than Taiwan's, both are at about same level

● Public trust on Taiwan's judges is about the lowest, compared with OECD member countries
　

● The Liberty Times, 2-23-2019 : National Chung-Cheng University survey shows about 80% Taiwanese people do not trust judges, only 32% are satisfied with Taiwanese prosecutors. (https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/focus/paper/1269488) The percentage is about as low as that of Korea
― the worst judicial system country in OECD ( Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ) in 2019.
● Korea Times, 7-2-2020 (www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2020/07/162_292043.html): OECD surveyed 37 member countries by asking how many of every
1,000 people trust their own court systems. The result shows Korea had the lowest numbers of all countries surveyed.
Various surveys in Korea also show that two out of three Koreans do not trust the courts.
● Taiwan Judicial Reform Committee (司改會) survey 7-18-2020: 64% Taiwanese people do not trust judges. (https://www.storm.mg/article/2861744)

pic. below: Formosa TV news, 1-19-2021 3:00pm: The biggest Taiwan's judicial scandal of the century, it's an international joke !

Apple Daily, editorial, 1-19-2021: Rotten & stinky judiciary shakes the nation to its core. Today is the darkest day in Taiwan judiciary, so called judicial reform and jury system etc are nothing but slogans and lies. Real horrible darkness is ahead if not to investigate the very-top-position officials.

China Times, editorial, 1-19-2021: Taiwan judiciary crashes. law officials fawn on the richness, and yield to the power.

SETN news, 1-19-2021 (3:40pm) : more than 100 law-enforcement officials (judiciary, prosecutor, police, investigation) were engaged, including president of Supreme Admin. Court, chief judges of Supreme Court, chief prosecutors, etc.

Apple Daily, 1-19-2021: Too many law officials involved to be punished severely ― 40 former and current top officials in total engaged the case include grand justice, president and chief judges of the Court of Final Appeal , chief prosecutors, Member of the Control Yuan, etc.

https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20210118004848-262103?chdtv https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/20210119/JTHJCNBJNJG2NC3FM3L4ITBNDQ/ https://tw.appledaily.com/forum/20210119/4LULE24OC5GO7NX7OUI52R7LE4/ ( root it out !) https://talk.ltn.com.tw/article/paper/1426700 (The root of legal system is rotten )
tw.appledaily.com/forum/20210120/SRI46KOPCRHETKV5XYOXOO7DIE/ https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20210119005784-262110?chdtv

	Index of judiciary	Asian countries
	2020 Economic Freedom Index	Judicial Effectiveness, Asian countries scores: Singapore 92.9, Australia 86.1, UAE 84.6, New Zealand 79.1, Hong Kong 76.8, China 76.3, Malaysia 74.6, Saudi Arabia 72.3 , Japan 71.4 , Taiwan 70.1, ● worse than China's
	Rule of Law Index 2020	No. 7 New Zealand, No. 11 Australia, No. 12 Singapore, 15. Japan, 16. Gong Kong, 17. R.Korea, 21. USA, 47. Malaysia, 59. Indonesia, 69. India worldjusticeproject.org/sites/default/files/documents/WJP-ROLI-2020-Online_0.pdf

　

《Economist》UK , EIU 「The Safe Cities Index 2019 」
https://safecities.economist.com/safe-cities-index-2019/
Taiwan is worse than its neighbors Singapore, Japan, China, Korea, Australia, NZ ...
Taiwan's "personal security" dropped 14 places compared with the previous report
　

● personal security : No.1 Singapore 3 HK 4 Tokyo 5 Wellington 7 Osaka 10 Sydney 12 Dubai 15 Seoul 16 Melbourne 20 Taipei

● Infrastructure security : No.1 Singapore 2 Osaka 4 Tokyo 7 Sydney 7 Melbourne 9 Wellington 14 Seoul 18 HK 24 Taipei

● Digital security:
No.1 Tokyo 2 Singapore 11 Osaka 11 Sydney 11 Melbourne 17 Seoul 22 HK 23 Taipei

