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                                                                        TAIWAN  in all aspects !     below each visual parody, cartoon on The dark side of Tw. are related or relevant reports or comments

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pic.: the website-group was ranked No.1 "understand Taiwan" on Yandex of Russia, 2024-2-28, 2024-1-23, 2024-1-1, 2023-12-24, 2023-11-11, 2023-11-1, 2023-10-10, 2023-9-22, 2023-8-22, 2023-8-8, 2023-7-25, 2023-7-10, 2023-6-24,  2023-6-1, 2023-4-30, 2023-3-23, 2023-3-4, 2023-2-28, 2023-2-19, 2023-1-21, 2023-1-15, 2023-1-1, 2022-12-24, 2022-11-29, 2022-11-1, 2022-10-31, 2022-10-10, 2022-10-4, 2022-9-20, 2022-9-13, 2022-8-20, 2022-7-21, 2022-7-1, 2022-6-24, 2022-6-15, 2022-6-2, 2022-5-25, 2022-5-14, 2022-4-30, 2022-4-21, 2022-4-9, 2022-3-25, 2022-3-20, 2022-2-22, 2022-2-14, 2022-1-29, 2022-1-4, 2021-12-27, 2021-12-10, 2021-12-4, 2021-11-10, 2021-10-28, 2021-10-22,  2021-10-8,  2021-6-16,  2021-6-2

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pic.: The websites group was ranked No.1 "understand Taiwan" on Microsoft Bing, 2024-2-28, 2024-1-23, 2024-1-1, 2023-12-24, 2023-11-11, 2023-11-1, 2023-10-10, 2023-9-22, 2023-8-22, 2023-8-8, 2023-7-25, 2023-7-10, 2023-6-24, 2023-4-30, 2023-3-4, 2023-2-28, 2023-2-19, 2023-1-22, 2023-1-15, 2023-1-1, 2022-12-24, 2022-11-29, 2022-11-1, 2022-10-10, 2022-10-4,  2022-9-20, 2022-9-13, 2022-7-21, 2022-6-15, 2022-6-2, 2022-5-25, 2022-5-14, 2022-4-30, 2022-4-21, 2022-4-9, 2022-3-25, 2022-3-20, 2022-2-22, 2022-2-14, 2022-1-29, 2022-1-4, 2021-12-27, 2021-12-10, 2021-12-4, 2021-11-10, 2021-10-28, 2021-10-25, 2021-10-22,  2021-10-8, 2021-10-5, 2021-9-30, 2021-8-22,  2021-6-30, 2021-6-16, 2021-6-2, 2021-5-15,  2021-4-17, 3-5-2021, 2-12-2021, 1-20-2021, 1-1-2021, 11-29-2020, 10-10-2020,  8-5-20208-17-2020, 6-21-2020, 5-13-2020, 4-3-2020, 2-26-2020, 2-5-2020, 12-31-2019, 12-10-2019; No.2 "understand Taiwan" on Bing, 2022-8-21

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New York Times, 2024-1-20: Polls show growing distrust of the United States in Taiwan

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The websites group was ranked No.1 "understand Taiwan" on  ecosia (Germany), 2024-2-28, 2024-1-23, 2024-1-1, 2023-12-24, 2023-11-1, 2023-10-10, 2023-9-22, 2023-8-22, 2023-8-8, 2023-7-25, 2023-7-10, 2023-4-30, 2023-3-23, 2023-2-19, 2023-1-22, 2022-12-24, 2022-11-29, 2022-11-1, 2022-8-20, 2022-7-21, 2022-7-1, 2022-4-30, 2022-4-21, 2022-4-9, 2022-3-25, 2022-3-20, 2022-2-22, 2022-2-14, 2022-1-29, 2022-1-4, 2021-12-25, 2021-12-4, 2021-11-10, 2021-10-28, 2021-10-22,  2021-10-8, 2021-10-5, 2021-9-30, 2021-8-22, 2021-6-16, 2021-6-2, 2021-5-13, 2021-4-17, 3-3-2021, 2-12-2021, 11-17-2020, 8-17-2020;  No.2 "understand Taiwan" on Ecosia, 2023-3-4,  2023-1-1, 2022-10-10, 2022-10-4, 2022-9-20;
No.1 "understand Taiwan" on Yahoo Taiwan,  2023-8-8, 2021-9-30, 2021-8-22, 2021-6-16,
2021-6-2, 2021-5-13, 2021-4-17, 3-3-2021, 2-12-2021, 1-20-2021, 11-17-2020, 8-17-2020

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The websites group was ranked  No.1 "understand Taiwan" on Swisscows (Switzerland), 2024-2-28, 2024-1-23, 2024-1-1, 2023-12-24, 2023-11-1, 2023-8-8, 2023-7-10, 2023-6-22, 2021-12-4, 2021-11-10, 2021-10-28, 2021-8-22, 2021-6-16, 2021-6-2, 2021-5-13, 2021-4-17,  3-3-2021, 2-12-2021, 11-17-2020, 8-17-2020, 6-21-2020; No.2 at 2023-7-25

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  ¡» AFP, The Telegraph, 2024-3-24 : US military officials have warned that China could invade Taiwan by 2027 ¡» Washington Examiner, 2024-3-22: Adm. John Aquilino, U.S. Navy commander and head of the Indo-Pacific forces, told the House Armed Services Committee that America is steadily less prepared for a war with China that now appears to be right around the corner. ¡» New York Times, 2024-3-24 :  Two Chinese survivors told Chinese media that the Taiwanese vessel collided with them, while the Taiwanese Coast Guard said  the two boats ¡§made contact¡¨ at times during the chaseChinese officials are now waiting for a report from Taiwanese investigators into the death incident; tensions could climb if Beijing disputes their conclusions  ¡» Daily Express, 2024-3-20 : World on the brink as Taiwan admits US troops stationed on Chinese border. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed in 2023 facilitated the deployment of these troops to conduct training programs for Taiwanese frontline forces. ¡» Wall Street Journal, 2024-3-18 : Without shifting to a full asymmetrical defense approach, Taiwan risks a quick defeat if invaded,  the Taiwanese military¡¦s penchant for pricey weapons limits funds for more effective tools such as shoulder-fired missiles. ¡§The asymmetrical approach advocated by some people would put the whole of Taiwan into a meat grinder" , said a former Taiwanese foreign-affairs official ¡» Daily Express, 2024-3-13:  Taiwan war with China given latest seal of approval by US with new deadly weapon (the Link 16 comm. system ) in a move set to escalate tensions between Taiwan and China delivery Link 16 acts as the brain and nervous system of Taiwan's military apparatus, places control firmly in US hands. ¡» The Hill, 2024-3-5: In China's legislature, Premier Li's report had stronger language on Taiwan - Dropping the word ¡§peace¡¨ combined with the phrase ¡§resolutely opposing Taiwan independence,¡¨ is what signals a stronger stance
 
¡» New York times, 2024-2-26: The P.L.A.'s now-normalized presence around Taiwan raises the risk of an accidental confrontation¡» Business Insider, 2024-2-26:Taiwan fears that stalled Ukraine aid foreshadows their future if China invades. Taiwan is concerned about a Trump victory¡» NHK, 2024-2-26: Survey: Over 60% of Japanese firms see risk in Taiwan tensions, while 58.2 percent chose China's strengthening of trade regulations. 57.3 percent were concerned about tougher US regulations on China

War On The Rocks, 2024-2-22:  the destruction of squadrons of fighter planes and ships would harm Taiwan's ability to resist by tanking civilian morale in the opening days of the war...  If Taiwan's military is unable to defeat a PLA invasion force at sea, or on the shore, it will be necessary to ¡§deny in depth¡¨ using a host of cheap and man-portable weapons as well as a flexible and survivable command system.  Toward that end, Lee also suggests a ¡§territorial defense force¡¨ of mobilized civilians

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¡» New York Times, Beijing's awareness of its long-term challenges makes it more likely to gamble while America is tied down by other crises, internally divided¡» DW, 2024-2-16: the blockade would be a very special threat for Taiwan...  neither the conventional capability, nor asymmetric capability, can be effective to deter or defend for this operation  ¡» full text 

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¡» CNN, 2024-2-22  :  China accuses Taiwan of ¡¥covering up the truth¡¦ over deaths of Chinese fishermen    Rising Tensions msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-accuses-taiwan-of-covering-up-the-truth-over-deaths-of-chinese-fishermen/vi-BB1iHHZA

One of the fishermen who survived that incident was speaking to chinese state TV and said their boat was hit, it was rammed by a Taiwanese vessel and that it overturned, it capsized.  This was not something that happened by accident. we are hearing an account from Taiwan, from the Coast Guard that says this fisherman vessel from China it look a sharp turn and that's what caused it to capsize
¡» United Daily (¥xÆWÁp¦X³ø), 2024-2-23  : Taiwan's prosecutor said it was rammed (¥x®ü¨µ¤H­û°õªk¹L·í¡A¾É­P¤j³°º®²î¦b°l³v¤¤¸I¼²Â½ÂÐÆC¦¨¤G¦º)¡C udn.com/news/story/7338/7786660?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2 ¡» United Daily (¥xÆWÁp¦X³ø), 2024-2-23  :  Taiwan's premier ³¯«Ø¤¯¡GThe prosecution has not officially confirmed it was rammed (¥¼Ãҹ곰º®²î¦]¸I¼²Â½ÂСA¤£­n¥H³_¶Ç³_) udn.com/news/story/9213/7786972?from=udn_ch2cate6638sub9213_pulldownmenu_v2
¡»Global Times, 2024-2-26: Taiwan even used the phrase "rescue explanation of the overturned mainland speedboat" at a press conference, making the accident sound like the mainland fishing boat had accidentally capsized and Taiwan's vessel was there to rescue, blatantly spreading false information.  If the Taiwan authorities continue to disregard the mainland's sincerity, then they will bear the consequences and pay the cost. Calling off the "off-limit" or "restricted" waters in the Xiamen-Kinmen zones, realizing regular law enforcement patrols in the entire Xiamen-Kinmen waters, including boarding inspections of relevant ships.  globaltimes.cn/page/202402/1307706.shtml