● Health security:
No.1 Osaka 2 Tokyo 3 Seoul 8 Singapore 10 Taipei

　
★ World Economic Forum (WEF) <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> released at 9-4-2019 shows Taiwan's "safety & security" got an Eastern Asia-pacific average score 6.0, and is worse than Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Singapore.
★ 《 China Times 》, 11-11-2020 , editorial: Malaysian newspaper thinks Taiwan apparently an extremely unsafe place because two Malaysian ladies were murdered (one was cut-to-pieces) in Taiwan within one year. A poll by KMT shows 48.9% Taiwanese thinks social security is worse than before.
★ 《Liberty Times 》, 11-12-2020: Crimes of violence kept worsening ― in recent 5 years, the number of four major crimes（恐嚇取財、傷害、妨害自由、刀械槍枝）gradually increases from 20732 in 2015 to 24638 in 2019 in all six major cities, according to statistics.

　

world's most livable cities ... include Taiwan's ?

Till 2020, Taiwan has not been included in the top ranking list of the world's most livable cities
　

world's most livable cities

world best surveys Taiwan's rankings
in top list comparison with
other Asia & Pacific countries

The EIU's Global Livability Index Ranking   2019 failed in the top 50 No.2 Melbourne, No.3 Sydney, No.4 Osaka (Japan), No. 7 Tokyo, No.10 Adelaide, No.12 Auckland (NZ),   No.15 Wellington (NZ),   18 Brisbane (Aus) ,    No. 38 Hong Kong, No. 40 Singapore,   No.57 Seoul (Korea), Taipei behind

Monocle's Quality of Life survey 2019 failed in the top list
https://monocle.com/film/affairs/quality-of-life-survey-top-25-cities-2019/
No.2 Tokyo (Japan), No.11 Melbourne (Australia), No.13 Sydney, No.16 Hong Kong, No.17 Kyoto (Japan), No.21 Auckland (NZ), No.22 Fukuoka (Japan), 23 Brisbane 25 Singapore

Deutsche Bank Liveability Survey 　
failed in the list https://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/RPS_EN-PROD/PROD0000000000494405/Mapping_the_world%27s_prices_2019.pdf
　
No. 2 Wellington (NZ),    No. 7 Melbourne ( Australia ), No.10 Sydney,   No.14 Tokyo No.16 Auckland (NZ), No.17 Dubai (UAE), No. 23 Singapore,   No. 26 Saudi Arabia Riyadh, No. 29 Seoul (Korea), No. 33 India Bangalore, No. 39 Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, 44 Hong Kong,   46 India Delhi, No. 48   Shanghai (China), No. 55 Beijing

Safe Cities Index (SCI) 2019,   EIU (Economist UK), NEC failed in the top 20 No.1 Tokyo, No.2 Singapore, No.3 Osaka (Japan), No.5 Sydney (Aus), No. 8 Seoul (Korea), No10 Melbourne, No. 20 Hong Kong 　

ArchDaily / The World's Most Livable Cities in 2019 failed in the top 20 No. 3. Auckland, New Zealand, 11. Sydney, Australia, No.15. Wellington, New Zealand , No.17. Melbourne, Australia

Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI )
, Z/Yen. Mar 26, 2020 No.75 top 7: NY, London, Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore, HK, Beijing; Taipei No.34 in 2019

The EIU's Global Livability Index Ranking   2018 failed in the top 50 No.2 Melbourne (Australia), No.3 Osaka (Japan), No. 7 Tokyo (Japan) , No.10       Adelaide (Australia),   No.12 Auckland (NZ)    Wellington (NZ) ... ... (omitted), Taipei 58

The EIU's Global Liveability Index Ranking   2017 failed in the top 50 No.1 Melbourne, No. 5 Adelaide, No. 7 Perth,
No. 8 Auckland (NZ), No.11 Sydney, No.13 Tokyo, No. 14 Osaka, No.16 Brisbane,   No. 20 Wellington (NZ), No. 35 Singapore, No.45 Hong Kong, No.58 Seoul (Korea), No.60   Taipei

　　　

EIU (Economist UK)'s Global Liveability Index evaluates stability, healthcare, culture&environment, education,   Infrastructure

　

　

　

pic.: In World's Best Restaurants list, In Asia area, Australia, Singapore, Japan, India, Thailand, China, Korea are winners

pic.: In Asia's Best Restaurants, Singapore, China (HK), Japan, Thailand are big winners

pic. above: Taiwan's restaurants were loser or behind in EATER's "world best restaurants awards", CNN "world's best new restaurants" and Economists EIU "Global Food Security Index".

　

　


● Taiwan's university rankings in Asia,
Quacquarelli Symonds，QS UK, 2021
　

　 ranks Taiwan Malaysia China Korea Hong Kong, Macau Singapore
　 Japan

　 1~15 　　
　
15. Tsinghua University Beijing
　

　

23.   Peking University Beijing
　

　

　

22.    University of Hong Kong

　

　

　
No. 11.   National University of Singapore
　
　
No.13 Nanyang
Tech. Univ. Singapore
　

24 University of Tokyo
　

　

　 26~50 　　 34.   Fudan University, Shanghai
　
　
47.    Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai
37. Seoul National University, Seoul
　

　

　

39. KAIST Korea
　
27 Hong Kong Univ. Science & Tech.

　

　

43 Chinese Univ HK

　

　

48. City University of Hong Kong

　
　
38. Kyoto

University

　 51~60 　 No. 59 Universiti Malaysia 53. ZheJiang Univ. 　
　

　

　

　
　　　
　
56. Tokyo Institute Tech.
　

　 60~80 66.   National Taiwan University
(台灣大學)　　
　　 69. Korea Univ.
　

　

77 Pohang U Science Tech
75. Hong Kong Polytechnic University 　 72. Osaka U Japan
　

79. Tohoku U Japan

　 80~100 　　　
93. U Science & Tech China

　
85. Yonsei U Korea
　

88. SKKU Korea
　
　

　

　

　
　　

　
https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2021

QS Quacquarelli Symonds，QS UK
QS 2020 Asia universities, top 15 rankings :
subtotal number : Singapore ( 2 ), Hong Kong ( 3 ), Japan ( 2 ), Korea ( 3 ), China ( 4 ), Malaysia ( 1 ), Taiwan ( 0 )
★ In <Nature Index> , "2019 Tables: Institutions,  about 32 universities in China, 8 universities in Korea, 6 Hong Kong universities, 9 univ. in Japan,
2 universities in India, 2 in Singapore, one in Saudi Arabia
ranked higher than all Taiwan's
Taiwan's higher education
　

　

　

● Taiwan's hard power
● Diplomat, 3-20-2021:Taiwan’s government, however, has met entrenched opposition to these reforms from some senior commanders. Moreover, military effectiveness is limited by unmet recruiting targets, insufficient training of both conscripts and reserves, and ammunition and spare parts shortages thediplomat.com/2021/03/rumors-of-war-in-the-taiwan-strait/
● Bloomberg, 3-14-2021: Taipei’s current capabilities do not offer a credible deterrent to a surprise assault from the mainland
● Forbes, 3-8-2021:Taiwan Aims To Sink Half Of A Chinese Invasion Fleet—It Could Take Years To Buy Enough Missiles
● DefenseNewss , 3-1-2021: Taiwan’s military is not yet “optimally manned, trained, equipped and motivated to defend against an attack” by China...efforts at defense reform face obstacles from institutional opposition from senior officers ( symmetric response, expensive and high-end platforms are limited utility in an actual conflict, they also against full conscription ) and a lack of time (weapons acquisition and development plans years away from delivery). the current administration seemingly “unwilling or unable” to compel the ministry to implement it, partly due politically sensitive moves, such as full conscription.
defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2021/03/01/whats-preventing-taiwan-from-preparing-for-potential-war/
● Diplomat , 2-26-2021: evolution of Taiwan’s military was being hindered by bureaucracy and inefficient procedures.
The army’s military preparedness has come into question from both domestic and international experts
● Foreign Policy, 10-19-2020: Taiwan needs huge arsenals of mobile missile launchers, armed drones,
and mines; developing an army that can surge
tens of thousands of troops to any beach in an hour backed by a million-strong reserve force trained to fight guerrilla-style in
Taiwan’s cities and jungles.
it could take a decade to retool the Taiwanese and U.S. militaries to mount an effective defense of the island.
With China’s rapid military buildup, that may be time that Taiwan does not have
● New York times, 8-30-2020: Taiwan's Lawmaker said Taiwan’s military needs to improve a lot
● Forbes, 8-30-2020: Taiwan simply does not have enough firepower to defeat a Chinese invasion without the help of the U.S. military
　