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the Deaths of Chinese Fishermen That Taiwanese Forces Chased Away
Tensions between Taiwan and China reached a new high

Associated Press, 2024-2-18 The fishermen's deaths are unusual despite the level of Chinese activity in the waters near Kinmen, which is closer to China than it is to Taiwan's main island
TIME, 2024-2-15 China: Taiwan's officials have long mistreated fishermen from the mainland and forcefully and dangerously seized mainland fishing boats, a pattern it claims led to the recent
Reuters, NBC News, 2024-2-18 China has condemned Taiwan's actions and labeled the death incident "wicked".  The deaths had caused ¡§strong indignation¡¨ in China, and there is no such thing as ¡¥prohibited or restricted waters¡¦.  China will strengthen its law enforcement activities and carry out regular patrols around a small group of Taiwanese-controlled islands off the Chinese coast as tensions rise over the deaths of two Chinese nationals
Daily Express (UK), 2024-2-18 China ramps up coast guard ships in Taiwan waters as tensions rise over fishermen deaths. Tensions between China and Taiwan have reached a new high.
DW (Germany), 2024-2-16 Inevitable Taiwan tensions in 2024
China Daily (China) , 2024-2-19

China: A callous act with disregard for human life. It has caused strong indignation across the mainland ; For many years, the mainland established reception facilities for Taiwan fishermen in numerous coastal areas, provided them assistance such as shelters and supplies, and rescued Taiwan fishing boats and fishermen, In contrast, the DPP Taiwan have, for some time, forcefully detained mainland fishing boats under various pretexts and treated mainland fishermen in a rude and dangerous manner, this was the key reason why the fatal incident occurred.  The mainland reserves the right to take further measures, and Taiwan will bear all consequences.

Taipei Times (Taiwan), 2024-2-16 Taiwan (MAC) : Coast guard's conduct appropriate -  they were legally performing their duties and had not erred in any way.  Chinese fishing vessels have been intruding into Taiwan's restricted or prohibited waters for a while to poach high-priced fish


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¡» Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2024-2-9: Short of clearly committing to restraint and offering some sort of arrangement that could make people on Taiwan better off overall, CCP leaders are left only with the option to escalate confrontation through harsher means  ¡» Reuters, 2024-2-6:  the latest high-tech weapons delivered by the U.S. were often locked up in storehouses. The armed forces as burdened by "unprofessionalism, defeatism and Chinese nationalism". ¡» Business Insider, 2024-2-6: During last year's APEC summit, Chinese leader Xi Jinping reportedly told President Joe Biden that China fully intends to take over Taiwan ¡X a move that could result in a hot war in the region  ¡» War On The Rocks, 2024-1-31:  Over the course of 2023, more than 1,700 Chinese aircraft breached Taiwan's air defense identification zone, 703 of which crossed the median line. ¡» Reuters, 2024-1-31: American military logistics in the Pacific is one of the greatest U.S. vulnerabilities in any potential conflict over Taiwan. Our ability to deter conflict in the Western Pacific over the next five years is not close to where it needs to be  ¡» The Telegraph, 2024-1-26: The PLA is in crisis. That won't stop China invading Taiwan. the US intelligence community and Defense Department have consistently underestimated the capabilities of the People's Liberation Army and its intentions  ¡» Defense News, 2024-1-25: China¡¦s military has declared it is ¡§ready to fight¡¨ after large-scale combat exercises simulating sealing off Taiwan. To deter China, the US and Taiwan should seek asymmetric symmetry  ¡» Semafor, 2024-1-24: according to Foreign Policy, Taiwan¡¦s ruling Democratic Progressive Party lacks many military commanders who advocate asymmetrical warfare and a ¡§porcupine strategy:¡¨ deterring Beijing with a smaller stockpile of more effective weapons. Security officials within the party have historically called for reinforcing the island with big tanks, submarines, and fighter jets that ¡§Washington thinks Taiwan doesn't need¡¨ ¡» AFP, 2024-1-14: Beijing could apply an economic squeeze on Taiwan, which would "set the terms of interaction for the next four years of cross-strait relations". President-elect Lai's party lose its majority - Any legislation regarding cross-strait relations would be difficult to pass¡» Barron's, 2024-1-9: Experts consider an all-out invasion unlikely in the near term, but discussions are still happening within security circles from Taipei to Washington. ¡» Washington Post, Daily Express, 2024-1-9: Tensions between China and Taiwan are reaching new highs ahead of this weekend's elections. Taiwan issues red alert after Chinese satellite flies over airspace. This appears to be the first time the Taiwanese government has issued a similar island-wide alert, and comes just days before Taiwan is to hold pivotal presidential and legislative elections  ¡» Washington Post, 2024-1-5: The shortage of missiles is especially dire, as the Wall Street Journal reports, noting a simulation that found ¡§America would run out of all-important long-range anti-ship missiles within the first week¡¨ of a war over Taiwan. The best path to preventing a war of ¡§unification¡¨ is probably to postpone it, ideally indefinitely, through fictions such as the ¡§one China¡¨ policy ¡»  Washington Times, 2024-1-5: In the event of a DPP victory, Beijing's first move may be directed not at Taiwan but at the White House. Chinese President Xi Jinping's ¡§recent statements emphasizing the urgency of reunification make it unlikely for him to accept defeat gracefully.¡»  The Guardian, 2024-1-5: Ultimately, as voters know, next weekend's Taiwan presidential election is likely to be less consequential in geopolitical terms than this year's US presidential race and its ultimate winner ¡» The Hill, 2024-1-6: Often characterized as a proxy war between the superpowers, the reality of the situation is far more nuanced and indicative of a complex geopolitical chess game where, surprisingly, both the U.S. and China stand to gain regardless of the election's outcome ¡» Foreign Affairs, 2024-1-5: U.S. support for Ukraine diverts weapons from Taiwan but demonstrates resolve to China ¡» The Globe and Mail, 2024-1-5:The tragedy of Taiwan is that a clash with China is inevitable¡»  ABC Australia, 2024-1-3: As China flexes its military muscles, everyday citizens in Taiwan are preparing for war.  China has more than 2 million active personnel compared to Taiwan's 170,000 troops, as well as five times as many tanks and six times as many fighter aircraft.  War today might not unfold as it did in the past ¡K nowadays, hybrid warfare blurs the lines between peacetime and wartime.  ¡» full text 

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media

China's invasion

¡» GB News, 2023-12-25 So we should be working with Taiwan right now privately telling them we're not going to fight for you. ¡§We just can't get into a war that could go nuclear, it would be foolish.¡¨
¡» NBC, 2023-12-26 Xi's private warning  on  reunifying Taiwan to Biden was delivered at a time when China's behavior toward Taiwan is seen as increasingly aggressive and ahead of a potentially  pivotal  presidential election in the self-governing democratic island next month. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. said: First, create a robust defense supplemental for Taiwan and second, draft pre-invasion sanctions from hell to impose on China if they take action to seize Taiwan (ps: no plan to send military troops)
¡» Daily Express, 2023-12-23 The Taiwan war is coming - and the West will need boots on the ground
¡» New York Post, 2023-12-21  China's Xi Jinping warned Joe bluntly that Beijing will take Taiwan... It represents a clear escalation on China's part, moving from its longtime claim of ownership to notification of intent to take possession. Biden often talks tough, but shies from any action he fears will ¡§escalate¡¨ a confrontation ¡X forever leaving the initiative in the hands of America's adversaries.  
¡» First Post, 2023-12-22  Japan says that an invasion of Taiwan by China is imminent and that it is preparing for the repercussions 


 ¡» Politico, 2023-12-23: The guessing game of how likely an intervention ¡X or even invasion ¡X by China is helps explain the nervy tenor of this race (presidential election). ¡» New York Post, 2023-12-21: China's Xi Jinping warned Joe bluntly that Beijing will take Taiwan... If Xi tries to take Taiwan by force, it¡¦ll leave Washington two options: abandon our Pacific allies and let China have it, with catastrophic consequences ¡X or help the island nation fight off the Chinese, risking a war that could go nuclear.¡» Reporters Without Borders (RSF) , 2023-12-13: Taiwan is a country that suffers from one of the lowest trust rates in the media among democracies (28%) and where the media community is often criticised for disregarding journalism ethics... journalists suffer from a very polarised media environment dominated by sensationalism and the pursuit of profit at the expense of quality news reporting. ¡»  National Interest, 2023-12-11: China is flexing its aircraft carrier muscles near Taiwan

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New York Times, 2023-12-4

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¡»  The Telegraph, 2023-12-2: Taiwan is about to vote against China.  War is coming. The time for doing business with China is finished ¡»  The Market Oracle (UK), 2023-11-28: Taiwan's elections loom just a few weeks away. Continued militarization would undermine past economic success. Taiwan is at its ultimate crossroads.  Almost every second Taiwanese would prefer a less confrontational stance and greater focus on domestic economy.  ¡»  The Diplomat, 2023-12-1: the KMT has a history of opposition against asymmetric strategies. Most recently, KMT legislators attempted to block new capabilities ranging from the purchase of Harpoons to Javelins and Stingers.  Jaw (vice-president candidate) is an avowed opponent of the 12-month conscription, calling it a provocation to Beijing.   ¡»  Bloomberg, 2023-11-26: Taiwan draws clear US-versus-China battle lines in key election ; an unprecedented third straight term in power for the DPP is by no means a foregone conclusion. There are a substantial amount of voters who want a change ¡»  Reuters, 2023-11-24:  China ties on the line as Taiwan opposition splits in dramatic feud ¡»  The Hill, 2023-11-16: Biden, Xi reset relationship but without a ¡¥breakthrough¡¦... had a candid discussion about the future of Taiwan; and signaled war was not on the horizon. ¡»  Economist, 2023-11-13: Strategists worry about a ¡§window of vulnerability¡¨ in the Indo-Pacific this decade, as China¡¦s forces grow stronger and America¡¦s investments in new military equipment don¡¦t fully bear fruit until the 2030s...As for capacity, the Pentagon long ago abandoned the requirement that its armed forces be able to fight two major regional wars simultaneously. ¡»  Newsweek, 2023-11-9:  Taiwan's long wait for nearly $20 Billion in American weapons, asymmetric weaponry accounts for $4.22 billion, or 22 percent of the backlog. ¡»  BBC, 2023-11-9: If Taiwan is not controlling sensitive and secret information very well¡K You should expect any competent foreign intelligence service to get access to it. ¡»  BBC, 2023-11-6:  In Washington there is a strong sense that Taiwan is running out of time to reform and rebuild its military.  In a conflict with China, Taiwan's navy and air force would be wiped out in the first 96 hours of battle. Under intense pressure from Washington, Taipei is switching to a "fortress Taiwan" strategy - repelling an invasion on the beaches and, if necessary,  in the towns and cities ¡»  New York Times, 2023-10-29:  Taiwan must accelerate its shift toward investing in defense capabilities - make a greater effort to stockpile not only munitions, but also food, water and energy. It needs to adopt a whole-of-society approach to its defense that emphasizes national resistance, resilience and the willingness to fight. ¡» Newsweek, 2023-10-26: Taiwan Voters Must Choose Between 'War and Peace,' China Says  ¡»  SKY News (Australia), 2023-10-21:   Taiwan has been accused of permitting modern modern-day slavery with its migrant workers...migrant workers are often mistreated in an unfair system which needs to be overhauled.  ¡»  SCMP, 2023-10-21: The inadequate training given to Taiwanese reservists after discharge has been known for some time, drawing criticism from the US, ...Taiwan could also learn from Israel about maintaining a lasting public enthusiasm to fend off the enemy ¡»  Newsweek, 2023-10-16: The U.S. has known since no later than 2012¡X¡Xthat Chinese surface-to-surface (STS) missiles can destroy U.S. aircraft carriers, or any other military asset that isn't submerged; Taiwan has storage capacity for 11 days of natural gas consumption. A Chinese blockade would force Taiwan's surrender in short order.  ¡»  New York Times, 2023-10-16: if he concludes that the United States has broken, once and for all, from its previous position on Taiwan and is bent on thwarting unification, he may feel that he must act militarily.  If the combination of deterrence and reassurance fails and China attacks Taiwan, it will set a precedent in which Chinese leaders kill and destroy to achieve their goals. ¡» full text 

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US defend Taiwan ?

¡» The Hill, 2023-9-26

During a Tokyo interview alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Biden repeated his statement on defending Taiwan: ¡§That¡¦s the commitment we made.¡¨ But, when asked whether ¡§the policy of strategic ambiguity towards Taiwan [is] dead,¡¨ he replied ¡§No.¡¨
 ¡» National Review, 2023-9-19 It's noteworthy that Biden declined to say a single word about Taiwan in his U.N. speech came a day after the Chinese Communist Party's armed forces sent 103 jets into Taiwan¡¦s air-defense identification zone ¡X which is a new record that surpasses even the Chinese tantrum that followed then¡VHouse speaker Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.

 

¡»  Telegraph, 2023-10-13: If China attempts a blockade of Taiwan, Taiwanese forces and their American allies will have to break the blockade ¡V or risk losing the island democracy to mainland...It's worth noting the United States hasn't directly intervened in the Chinese blockade of a Philippine outpost  ¡»  VOA News, 2023-10-13: Expert says : for Taiwan, the most important thing is whether the intelligence it has gathered can help Taipei prepare for potential military conflicts Taiwan should also assess whether it can promptly mobilize its forces and whether its forces can react to sudden attacks swiftly... there's a question about whether Taiwan can obtain enough equipment for all of them ¡»  Newsweek, 2023-10-13: Taiwan defense dpt: the common expectation is to avoid war ¡»  Express (UK), 2023-10-13: A China-Taiwan war could break out unless the war in Israel is put to an end  ¡»  Newsweek, 2023-10-12: Since war broke out in the Mideast, some with hawkish views in the U.S. have suggested that Taiwan needs to take its self-defense seriously. ¡»  BBC, 2023-10-5: Most analysts agree that Taiwan's military - a shrunken army, outnumbered navy and old artillery - would be no match against a far more powerful China. ¡»  Washington Examiner, 2023-10-5: Were Taipei truly serious about deterring and defeating a PLA attack, it would be spending closer to 10% of its GDP on defense ¡» Politico.eu, 2023-10-5: Taiwan shivers over Ukraine funding freeze  ¡» full text 
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¡»  Washington Post, 2023-9-28: Taiwan launches the island's first domestically made submarine for testing

 CNN, 2023-9-28: President Tsai Ing-wen hailed this as a significant milestone. ¡§The submarine is an important realization of our concrete commitment in defending our country¡¨.

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 Newsweek, 2023-9-29: Taiwan's former military leader who heads the submarine program said that the slated eight Hai Kun-class boats would bolster the country's defenses to the point that "I don't think we will lose a war.".


♦ BBC, 2023-9-28: National University of Singapore Drew Thompson:  the "centre of gravity" for any China-Taiwan naval conflict would not likely be in the deep waters off the island's east coast, where submarines would be most effective in...Instead, the main theatre of war would be in the shallower waters of the west coast facing mainland China... The submarine is not optimised for a counter invasion role...
NewsWeek, 2023-9-29:  A senior researcher at RAND: The relatively shallow, choppy waters of the Taiwan Strait were well-suited for masking submarines but also harder to operate in.  Policy experts in the U.S.  have urged Taipei to adopt an asymmetric defense strategy based on "lots of small, deadly things¡Xanti-ship missiles, anti-air missiles, etc.¡Xthat would make Taiwan a porcupine." Such an approach would become more useful, and submarines less so
The Diplomat, 2023-9-30:  The ODC ( typically utilizes large numbers of cheaper, smaller, shorter-range, and more survivable weapons systems.) appears to have fallen out of favor as a result of institutional opposition, even though the United States has sought to pressure the government to focus on less gold-plated procurement projects.
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¡» Reuters, 2023-9-28: Taiwan says" it's not likely for them (China) to do anything major to threaten Taiwan or anything so visible that the Taiwanese people understand that they are trying to intervene in our election" ¡» Economist, 2023-9-26: Taiwanese voters will in effect be asked to decide whether Taiwan should remain aligned with America in strengthening deterrence against a possible Chinese invasion, or should move towards building ties with China. The opposition Kuomintang has called the vote a choice between ¡§war and peace¡¨, implying that the ruling Democratic Progressive Party¡¦s hostility towards China will provoke it to attack.  China...narratives that portray America, not China, as the island's biggest threat.   ¡» Washington Examiner, 2023-9-26: Americans are increasingly concerned over tensions between China and Taiwan, with more than 80% reporting the problem is "somewhat" or "very serious" for the U.S.  ¡» full text 

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¡» The Daily Caller, 2023-9-24: China is on the fast track to wage war against Taiwan ¡X and the US, experts say.  China has been preparing for the possibility of fighting the U.S. over Taiwan going back to around 1996 or 1997 after realizing Washington intended to preserve the status quo of Taiwan's semi-autonomy, experts explained. ¡» 19FortyFive, 2023-9-21: China is building a powerful military to beat America in a war over Taiwan; China is readying for war today ¡» 1945, 2023-9-20: China's military is preparing to invade Taiwan . China's military has developed advanced methods for depriving the Americans of their vaunted advantage in space, threatening the US in the cyber domain, and possibly disrupting the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum to sabotage American forces ¡»  New York post, 2023-9-19: PLA would have to do a combined amphibious and airborne air assault operation, which is an incredibly complicated joint operation to be able to do ¡»  Reuters, 2023-9-19: Chinese blockade of Taiwan would likely fail, Pentagon official says   ¡» Military, 2023-9-13:  By 37% to 22%, Americans on a bipartisan basis believe we should militarily protect Taiwan  ¡» Daily Express, 2023-9-9: China has reached the "height of its power" which may prompt Beijing to launch an invasion of Taiwan, former National Security Advisor John Bolton exclusively told Daily Express US; the United States was not ready ... - something which Beijing would see as an ¡§opportunity¡¨¡» Foreign Policy,2023-9-5:  China could exploit its geographical proximity and advancing capabilities to win a regional war against Taiwan.  U.S. deterrence against China ( to convince Chinese President Xi Jinping that an attack would fail. ) is not working.  The U.S. military may merely need to raise China's perception that any conflict would be drawn out and exceedingly costly. ¡»  American Legion, 2023-9-6: Some predictions have estimated war could break out as early as 2029.  Dr. Shelley Rigger, a Davidson College professor, acknowledges that such forecasts are made with careful thought, research and analysis. Still, she says, it's a situation in flux. ¡»  Washington Examiner, 2023-9-6:  Former President  Donald Trump  hinted that he would not order a U.S. military intervention against  China  were it to attack Taiwan  ¡» Daily Express (UK), 2023-9-2: WW3 fears explode as China warns US of 'imminent storm of lethal consequences' over Taiwan after President Joe Biden announced more military aid for Taiwan from a fund typically used for sovereign states. ¡» Sky News (Australia), 2023-9-1:Taipei is no Kyiv: Taiwan is playing a dangerous game by using the war in Ukraine as an 'inspirational' example of how to fight off an invading force ¡» Daily Express (UK), 2023-8-27: China sparks major war fears as dozens of aircraft and vessels either crossed the median line of the sensitive Taiwan Strait or breached Taiwan's air defence identification zone in a major escalation. Former Defense Intelligence Agency officer Matt Shoemaker told Daily Express US the chances new military packages will repel an invasion are low. ¡» The Telegraph, 2023-8-22: China's Taiwan invasion: Battle for the Strait will be a colossal missile duel ¡» Washington Examiner, 2023-8-22: China boasts record-high military recruitment, if military aid (Taiwan war) is needed, America's sagging recruitment numbers could be a problem.