　
Taiwanese military
opinions

　 personnel ( soldiers, officials ) ◆ Taiwan’s Military Is a Hollow Shell. US Defense Department officials have privately expressed dismal assessments regarding Taiwan's current force level and reserve system.
◆ armor, mechanized infantry, and artillery units are always in desperate shortage of enlisted soldiers
◆ few front-line units have more than 80 percent of their positions filled / Foreign Policy, 2-15-2020; https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/15/china-threat-invasion-conscription-taiwans-military-is-a-hollow-shell/
◆ Taiwan's active force down to under 200,000 (the exact number is classified). The nearly two million reservists exist in name only... / New York times, 5-18-2017
◆ The ROC (Taiwan) Armed Forces number approximately 300,000, and reserves reportedly total 3,870,000. / Wikipedia, May 2020
◆ Taiwan began to phase out mandatory conscription for all young men, which was deeply unpopular, in favor of an all-volunteer force; 4 months of compulsory service ... training is "insufficient to meet the challenges posed by the increasing threat (RAND, '17) / New York times, 8-30-2020 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/30/world/asia/taiwan-china-military.html
◆   Any political party advocating full conscription will loss election / 寰宇全視界 2021-5-1
◆ Only 310 thousands out of 770 thousands of qualified reservists were called up for short-term military training, from 2015 to 2017, 61 thousands of those escaped the duty / Formosa TV news, 8-3-2018, storm.mg 10-15-2019
◆ only 84,000 are demobilised volunteer force soldiers, the best-trained and most motivated group /   Financial Times, 7-12-2020
◆ Taiwan’s military is also not in the most optimal state. For instance, Taiwanese males serve only four months of conscripted military service, in comparison to over 20 months for Singaporean men and at least 18 months for South Korean men. /   Hong Kong Free Press 7-15-2020
◆ Reserve force is short of both officers and sergeants, their speciality far match the position / United Daily, 10-2-2020

　 strategy ◆ To against the threats of cyber warfare, cognitive warfare, and ‘unrestricted’ warfare from China , Taiwan we work to bolster our defense capabilities, future combat capacity development will also emphasize mobility, countermeasures, and non-traditional, asymmetrical capabilities (unconventional arms)” / Taiwan president inauguration speech, Voice of American, 5-20-2020
◆ so called asymmetrical capabilities in Taiwan is only skin-deep /   United Daily , editorial, 6-6-2020
◆ Taiwan's weird strategy: Facing PLA's attacks, Taiwan's warplanes stay inside tunnels, warships leave Taiwan, await till the US military comes to rescue, they will return and join the war / Apple Daily, 8-14-2020 tw.appledaily.com/headline/20200814/KDQ5JJAYQUR5JLE6EIIXK5VJM4/

　
firepower
◆ China could wipe out Taiwan’s navy and air force ... Many insiders are accordingly pessimistic about its ability to hold out. / Economist,10-9-2020
◆ the PLA could, without invading, destroy Taiwanese military, power and telecom facilities, embargo oil imports, cut cyber connectivity, then take advantage of the psychological impact on Taiwan to press for negotiations   / Politico,10-8-2020
◆ France forced Taiwan to withdraw its request to upgrade 20-year-old Mirage fighters ... F-16 A/B and F-CK-1 fighters are growing tired; 60 or 70 new fighters and a few missiles won’t really change the balance of power. And heavy tanks – especially if they lack trained crews – won’t do much to stop a Chinese invasion / Forbes, 8-30-2020
◆ A whole lot of Taiwan’s weapons don’t work. / Forbes, 9-4-2020 forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2020/09/04/which-of-taiwans-old-weapons-still-work/#340d2ee156a2
◆   Three Taiwanese presidents Lee (李登輝後期)、Chen(陳水扁)、Tsai(蔡英文) squandering those "bonus for peace" military budget and underestimating the demand of national defense, lead to shortage of arms-deal budget. /   United Daily , editorial, 6-6-2020
◆ Today China has more and better conventional forces than Taiwan.   / Forbes, 6-3-2020    China has ｎｕｃｌｅａｒ　ｂｏｍｂ，Neutron bomb， hydrogen bomb, Taiwan has none of those. / Next TV news, 5-8-2020
◆ A major obstacle is that countries that might sell it the most sophisticated weaponry are increasingly reluctant to do so for fear of provoking China, ... / New York times, 11-4-2017
◆ Taiwan military strength is ranked No. 26 , China PLA No. 3 / Global FirePower, 2020