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Using Foreign Military Financing ¡]¢Ô¢Û¢Ô¡^ program to transfer military aid to Taiwan will likely infuriate China.

USA China

 ♣ CNN (2023-8-30): US approves first-ever military aid to Taiwan through program typically used for sovereign nations

 ♣ Bloomberg (2023-8-31): The Foreign Military Financing mechanism covers international organizations as well as nations
 ♣ VOA News (2023-8-30):  previous arms sales to Taiwan have been approved under other authorities that do not necessarily imply statehood. U.S. officials were quick to say that the provision of FMF funding to Taiwan did not represent a change in policy. It's a position the Chinese are sure to disagree with
 ♣ The Hill (2023-9-1): the first time the U.S. has provided military assistance under FMF to Taiwan and the second time it¡¦s given it to a non-nation-state, the first being to the African Union.

 ♣ The Hill (2023-9-1): China says it ¡¥deplores¡¦ US military transfer to Taiwan
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 ♣ GT (2023-8-31): Whether it was Biden's use of "presidential authority" to provide military aid to Taiwan in late July, or this first-ever military aid through the so-called "Foreign Military Financing program," Washington is impatiently applying the model of military assistance to Ukraine to the Taiwan region.

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Council on Foreign Relations, 2023-8-29   China VS. Taiwan

¡@ China Taiwan
active duty forces 2,035,000 170,000
artillery 9,800 1,200
principle surface combatants 139 57
fighter jets 1900 300
bombers and attack aircraft 450 0
submarines 71 2
cfr.org/blog/taiwan-announced-record-defense-budget-it-enough-deter-china

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  ¡» The Conversation, 2023-8-16: According to  some Taiwanese observers, the people of Taiwan would be unwilling to pay such a heavy price (Ukraine is paying a heavy price in terms of  lost lives and a shattered economy) to preserve its political autonomy. ¡» The WarZone, 2023-8-16:  Taiwan's arsenal of counterstrike weapons like the HF-2E would not be sufficient to outright stop an actual invasion from the mainland.  ¡» The Hill, 2023-8-8: More ominously, the failure of the world's toughest-ever sanctions regime to bring Russia to heel could embolden China's expansionist designs against Taiwan, especially since similar sanctions against Beijing would have even less impact. Yet the U.S. is still not giving sufficient priority to deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan.  ¡» Washington Examiner, 2023-8-7:  the predictable outcome now seems all but certain: whether during Taiwan vice-president Lai's visit or in the weeks following, the two nations' recent detente will fade amid their intractable political differences ¡» ABC News, 2023-7-30:  China has accused the United States of turning Taiwan into an ¡§ammunition depot¡¨, which will not deter its will to unify the island ¡» ABC News, 2023-7-28:  The Japanese government has stepped up its alarm over Chinese assertiveness and Taiwan tensions, warning in 2023 defense white paper¡» Daily Express, 2023-7-23: Japan says:  If people all over the world have the will to support Taiwan, it would be very possible that we will provide some kind of support to Taiwan...the government would need to first secure the support of the population before intervening. ¡»  Financial Times, 2023-7-23: Washington is reducing some long-term deployments in the Indo-Pacific,...the US's decision to help Ukraine only with weapons and the wavering of some European countries about support for Kyiv do not bode well for Taiwan ¡» BBC, 2023-7-21: Much of the #MeToo focus is still on sexual harassment, and "large-scale exposure" of sexual assault is yet to happen, that can only happen with more resources legal and counselling support from the state.   The government must extend the statute of limitations for prosecuting sexual harassment cases, which is currently six months.  ¡» Washington Post, 2023-7-17:  Taiwan abandoning the One China framework aggravates the risk of war ¡» ResponsibleStatecraft.org, 2023-7-17: War with China over Taiwan? Don't expect US allies (Japan, Australia, Korea, Philippines, Thailand) to join  ¡» Reason, 2023-7-19: According to a January survey by the Brookings Institute, 62 percent of respondents said that Pelosi's visit "made Taiwan less secure." ¡»  full text ¡»

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¡»   What would be the signs that a PLA invasion is in the planning ?

Economist, 2023-7-27: China would want to secure adequate supplies of commodities, namely energy ( coal, gas, oil - one of the best indicators ), food and metals (unusual metal-buying patterns,  export controls on rare-earth metals  ) and to reduce the country's dependence on the dollar. China might move its foreign-exchange reserves out of dollars and euros and into assets such as gold,  and probably tighten its capital controls, they also might freeze all foreign funds in China, etc   economist.com/china/2023/07/27/could-economic-indicators-signal-chinas-intent-to-go-to-war
National Interest , 2022-11-21:  there would be reliable indications, including surging production of various missiles, rockets, and key munitions, China would take visible steps to insulate its economy, military, and key industries from disruptions and sanctions and would start preparing the population psychologically for the cost of the war....
They might take a strategic advantage, such as by catching the rest of the world off-guard, capitalizing on the chaos and distraction in other countries.  nationalinterest.org/feature/china¡¦s-new-politburo-has-taiwan-its-crosshairs-205909
Japan Times, 2022-10-18: some of indications could be a mix of both short- and long-term economic steps to try and insulate the Chinese economy from external vulnerabilities and to minimize China's dependency on the world while maximizing the world's dependency on China.       Short-term economic indicators are more likely to signal Beijing¡¦s intent. These could include a number of abrupt steps such as freezing foreign financial assets within China, quickly repatriating Chinese assets held abroad, a surge in stockpiling emergency supplies such as medicine or key technology inputs and a suspension of key exports such as critical minerals, refined petroleum products or food. japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/10/18/asia-pacific/signs-china-invasion-taiwan/


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pic.: The websites group was ranked No.1 "understand Taiwan" on Lycos, 2023-9-22, 2023-8-21, 2023-8-8, 2023-7-25, 2023-7-10, 2023-4-30, 2023-3-23, 2023-1-22, 2023-1-15, 2023-1-1, 2022-12-24, 2022-11-29, 2022-11-1, 2022-10-10,2022-10-4, 2022-1-28, 2021-10-8,  2021-9-29, 2021-8-22, 2021-6-16, 2021-6-2, 2021-5-13, 2021-4-17, 3-3-2021, 2-12-2021, 1-20-2021, 11-17-2020, 8-17-2020, 5-13-2020; ps:  No.1 "understand Taiwan" on SearchEncrypt, 2023-1-22, 2022-10-10; No.1 "understand Taiwan" on Excite, 2021-10-8, 2021-8-22, 2021-6-16, 2021-6-2,  2021-5-13, 2021-4-17, 2-12-2021, 1-20-2021, 11-17-2020, 8-17-2020, 05-13-2020

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news:  
¡»   National Review, 2023-7-15: the Chinese military is advantaged if a Taiwan invasion is viewed as a local, limited conflict... Janet YellenIf reelected, president Biden may prefer not to fight for Taiwan. ¡»  CSIS.org, 2023-6-29:  Fundamentally, both the August and April exercises were suggestive of an ¡§encirclement¡¨ of Taiwan using PLA Navy forces;  the April exercises were no less significant than those in August. ¡» Yahoo Finance, SCMP, 2023-6-23:  Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) called on the United States to "bolster deterrence" against any attempt by Beijing to use "force or coercion to achieve unification with Taiwan"; The Americans were "not keen on" improving ties with Beijing, with Washington tilting more towards "strategic clarity" on Taiwan policy instead of its stated "strategic ambiguity". ¡»  New York Post, 2023-6-19: Blinken ruffles feathers by stating US "does not support Taiwan independence" ¡V as an inappropriate kowtow to America's greatest adversary.  ¡»  Bloomberg, 2023-6-15: US Presses Taiwan Opposition Candidate Over China Policies; Washington will want to be assured that KMT's Hou has ¡§a clear stance on China and international policy..."    ¡»  National Interest, 2023-6-15:  If China launches an invasion without first destroying America's military assets in the region, its ships will be left vulnerable to attack. However, if it launches a preemptive strike on U.S. forces, especially on American soil in Guam, it will experience the full wrath of a vengeful United States  ¡»  Washington Post, 2023-6-14: Biden and Xi recognize that war between the two nations would be suicidal for both. They understand that the most dangerous flash point is Taiwan. While the nations¡¦ differences over Taiwan are irreconcilable, irreconcilable does not mean unmanageable  ¡» Wall Street Journal, 2023-6-7: Sexual misconduct allegations roil Taiwan's U.S.-friendly ruling party¡»  Bloomberg, 2023-6-7: Taiwan president apologizes twice in week for #MeToo allegations, Tsai: ¡§We¡¦ve also seen such cases are everywhere, not only in the DPP or other political parties..." ¡»  USNI, 2023-6-7: on paper Taiwan fields one of the world¡¦s most advanced ASCMs, but we don¡¦t have the data on actual performed real combat.¡¨; Taiwan has not been transparent about how many missiles it can make. there are ¡§rumors [sic] about slow production¡¨ related to ¡§hang-ups in the defense [sic] industrial complex¡¨ and Taiwan is ¡§struggling to produce large numbers of anything.¡¨;  Taipei has to decide whether to continue dividing resources across two different strategies - a traditional navy or an asymmetric one   ¡»  full text 

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National Interest, 2023-7-16    -   Willing to fight ?

China Taiwan
a study conducted by Adam Y. Liu and Xiaojun Li, 55 percent of the respondents supported ¡§launching a unification war ¡¨ while 33 percent opposed it ...  another online survey in ThinkChina and Taiwan Inside, 53.1 percent supported armed unification with Taiwan, while 39.19 percent opposed it among Chinese elites.  Instead of making a commitment to defend their territory, most Taiwanese people have a huge hope to rely on external support, particularly from the United States... extension of the compulsory conscription program received backlash from younger Taiwanese.


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Taiwan war  -   ready to fight ?
Taiwan China
¡» Wall Street Journal, 2023-7-5:  Taiwan is far from ready, Taiwan's military budget is still only 2.4% of the GDP¡Xcompared with about 5% in Israel.  The professionalism and motivation of Taiwan's military are a particular concern. A lot of young people who signed up for the four-year volunteer force decided to pay a penalty and dropped out early because they say they had come for the money¡Xnot to fight and not to die   wsj.com/articles/taiwan-china-ukraine-russia-hong-kong-military-war-517b87d?siteid=yhoof2&yptr=yahoo    Yaroslav Trofimov    Joyu Wang ¡» Sky News Australia, 2023-7-8:  Xi calls for 'enhanced war planning'

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¡» WION 2023-7-7:  Xi says the PLA must dare to fight. Beijing has ramped up political and military pressure on Taipeimsn.com/en-in/video/watch/dare-to-fight-chinas-president-inspects-forces-in-flashpoint-region-near-taiwan-details/vi-AA1dxGfN

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World's Best Hospitals 2023
by Newsweek & Statista
comparison among Asia's selected ten countries - Taiwan's best hospital  ranks world No.249 in top 250 list

newsweek.com/rankings/worlds-best-hospitals-2023

Asia's rank

country

total number of top 250  hospitals

1 Japan 18
2 S. Korea 18
3 Australia 7
4 Singapore 5
5 Israel 3
6 India 3
7 Thailand 1
8 UAE 1
9 Taiwan 1
10 Saudi Arabia 0
Taiwan's NTU Hospital ranks world No. 249
Asia's China, etc are not included in survey list - in total 28 countries
Taiwan's NTU Hospital ranks behind selected hospitals of Thai. and UAE 

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¡¹ TaiwanPlus, 2023-3-6: A poll

¡¹ Voice of America, 2022-11-23:  "black gold"-"heijin." Corruption in Local Politics (elections)

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news:  
¡»   National Review, 2023-5-31: the distance between the embarkation ports on the English Channel and the Normandy coast are eerily similar to the distance across the Taiwan Strait. An amphibious invasion would be an amazingly complex and risky operation. Unless Japan, Australia, Britain, and, most importantly, the United States ¡X preemptively announced that they would not intervene ¡» Bloomberg, 2023-5-31: China could decide to launch a series of actions short of war ¡X seizing one of Taiwan's small outlying islands, say, or interfering with Taiwanese shipping ... without provoking a US military response. ¡» Washington Post, 2023-5-29: Choosing Taiwan over Ukraine is frighteningly misguided. Yes, China is a greater military threat than present-day Russia.  A turn toward Taiwan will most likely cause us to fail in both places. ¡» Sky News (Australia), 2023-5-28 : Analysts warn the  ¡¥nuclear umbrella¡¦ agreement could be globally catastrophic as it would mean the US could use nuclear weapons if Taiwan was attacked.   ¡»  Asia Times, 2023-5-27:  With the inherent disadvantages of the Taiwanese armed forces and the unwillingness of even the US to commit officially to the island¡¦s defense, Taiwan¡¦s government has explored increasing engagement with the private sphere to ensure its security. ¡»   Fortune, 2023-5-21: Warren Buffett  told Japan'Nikkei that the threat of war was a ¡§consideration¡¨ in dumping the bulk of the stake in TSMC. Musk told the Financial Times that a conflict over Taiwan is inevitable. His comments did not go over well in Taiwan ¡» The Guardian, 2023-5-22: over 90% of the world's semiconductors are made in the place many US officials think could be the site of the next global conflict: Taiwan. ¡» The Hill, 2023-5-16: China says ready to ¡¥smash¡¦ Taiwan self-rule as US prepares major arms package, sends advisers ¡» Financial Times, 2023-5-15: even if the US had a broader plan to thwart Chinese economic growth, any such efforts would probably be unsuccessful. Xi should understand that global political power flows from economic power. China does not need to win a shooting war to expand its international power and influence.  ¡»  19FortyFive, 2023-5-10: Chinese military doctrine calls for robust strikes in cyberspace, in space (with counter-space weapons meant to disable critical U.S. military satellites), across the electromagnetic spectrum, and utilizing long-range missiles designed to destroy critical U.S. military installations in Guam, Japan, and throughout the region. ¡» Taiwan News, 2023-5-9:  Defense minister says Taiwan will not let US 'blow up TSMC' during Chinese attack , in response to a suggestion by U.S. Congressman Seth Moulton that the U.S. should warn China that it would "blow up" Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) if it attacked Taiwan. ¡» Business Insider, 2023-5-3: In first-of-its-kind drill, US Army special operators train to defend Taiwan against Chinese attack, while the "ultimate backstop" remains America's nuclear capabilities, according to the Pentagon's National Defense Strategy ¡»  Daily Express, UK, 2023-5-3: WW3 fears as Taiwan issues a threatening statement about how it intends to handle imminent China invasion ¡» Washington Examiner, 2023-4-25:  a war over Taiwan is, in the best case, a war the U.S. may still lose... the provision of Javelin anti-tank and Stinger anti-air missiles to Ukraine comes as an undeniable detriment to Taiwan's defensive potential.  Both might decide the outcome of the next war ¡» The Guardian, 2023-4-14:  German foreign minister warns of ¡¥horror scenario¡¦ in Taiwan strait ¡» Daily Express, 2023-4-14: Americans ready to fight China to keep Taiwan independent as WW3 fears ramp up ¡»  Daily Express, 2023-4-14:  Taiwan warns China ready to 'launch war' as Beijing looking to teach US lesson ¡» Newsweek, 2023-3-31:  "Tsai's visit to the U.S. can be seen as a face-saving way for the U.S. to avoid another Pelosi-like fiasco from which it is still paying a price in global standing," " At the same time, Ma's visit to China shows there is strong desire on both sides of the Taiwan Straits for a peaceful solution."  ¡»  Foreign Affairs, 2023-3-21: J. Chen Weiss: Alarm Over a Chinese Invasion Could Become a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy The hard but crucial task for U.S. policymakers is to thread the needle between deterrence and provocation...stray too far toward the latter, inadvertently provoking the very conflict U.S. policymakers seek to deter ¡» Bloomberg, 2023-3-17: Goldman Says US Banking Stress Puts Korea, Taiwan Stocks at Risk ¡» HuffPost, 2023-3-15: Taiwan Shuts Down Another Nuclear Plant, risking potentially deadly blackouts this summer, rendering the self-governing island more vulnerable to a Chinese blockade, and threatening a surge in greenhouse gases from one of the world¡¦s top 25 emitters... nuclear reactors were all built under a military dictatorship in the 1970s...attempted to develop nuclear weapons. ¡»  Economist, 2023-3-6: Taiwan needs to prioritise becoming a porcupine, but they continue to build big ships and to buy better planes partly as a public-relations exercise. Politicians like to point to arms sales as evidence of American support. Better weapons boost morale. ¡» Washington Post, ABC news, 2023-2-27: CIA chief:  Xi Jinping has instructed his country's military to ¡§be ready by 2027¡¨ to invade Taiwan; China has some doubt on ability to invade Taiwan ¡» EurAsian Times, 2023-2-26:  "No Boots On Ground': Majority Of US Voters' Chicken Out¡¦ From Sending Soldiers To Taiwan To Battle China ¡»Bloomberg, 2023-2-22: Holding off the PLA for two weeks is a key goal of Taiwan's military because it would allow time for the US and other allies to come to its aid. ¡»  Japan Times, 2023-2-19:  There is no evidence that China is in a hurry to attack Taiwan, despite a number of U.S. government and military officials citing 2027 or even 2025 as a potential deadline for forcible unification ¡» Daily Express (UK), 2023-2-17: A "proxy war" between China and the US over Taiwan could happen during the Biden presidency  ¡» Washington Examiner, 2023-2-17:  New House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman: Ukraine is capable of fighting on their own if we give them the weapons. Taiwan cannot fight this war alone, even if we gave them the weapons.  ¡» Wall Street Journal, 2023-1-26:  Washington is strategically unprepared for a crisis and Biden's policies are hampering deterrence ; If  Lai Ching-te (a staunch proponent of the island's independence) does win, Beijing could move quickly to invade. ¡»  USA Today, 2023-1-20: Taiwan's envoy to the US says her island has learned lessons from Ukraine's war that will help it deter, defend against an attack by China. Among the lessons: preparing for the kind of all-of-society fight Ukrainians are waging against Russia ¡» AFP, 2023-1-21:  Blinken sees lower US tensions with China but risks on Taiwan  ¡» CNN, 2023-1-20:  In Taiwan, ex-conscripts feel unprepared for potential China conflict ¡» WSJ, 2023-1-19: The Heritage Foundation's latest 'Index of U.S. Military Strength' warns of declining power in the U.S. Navy and Air Force. Taiwan  is ramping up its spending on defense but its conscription and readiness are underwhelming. ¡» New York Post, 2023-1-14:  the U.S. needs to speed up its military shipments to Taiwan, specifically long-range bombers with long-range anti-ship missiles. ¡»The SUN, 2023-1-14: Taking Taiwan could even require Beijing to muster a force of two million troops, ...US should help arm Taiwan with missiles to DESTROY Shanghai to stop Chinese invasion, says ex-general ¡» Washington Post, 2023-1-9: Taiwan needs to be prepared to withstand a lengthy siege but has not stockpiled nearly enough energy, food, medicine or ammunition. It has only about 10 days of natural gas supplies in reserve... Unfortunately, a lot of Taiwanese still don¡¦t seem to grasp how perilous their situation is. ¡» The American SPECTATOR, 2023-1-5: coming crisis over Taiwan is now popularly treated as a foregone conclusion...What is more likely is that China will wait a while longer, probably until the early 2030s.¡»Wall Street Journal, 2022-12-28:  Military conscription is a good start, but leaders in Taipei need to act with greater urgency still  ¡» Insider, 2022-12-29: Easton: It would be very difficult and dangerous for the PLA to try to move on Taiwan proper without first suppressing Kinmen, the Penghus, and the Matsu islands (with a substantial number of missiles ) ¡»  France 24, 2022-12-26: Seventy-one warplanes deployed by China in war drills - the largest reported incursion to date ¡» Modern War Institute at West point, 2022-12-19: Taiwan has mostly accepted the need to shift to a ¡§porcupine strategy¡¨ ... implementation has been slow. And Taiwan has neglected to cultivate the guerrilla-style resistance forces that will be necessary to counter an occupation. ¡» Wall Street Journal, 2022-11-23:  ...the persistent fecklessness of Taiwanese government's defense policy, whose bottom line is that the island should be defended by others while Taiwan's youth can continue to play video games.¡» Economist, 2022-11-18: Will Taiwan be the Ukraine of Asia? The status quo is breaking down, making war more likely   ¡» Fortune, 2022-11-19:  U.S. restrictions on selling advanced computer chips to China could make invading Taiwan more tempting to Beijing. U.S. faces ¡¥immediate Great Depression¡¦ if China seizes Taiwan¡¦s semiconductor industry ¡» USNI, 2022-11-7: Pentagon official: China will increase pressure on Taiwan in next two years rather than invade   ¡» The Atlantic, 2022-11-7: Because Taiwan is an island, it will be difficult to resupply in the event of hostilities; Taiwan needs support now ¡» WarOnTheRocks, 2022-10-28: U.S. support for Ukraine and other dynamics have led some to question if the current administration is truly prioritizing Taiwan ¡» New York Times, 2022-10-20:  The longer, written version of Xi's speech also stated that China has strengthened its ¡§strategic initiative for China¡¦s complete reunification,¡¨ suggesting greater urgency for its future plans ¡» BBC, 2022-10-18: China is pursuing unification with Taiwan "on a much faster timeline" than previously expected, Blinken says, Beijing had decided the status quo was no longer acceptable ¡»  Newsweek, 2022-10-21: Beijing has responded to the U.S. Navy's warning of a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan as soon as this year by cautioning Washington against any intervention on the sensitive geopolitical issue ¡» Daily Express, 2022-10-21: the 'Weakness' of US could 'encourage' China's efforts to blockade Taiwan; Experts urged the US to stand firm against Beijing ¡» The Diplomat, 2022-10-21:  recent polling has indicated over 50 percent of Americans support coming to Taiwan's defense if an invasion were to occur 