　
military logistics system
◆ The logistics inside the military remain so abysmal ... The army likely has no clue how many tanks or guns actually mission-capable ...     / Foreign Policy, 8-20-2020
◆ Taiwan lacks enough supplement of all items of military equipments /   United Daily (聯合報社評), opinion, 5- 7- 2020

　
morale
◆ Taiwan's famous politician : “Taiwan can’t face the might of China alone, We can’t fight China on our own". in spite of Economist , NY Times (8-30-2020) advised Taiwan not to rely on the US military ... / NY Times, 11-24-2020
◆ As China Threatens War, Nearly Everyone in Taiwan Wants Peace: Poll / Newsweek, 10-28-2020
◆ Taiwan’s preparedness and its will to fight both look shaky / Economist,10-9-2020
◆ “Their underlying thinking is that PLA has grown to be too strong for us to fight militarily anyway... Taiwan should just focus on putting up a good show of being tough, buy enough U.S. weapons for display, and pray that Americans come to our rescue / Foreign Policy, 8-20-2020 https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/20/taiwan-military-flashy-american-weapons-no-ammo/
◆ Policies put forward by the Kuomintang and the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party have left the military understaffed and in a state of low morale... / New York times, 5-18-2017
◆ Taiwan fears uptick in military threat from China in wake of coronavirus epidemic ... / Financial Times 5-19-2020

　
combat experience
◆ Taiwan’s army has trouble with training across the board. Many insiders are accordingly pessimistic about its ability to hold out. / Economist,10-9-2020
◆ The military combines 4 drills to one per year for battle and propaganda-show, affecting training effect , high percentage of military officers hence are not familiar with combat mission. / ref to China Times, 7-7-2020, opinion www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20200707004603-262105?chdtv 蘭寧利》; https://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20200707006231-260417?chdtv

　
discipline
◆ The practice of judicial system has proved not as good as military criminal code to educate and train the military discipline. A soldier's 洪仲丘 'torture to death" sparks massive protest around 2013, the military court was hence no longer to judge the troops .   / The China Times, 7-17-2020, editorial

　
budget
◆ High personnel expense pushes aside the logistics and maintenance budget,   the govt. needs to plan special budge to purchase arms. / The China Times, 7-17-2020, editorial
◆ Taiwan would increase Taiwan’s defense budget by 10 percent, on top of a 5 percent increase the year before. That would raise military spending to more than 2 percent of gross domestic product   / New York times, 8-30-2020

　 For full text click Taiwan military

　

The People’s Daily, 10-15-2020 , Global Times, 10-15-2020: “Don’t say we didn’t warn you" (「勿謂言之不預」)...

http://www.nexttv.com.tw/NextTV/News/Home/LatestNews/2020-10-17/275597.html

Taiwan, Next TV, 壹新聞, 10-17-2020The People’s Daily《告台灣情治部門書》full text : http://js.people.com.cn/BIG5/n2/2020/1015/c359574-34350271.html