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Bloomberg, 2022-11-3: a senior Chinese diplomat in Washington pushes back on American warnings and denies Beijing has timetable for unification with Taiwan
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pic.: No.1  "understand Taiwan" on Yahoo Taiwan, 2023-4-30; No.1  "understand Taiwan" on US Yahoo search engine, 2022-4-9, 2022-1-4, 2021-12-27, 2021-12-10, 2021-12-4, 2021-11-20, 2021-11-10, 2021-10-27; No.2 or top "understanding Taiwan" on US Yahoo search engine, 2022-3-20, 2021-12-27

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pic.: The sites-group was ranked No.1 by "understand Taiwan" on MetaGER of Europe, 2022-11-29, 2022-10-10, 2022-10-4, 2021-10-8, 2021-9-29, 2021-8-22, 2021-6-16, 5-13-2020,  4-3-2020, 2-5-2020, 12-31-2019, 12-10-2019, No.2 at 2023-4-30, 2021-5-13, 2021-4-18, 3-3-2021, 2-13-2021

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Chinese Communist Party Congress  

¡» CNBC, 2022-10-18 Political watchers say the (CCP Congress) speech showed that Xi is not be keen to take Taiwan by force
¡» NY Times, 2022-10-16 China is still exerting what Xi also uses in the speech ¡X ¡¥strategic patience'
¡» LA Times, 2022-10-16 Chinese Communist Party Congress affords another step for Xi Jinping's consolidation of power

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CBS, 2022-9-18:  Biden "U.S. forces, U.S. men and women would defend Taiwan"

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DW (Germany), 2022-9-19 scholars: "it can lead to very different results than what Biden might be thinking he has the capacity to do,"," US "strategic ambiguity is becoming more strategic and less ambiguous." dw.com/en/biden-us-forces-would-defend-taiwan-if-china-invades/a-63166248
Le Monde (France), 2022-9-19 Alors que l¡¦occupant de la Maison Blanche a tenu des propos forts sur le dossier taïwanais dimanche soir, la Chine a dénoncé « une grave violation de [son] engagement important à ne pas soutenir l¡¦indépendance de Taïwan .   lemonde.fr/international/article/2022/09/19/joe-biden-affirme-que-les-etats-unis-defendraient-taiwan-en-cas-d-invasion-chinoise_6142183_3210.html
Japan Times (Japan), 2022-9-20 Cornell prof. called Biden's remarks ¡§dangerous",  this new combo (a pledge to send troops + decisions about independence are Taiwan¡¦s) suggests an unconditional commitment, U.S. is issuing Taiwan a blank check japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/09/20/asia-pacific/politics-diplomacy-asia-pacific/biden-taiwan-remarks-uncertainty/
Bloomberg, 2022-9-20 ¡§Such comments will do more to feed Beijing's sense of urgency than they will bolster deterrence¡¨ Taiwan's leaders could move closer to independence ¡X U.S. allies like Japan or South Korea will almost certainly be made more uneasy... risks pulling them into a war    msn.com/en-us/news/world/biden-s-vow-to-defend-taiwan-makes-us-policy-shift-explicit/ar-AA123qxX
 France 24 (France), 2022-9-19  most explicit statement so far on the issue, something sure to anger Beijing.Biden's Asia policy czar, Kurt Campbell, has in the past rejected any move to "strategic clarity" over Taiwan, saying there were "significant downsides" to such an approach¡¨msn.com/en-gb/news/world/biden-says-us-forces-would-defend-taiwan-if-china-invades/ar-AA11YIsO
Daily Express (UK), 2022-9-19 Bonnie Glaser: " if Mr Biden makes such pledges he needs the "capability" to back them up, If President Biden plans to defend Taiwan, then he should make sure the U.S. military has the capability to do so", ¡§"Rhetorical support that isn't backed up by real capabilities is unlikely to strengthen deterrence express.co.uk/news/world/1671100/Joe-Biden-Taiwan-China-Xi-Jinping-CBS-Nancy-Pelosi-White-House-ont
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No guarantee that U.S. military will hold the same view as Biden to defend Taiwan

♣ Foreign Policy, Politico, 2022-10-2: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin declined to directly endorse President Joe Biden¡¦s statement that the U.S. military would defend Taiwan   politico.com/news/2022/10/02/lloyd-austin-china-taiwan-biden-00059922
The Hill, 2022-10-3: US defense chief sidesteps questions on Biden¡¦s pledge to defend Taiwan news.yahoo.com/us-defense-chief-sidesteps-questions-200504858.html
VICE, 2022-9-28:  no guarantee that the next U.S. president will hold the same view as Biden, given the lack of a formal commitment by the U.S. military to intervene in the event of an attack by the PLA  vice.com/en/article/m7gp7v/taiwan-defense-china-invasion-conscripts

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Contrast    Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1995/96 and 2022

¡» New York Times, 2022-8-5 the U.S. military had ordered the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan to ¡§remain on station¡¨ in the region but some distance from the entrance to the Taiwan Strait.¡A... during a crisis in 1996, when President Bill Clinton moved aircraft carriers closer to the strait.  (PS: and conducted large scale drills  zh.m.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/¥xÆW®ü®l­¸¼u¦M¾÷ ) nytimes.com/2022/08/04/world/asia/taiwan-china-military-drills.html
¡» New York Times, 2022-8-4 ... failing to move more naval forces into the region, the United States would be perceived by Mr. Xi as less committed to the region than Mr. Clinton was a quarter century ago.
¡» United Daily (Taiwan) , 2022-8-5 The drill has been conducted under US tacit permission, which shakes the policy of peaceful resolution...  udn.com/news/story/11091/6515486?from=udn_ch2cate6643sub11091_pulldownmenu_v2
¡»  USA Today, 2022-8-6 National Security Council:U.S. would postpone intercontinental ballistic missile test scheduled... reducing the risks of miscalculation and misperception news.yahoo.com/china-halts-climate-military-ties-152347684.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
¡»   Global Times (China), 2022-8-5 the US Navy's Ronald Reagan carrier strike group retreated hundreds of kilometers eastward overnight, after the PLA announced live-fire exercise zones east of the island¡C

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China's Missiles over Taiwan  in 2022-8-5

¡»  CNN, 2022-8-4 missiles flying over the island marked a significant escalation
¡» New York Times, 2022-8-3 China's CCTV stated that one of the missiles flew over Taiwan, marking another escalation of Chinese pressure on the island and risking serious miscalculation.

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Can "silicon shield"
protect Taiwan?

New York Times, 2022-9-9 Taiwan is protected by something far more subtle ¡XThe "silicon shield"...If it is clear that China will be better off with a steady flow of chips from Taiwan, peace is likely to prevail
New York Times, 2022-8-29 Analysts debate how much protection China's reliance on Taiwan gives it.  Some argue that calculations over supply chains are insignificant in a decision over war.
 National Interest, 2022-5-15 Taiwan's ¡§silicon shield¡¨¡Xthe name for a strategy that entrusts the island's defense to both Chinese and American reliance on its semiconductors¡Xis an outmoded concept that burdens the United States, emboldens Taiwan, and fails to deter China
VOA News, 2021-5-10 Song Hong, assistant general director at the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences  shrugged off the geopolitical implications of Taiwan¡¦s silicon shield, saying that China views Taiwanese issues as domestic affairs and will not be deterred from its goals by U.S. action
Fox News, 2022-8-26  Why would the U.S. fight China over Taiwan, Trade is the key reason and the aforementioned importance of semiconductor production is the glue
New York Times, 2022-1-25 75 percent of production takes place in East Asia.  Ninety percent of the most advanced chips are made in Taiwan...China could use economic coercion, cyberoperations and hybrid tactics to try to seize or harm Taiwan's semiconductor industry ¡X Biden promised he would work to bring production of semiconductor chips back to the United States.  nytimes.com/2022/01/26/us/politics/computer-chip-shortage-taiwan.html
 CBS News, 2022-9-25 Blinken said. "[Which is] one of the reasons we're now investing so heavily in our own capacity to produce semiconductors here in the United States. We designed them, but the actual production is done in a handful of places, and Taiwan produces most of them¡K The effects that that would have on the global economy would be devastating."

 
Taiwan dominates the global production of computer chips /

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BBC, 2022-1-12, source: The Military Balnce, IISS 2021

Taiwan S. Korea China Other
65% 18% 5% 12%

news.yahoo.com/china-taiwan-really-simple-guide-142542268.html

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News
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BBC, 2022-10-18: China is pursuing unification with Taiwan "on a much faster timeline" than previously expected, Blinken says, Beijing had decided the status quo was no longer acceptable ¡» CNBC, 2022-10-18: Political watchers say the (CCP Congress) speech showed that Xi is not be keen to take Taiwan by force ¡» New York Times, 2022-10-17: China's leader warns of ¡§perilous, stormy seas" ahead ¡» TIME, 2022-10-11: Defending far-off Taiwan ...is about defending Americans' security, liberties, and prosperity ¡» Economist, 2022-10-10:  In Washington, there is talk of intelligence that the pla has been told to be in a position to take Taiwan by 2027...The liberal political order is at stake ¡» Forbes, 2022-10-3: Defense Secretary Austin: Chinese Invasion Of Taiwan Not 'Imminent'; ¡§What we do see is China moving to establish what we would call a new normal". ¡» LA Times, 2022-9-11: China's leaders know their power is about to diminish, and that will make them more likely to take risks in the short run ¡X to invade Taiwan, for example ¡» The Global and Mail (Canada), 2022-9-10: Taiwan's long-term survival prospects are much worse than Ukraine's... it would probably take Taiwan five years of defence spending at 5 per cent of GDP, ... a return to several years of conscription and large active reserves in the Israeli model  ¡» Foreign Policy,2022-9-8: strategic priorities, budgets, and acquisition limitations, are preventing Taipei from laying in the critical war-reserve materiel it would need to against PLA ¡» War on the Rocks, 2022-9-7: In Taiwan, many young citizens concluded that conscription was a waste of time and a tedious chore....those with political connections seek to be posted in cities rather than at the border or in the field. ¡» Bloomberg , 2022-9-7: China Invading Taiwan Is ¡¥Distinct Threat¡¦¡» Weekend Australian , 2022-9-7: Best way to avoid war is to arm Taiwan ¡» NY Times, 2022-9-4: Washington is increasingly wary that an emboldened China might invade Taiwan in the coming years. ¡» Washington Examiner, 2022-9-6: Taiwan sees Bidens political-fears weakening us-strategy to counter china ¡»  Daily Express (UK), 2022-8-29: WW3 looming as 'no good options' remain in 'dangerous' China-US conflict over Taiwan  ¡»  NY Times, 2022-8-25: China could try to impose a blockade to force the island into concessions or as a precursor to wider military action  ¡» NY Times, 2022-8-21: critics argued the tensions over Taiwan showed that Washington needed stronger military and economic strategies. ¡» War on the Rosks, 2022-8-22: Some five to nine missiles passed over Taiwan en route to targets east of the main island ¡» Economist, 2022-8-11: America has changed,...it began to doubt that it was worth defending...there is little doubt that America would join a fight over Taiwan today...  Japan ...has indicated that it could intervene in a war...Taiwan must also show more willingness to defend itself ¡» NY Times, 2022-8-11: Taiwan, which has struggled with accidents and morale in the face of such a would-be foe as China. By many accounts, Taiwan's forces are poorly equipped and understaffed ¡» Washington Post, 2022-8-11: Beijing is now focusing on taking the island by force, not through peaceful reunification  ¡» Economist, 2022-8-10: Ms Pelosi's visit has allowed Beijing to move to a new level of military activity unchallenged, which will make it harder for America to defend Taiwan. ¡» BBC, 2022-8-9: Beijing firing missiles over Taiwan - have become "acceptable" - because they have happened, and Beijing has got away with it. this becomes the new standard  ¡» NY Times, 2022-8-8: China's drills near Taiwan is a sign that Beijing will keep up its military pressure on Taiwan, and could be normalizing its presence around the island before gradually cutting off access to its airspace and waters ¡» NY Times, 2022-8-7: China¡¦s leader has made it clearer than any of his predecessors that he sees unifying Taiwan with China to be a primary goal of his rule ¡» The Hill, 2022-8-6: Taiwan...too economically dependent on China to withstand an economic cold war with Beijing.¡» Wall Street Journal, 2022-8-5: Xi Jinping appears to be preparing for an even more consequential onslaught against Taiwan... it could trigger a conflict that would make the war in Ukraine look minor by comparison ¡» New York Times, 2022-8-3: failing to move more naval forces into the region, the United States would be perceived by Mr. Xi as less committed to the region than Mr. Clinton was a quarter century ago. ¡» New York Times, 2022-8-2: China is preparing a hostile response of some sort...This is an exceptionally dangerous situation, perhaps more so than Ukraine  ¡» New York Times, 2022-7-26: The risks to Taiwan from Chinese aggression have gained urgency since Russia's attacks on Ukraine... a sea-and-air invasion of Taiwan would be difficult for China to pull off in the near term. Instead, it could do so piecemeal ¡» NY Times, 2022-7-25: Chinese leaders might try to move against the self-governing island over the next year and a half ¡X perhaps by trying to cut off access to all or part of the Taiwan Strait ¡»The Hill , 2022-7-26: The longer the Biden administration continues delaying and stinting its support for Ukraine without enabling Kyiv to halt and reverse Russia's invasion, the more precarious both Ukraine's and Taiwan's positions become 

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 China published a white paper titled
"The Taiwan Question and China's Reunification in the New Era"

GT, 2022-8-10 the wellbeing of the people in Taiwan hinges on the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation... it will create huge opportunities for social and economic development in Taiwan and bring tangible benefits to the people of Taiwanglobaltimes.cn/page/202208/1272637.shtml
NY Times, 2022-8-15  The 2000 paper said nine times that negotiations between Taiwan and China to determine that framework would be conducted on ¡§equal footing,¡¨ or other similar language. But that pledge appeared only once in the new paper    nytimes.com/2022/08/15/world/asia/china-taiwan-us.html
 Reuters, 2022-8-10 A line in the 2000 white paper that said "anything can be negotiated" as long as Taiwan accepts that there is only one China and does not seek independence, is missing from the latest white paper.  reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-withdraws-promise-not-send-troops-taiwan-after-unification-2022-08-10/
Forbes, Reuters, 2022-8-10 ...in two previous white papers on Taiwan, in 1993 and 2000, that it "will not send troops or administrative personnel to be based in Taiwan" after achieving unification ... is missing from the latest white paper.
ABC news , Australia,
2022-8-1
1
China says there are "profound historical and cultural ties" with Taiwan..."Its economy is highly complementary with that of the mainland."...Taiwanese citizens who would "enjoy a high degree of autonomy as a special administrative region".   msn.com/en-au/news/australia/why-does-china-want-taiwan-when-its-already-so-big-and-rich-the-answer-is-about-more-than-land-and-money/ar-AA10z5KJ
 NBC, 2022-8-10 ... reiterated its desire for ¡§peaceful reunification.¡¨ But it did not rule out the use of force as a ¡§last resort taken under compelling circumstances,¡¨ without specifying what those circumstances might be   nbcnews.com/news/world/is-taiwan-worried-china-threat-invasion-pelosi-visit-rcna41964
United Daily (聯合報), 2022-8-11 這是更為強硬的表態,除了對內部十四億人有所交代,也對國際社會明確堅定表達北京看法,同時也想加大對台軟、硬兩手力度 udn.com/news/story/10930/6528208?from=udn_ch2cate6638sub10930_pulldownmenu_v2
China Daily,
2022-8-12
The white paper received a warm response and wide support from Chinese people at home and abroad, and the DPP authorities' misinterpretation cannot deny that "one country, two systems" is a peaceful, democratic, good-faith and win-win solution   chinadaily.com.cn/a/202208/12/WS62f58be5a310fd2b29e71b7a.html
full text:  https://www.scio.gov.cn/zfbps/32832/Document/1728489/1728489.htm

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pic.: No.1 "understand Taiwan" on US Google, 2022-5-25, 2022-5-14, 2022-4-29, 2022-4-9, 2022-2-15, 2022-1-29, 2021-11-20, 2021-8-22, 2021-8-5, 2021-6-30, 2021-6-16, 2021-4-17; No.2 at 2022-4-21, 2022-3-25, 2022-2-22, 2022-2-15

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US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 2022-4-12 : In 2020 presidential and legislative elections, President Tsai Ing-wen won re-election,...there were allegations of vote buying by candidates and supporters of both major political parties. 

N.Y. Times, 12-1-2019: the soft underbelly of Taiwanese politics: patronage networks. 
They continue to allow
community leaders, farmers¡¦ associations and even
 organized-crime figures to buy votes
 
( NY Times, opinion :
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/01/opinion/china-taiwan-election.html ).