● Economist,10-22-2020: The People’s Daily, (CCP’s mouthpiece《人民日報》), carried a commentary... using a phrase—“Don’t say we didn’t warn you (ps: Taiwan intelligence)” — that has preceded Chinese military action against other countries in the past
● Washington Post, 10-26-2020: ... jingoistic editorials in China's state-run press — have raised concerns in the West that Xi is readying China for a new war. The target in this case would be Taiwan
● After China's mouthpiece, People's Daily or XinHua editorial issued a severe warning "Don’t say we didn’t warn you" in 1962、1967、1978，Chinese PLA started military operations against Indian and Vietnamese troops respectively.
● The People's Daily in Nov. 2019 sent a warning "Don’t say we didn’t warn you" to Hong Kongers, in the next year China cracked down HK, and passed a national security law on Hong Kong.
● This time the People’s Daily put its warning to Taiwan's intelligence in "opinion/commentary" , instead of "editorial" column as before, and on "7th edition" instead of 1st~4th edition as before, ... therefore, it's serious but not as severe as before, probably a warning for coercion or "gray zone" actions such as blockage or economic intervenes, or pressuring Taiwan into giving up ... those sort of psychological war.
● SCMP (HK), 10-20-2020: ... unusually strong language in a recent commentary in People's Daily invoking the phrase “don’t say we didn’t warn you”, serves as a reminder, which was targeting a big rise in the number of Taiwanese intelligence agents active on the mainland, but was aimed at a much wider audience.
● Washington Post (7-22-2020) : In 2019, Xi (Chinese president) offered an ultimatum to Taiwan to come to the table for unification talks or face annexation by force. Soon later PLA's warplanes crossed the Taiwan Strait "median line" ( "the de facto cease-fire line") first time ever since 1949, according to Newsweek 8-12-2020, and the PRC deliberately ratcheted up tensions till now.
　　

●

Taiwan in full aspects ★ this site's world No. 1 in 2020~21, 2017~19, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2010~12 ★ Top rankings since 1998 ★

home brief Taiwan TW FB tour personality food medical diplomacy restaurants night markets buffet women speech massage prostitutes watching u fraud judiciary police corruption foreign labor illegal migrants prosecutors soft power univ death penalty happiness housing market transportation avia image creativity human rights US cartoons US Design intl Human rights judicial persecution oppression bully univ military drugs news democracy

The ROC on Taiwan, has its own constitution, independently elected president and military forces, However, Taiwan's image was tarnished or damaged for having benefits by any means, and having principal human rights problems, including:

● Ethics of Taiwan politicians : United Daily, 3-11-2021, editorial: smear, fragmentation, low dirty means ... Pan Green's propaganda campaign already beyond the critical point of morality. udn.com/news/story/7338/5309442 China Times, 3-12-2021: Ruling party ignoring bottom line of morality is grief of the country. The Liberty Times, editorial (7-21-2020) reports only 2.3% Taiwanese politicians are trustworthy and have professional ethics, according to a survey half year ago, 56% Taiwanese note elected representatives (lawmakers, councilman, etc) care their own interest, only 9.3% think they care "national interest". Washington Post (7-22-2020) reports: In a major speech in January 2019, Xi (Chinese president) offered an ultimatum to Taiwan to come to the table for unification talks or face annexation by force. However, Taiwan's government was tight-lipped about this ultimatum, so that even famous commentator and analyst know nothing about it, otherwise pro-Independence Tsai I. W. may not easily continue in presidential office in Jan. 2020, because, according to National Interest (6-16-2020): more than 60.3 percent of the respondents opposed Taiwan's independence if it is followed by China’s military invasion... Taiwanese personality

● democracy : USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, 2021-3-30: There were allegations of vote buying by candidates and supporters of both major political parties (KMT and DPP) in Presidential election. Economist EIU Democracy Index 2019 shows Taiwan is "Flawed democracy", overall score is lower than 2015's and 2016's, the scores of "political culture", "political participation" are low (5.63, 6.11). <DW> of Germany (Chinese edition, 12-25-2020) and <RFI> of France (Chinese edition, 12-27-2020) both quoted <Yazhou Zhoukan > (亞洲周刊) criticizing Taiwan's new democratic authoritarianism. N.Y. Times 12-3-2019: soft underbelly of Taiwanese politics: patronage networks. they continue to allow community leaders, farmers’ associations and even organized-crime figures to buy votes. New York Times, 1-11-2020: Taiwan’s young and vibrant, if messy at times, democratic society. <China Times> 2-26-2020, editorial: more and more uncontrolled admin. power and withered legislative power, freedom of speech was suppressed by admin. and judicial power at all levels, ...as for political culture, partisan, stand and ideology matter. <Foreign Policy>, 2015: Taiwan politics belongs to mega-corporations (not the people) and is controlled by the political parties. Apple Daily, editorial, 12-14-2019: Taiwan gov. shows authoritarianism political culture, ignoring and being hostile to those critics. Apple Daily, editorial, 12-7-2019: in this bad election morality age, Taiwan president becomes a low threshold, min. qualification criteria position, and a laughingstock. <UDN> editorial,12-6-2018: Taiwan's democracy exists in name only ...; <United Daily News>, editorial opinion, 6-23-2019: The operation of democracy usually strays off most public-opinions, big-data became a sharp-weapon for politicians to manipulate the will of the people ... fail to solve the adverse situation of reversing democracy; <United Daily News>, Opinion, 3-7-2017: Now it seems hard to keep Taiwan's skin-deep democracy ... the people's "livelihood" was sacrificed for politics ... <United Daily> editorial 1-8-2020, <UDN> editorial (聯合報社論) 11-14-2019／Taiwan's democracy turns into grave 。 (民主設計的良意，如今變成私欲墳場 https://udn.com/news/story/11321/4163629) democracy & freedom

● freedom of speech : ● USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, 2021-3-30: Opposition politicians and some media outlets criticized these provisions (a new law criminalized receiving direction or funding from prohibited Chinese sources to conduct political activities) as overly broad and potentially detrimental to freedom of expression, including for the press. Opposition politicians and some academics and commentators claimed NCC’s decision not to renew the license was politically motivated retaliation for CTi News’ criticism of the ruling party. ● Global Times, 2021-3-29 : Taiwan DPP's dark "online army" underbelly in misinformation campaign , the DPP's "online army" which manipulated and meddled in an online public opinion field of more than 20 million people on the island. "The DPP can collude with social media such as PTT, Facebook, print media, electronic media, and TV programs". globaltimes.cn/page/202103/1219763.shtml ● USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, 3-11-2020: Journalists said they faced pressure from management to submit news stories to complement or support the content of paid advertisements. Oxford university (UK) Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism: Only 24% Taiwanese trust in local news which remains one of the lowest in Oxford survey. < Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF, France) , 4-18-2019: Taiwan’s journalists are suffering from a very polarized media environment dominated by sensationalism and the pursuit of profit. Although President Tsai Ing-wen has said she wants to continue developing press freedom in Taiwan, few concrete measures have been taken to improve journalists’ editorial independence and encourage media to raise the quality of the public debate. Beijing is exploiting this weakness by putting pressure on Taiwanese media owners, who often have business interests on the mainland. ● China Times, editorial <中時社論> , 3-9-2020: Political power forms threats (penalty fine and suspending the license) to certain media ... Secretly bullying by (gov.-related) cyber force. ● Apple Daily 12-4-2019 editorial : All political parties and many politicians found cyber-forces who are mean, base, cruel and dark to destroy target's image and reputation by secretly ways, without moral bottom line ... ● UDN 12-7-2019 editorial: The number of fake news spread by Pan-Green coalition (ruling party) is far more (and more vile) than that sent by ordinary people ● Apple Daily 3-29-2019 editorial opinion: Democracy & Freedom of speech is the bottom line which should never be lost, the government should not create chilling effect by fishing in trouble water. ● The China Times 12-14-2019 editorial : the gov. seriously harmed free speech by investigating those messages shared or published on the net by the masses ● The China Times 3-29-2019 headline news: Democracy on the surface, anti-democracy to the bone is not allowed. ● US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 3-13-2019: the impact of the concentration of media ownership on freedom of the press, self-censorship continued. ● N.Y. Times 12-3-2019: Social media platforms are another key battleground (Chn-TW): Nearly 90 percent of Taiwan’s population is active on them, and traditional news outlets have been known to republish fake posts without fact-checking. According to Reuters, Chinese government agencies have paid Taiwanese news outlets to publish pro-Beijing content. freedom of speech

● justice : The Liberty Times, 2021-6-18, editorial : Taiwan president Tsia I. W.'s optimization of government focused on judicial reform, which she stated frankly is still distant from public expectations. USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, 2021-3-30: Some political commentators and academics, however, publicly questioned the impartiality of judges and prosecutors involved in high profile, politically sensitive cases. USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, 3-11-2020: Some political commentators and academics, publicly questioned the impartiality of judges and prosecutors involved in high profile, politically sensitive cases. US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 3-13-2019 pointed out that justice ministry was insufficiently independent and conducted politically motivated investigations of politicians (in <Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government> section), ... ● The United Daily, 1-6-2020, editorial: Taiwanese don't trust law-enforcement because of government abusing power and playing with the law. :