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Transparency International, Taiwan's corruption index ranks No. 7 in Asia & Pacific in 2021

Transparency Int'l   ,  CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX, 2021

country of Asia & Pacific score
New Zealand score 88  No.1
Singapore   No.4
Hong Kong No. 12
Australia No. 18
Japan No. 18
UAE No. 24
Bhutan No. 25
Taiwan score 68 No. 25
transparency.org/en/cpi/2021

US 
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices , 2021-3-30

        state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/taiwan/   Significant human rights issues included: the existence of criminal libel laws and serious acts of corruption Authorities prosecuted officials including incumbent and former legislators involved in a high-profile bribery case.
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¡¹ Transparency International, Germany /  Global Corruption Barometer, released in 2022 -
comparisons among main Asian countries

country

people who think
 government
 corruption
 is a big problem
public service
users
 paid a bribe
in the previous
 12 months
public
clinic,
health
centres
utilities police gov.
officials
local
gov.
officials
judges,
magis-
trates
corruption
level
increased
in previous
12months
Taiwan 90% 17% 9% 28% 67% 19% 20% 15% 38%
Japan 84 2 2 4 10 7 26 6 36
Malaysia 71 13 5 11 30 28 16 12 20
China 62 28 26 17 16 18 18 13 39
S Korea 55 10 6 14 8 26 42 24 17
transparency.org/en/countries/taiwan

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WEF (World Economic Forum) , May 2022
world Travel and Tourism Development Index
weforum.org/reports/travel-and-tourism-development-index-2021/digest

world rank Asia's rank economies/countries score (global average : 4.0)
1 1 Japan 5.2
2 2 USA 5.2
7 3 Australia 5.0
9 4 Singapore 5.0
12 5 China 4.9
15 6 S. Korea 4.8
19 7 Hong Kong 4.6
25 8 UAE 4.5
27 9 New Zealand 4.5
32 10 Indonesia 4.4
33 11 Saudi Arabia 4.3
36 12 Thailand 4.3
38 13 Malaysia 4.3
43 14 Qatar 4.3
52 15 Vietnam 4.1
54 16 India 4.1
74 17 Sri Lanka 3.7
75 18 Philippines 3.7
84 19 Mongolia 3.6
n/a n/a Taiwan n/a
statista.com/statistics/186639/best-ranked-countries-in-the-travel-and-tourism-competetiveness-index/#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20Japan%2C%20the%20United,a%20TTDI%20score%20of%205.1.

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Taiwan's travel & tourism - 13th in Asia
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STATISTA: Leading countries in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI)

  

statista.com/statistics/186639/best-ranked-countries-in-the-travel-and-tourism-competetiveness-index/

Asia Rank

country

score

world Rank

1 Japan 5.4 4
2 Australia 5.1 7
3 China 4.9 13
4 Korea Rep. 4.8 15
5 Hong Kong 4.8 16
6 Singapore 4.8 17
7 New Zealand 4.7 18
8 Malaysia 4.5 25
9 Thailand 4.5 29
10 UAE 4.4 33
11 India 4.4 34
12 Indonesia 4.3 36
13 Taiwan 4.3 37

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Taiwan's travel & tourism  - 10th in Asia

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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
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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
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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

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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

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Taiwan's tourism & travel    vs.    CovID-19

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¡» SCMP, 2022-10-1:  As Taiwan eases some of world¡¦s oldest quarantine rules, remaining curbs and concerns see airlines lament ¡¥half step forward¡¦... Travellers will be allowed outside during the seven-day period if their Covid tests come back negative every two days, but analysts say testing remains a 'deterrent to travel' ... The weekly cap on arrivals will "hamper a full-fledged recovery" in Taiwan's tourism msn.com/en-xl/travel/other/as-taiwan-eases-some-of-world-e2-80-99s-oldest-quarantine-rules-remaining-curbs-and-concerns-see-airlines-lament-e2-80-98half-step-forward-e2-80-99/ar-AA12tLJi

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¡» Reuters, 2022-9-5: Taiwan to resume visa free entry for some countries in latest reopening step  news.yahoo.com/taiwan-resume-visa-free-entry-063459045.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

¡» New York Times, 2022-3-5: Since Tuesday, people in Taiwan have no longer been required to wear masks in settings where they were previously mandatory, both indoors and outdoors: exercising, taking selfies and group photos, driving with household members, in spas and in video broadcasts, speeches and lectures... Taiwan's record (20,717 cases and 853 deaths ) is low by the standards of the hardest-hit countriesnytimes.com/live/2022/03/05/world/covid-19-tests-cases-vaccine

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2022  Michelin stars comparisons among Asian countries

 Michelin cities

number of 3 stars

num. of 2 stars

number of 1 star

total num.

Tokyo (Japan) 12 41 150 203
Hong Kong 7 12 52 71
Kyoto (Japan) 6 19 83 108
Osaka (Japan) 3 11 82 96
Singapore 3 7 41 51
Macau 3 5 7 15
Seoul (Korea) 2 7 24 33
Shanghai (China) 2 8 37 47
Taipei (Taiwan) 1 6 24 31
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migrant workers in Taiwan     https://intlhumanrights.com/TaiwanForeignWorkers.htm
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 The yellow card from the E.U. in 2015 eventually prompted Taiwan to make some changes to its fisheries regulation.
But it's far from good enough, Taiwan never wants a real change since then.

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world media

foreign laborers abuses

SeaFoodSource, 2020-10-1 Taiwan had largely overlooked the rights of migrant fishers  -   immigrant workers with an average of just 2 to 3 hours sleep. If no fish were caught, they were forced to work up to 34 hours straight
The Green Peace Org., 2022-9-29 Taiwan-caught fish once again on Department of Labor's (DOL) List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor
Green Peace, 2022-4-25 The high seas fishing industry uses cost-cutting and illegal fishing tactics, forced labor, and other human rights abuses to stay profitable. greenpeace.org/international/press-release/53401/nine-indicted-abusing-crew-taiwan-fishing-vessel-dawang/
Taiwan News, 2021-1-4 Only four fishing vessels worldwide on blacklist, all owned by Taiwanese companies
The Guardian, 2022-5-9, (theguardian.com/world/2022/may/09/once-a-zero-covid-poster-child-taiwan-learns-to-live-with-the-virus) Taiwan is now dealing with an ¡§Omicron tsunami¡¨. In factories, migrant workers have once again been discriminated against with unequal rule enforcement and eased restrictions  
Financial Times (UK), 2021-6-22
ft.com/content/4269650e-7660-4b80-b294-f81b4368784c
"It has now become extremely common for employers to lock their migrant workers up... ¡¨
The New York Times, 2021-6-18
nytimes.com/2021/06/18/world/asia/taiwan-migrant-labor-covid.html
In Taiwan, some foreign tech workers are confined indoors to tackle an outbreak; Activists say that the measures discriminate against migrant laborers.
Heritage Org., 2021 Index of Economic Freedom In "Labor Freedom" index, Taiwan ranks No. 91 worldwide
 The Guardian (UK), 2021-5-16

theguardian.com/world/2021/may/16/lockdowns-and-panic-buying-in-taiwan-as-covid-cases-rise

Many foreign laborers from Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, entered Taiwan by the name of care-taker but actually illegally worked in these porn parlors in Taipei's Wanhua district,
Brookings, 2021-6-25, brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2021/06/25/taiwans-vitality/  the harsh lockdowns in crowded dormitories of mostly Southeast Asian workers at some technology manufacturing companies have underscored the discrimination that has long been present in Taiwan against peoples of certain nationalities
Business Insider, 2021-5-20 businessinsider.com/taiwan-covid-19-paradise-health-politics-policy-cdc-2021-5 Taiwan ... double standards and stigma still found their way.
Equal Times org., 2021-7-30 (equaltimes.org/taiwan-s-foreign-factory-workers?lang=en#.YQSC6i7iu70) Taiwan¡¦s foreign factory workers face rights violations amid latest Covid outbreak.  ¡§We feel like prisoners. It¡¦s like the company controls every aspect of our lives !"  
US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 2021-3-30 Foreign workers were often reluctant to report employer abuses for fear the employer would terminate their contract
RT TV news (Russia), UDN, 2022-1-24 Two Indonesian migrant laborers got penalty fine in the amount of NY$100,000 (about USD 3,300) for stepping out of their CovID-19 quarantine hotel room for about one minute.

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Times Higher Education ,  World University Rank 2023

timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2023/world-ranking#!/page/7/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats

Rank Taiwan China Korea Hong Kong, Macau Singapore Japan
1~70 ¡@
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16   Tsinghua University Beijing

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17  Peking University Beijing

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51   Fudan University Shanghai

52   Shanghai Jiao Tong University Shanghai

67   Zhejiang University Zhejiang

 56  Seoul National University Seoul


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31  University of Hong Kong

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45  Chinese University of Hong Kong

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58  The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

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19   National University of Singapore

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36   Nanyang Technological University

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39  University of Tokyo
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68  Kyoto

University

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74   University of Science and Technology of China

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95  Nanjing Univ.

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78 Yonsei Univ. (Seoul campus)

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91  Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) Daejeon

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79  Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ. 

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99 City Univ. of Hong Kong
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PS:    National Taiwan University (¥xÆW¤j¾Ç) only got No. 187  (No. 113 in previous year) , number of students per staff  11.4,  female/male  42: 58, int'l students 11%

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Chinese and Taiwanese armed forces / BBC, 2022-1-12, source: TrendForce 2021

¡@ China Taiwan
Active duty personnel 2,035,000 163,000
Ground Force 965,000 88,000
Navy 260,000 40,000
Air Force 395,000 35,000
Strategic missile Forces 120,000 0
Strategic Support Force 145,000 0
Other Forces 150,000 0

news.yahoo.com/china-taiwan-really-simple-guide-142542268.html

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Global Fire Power  /   globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.php?country_id=taiwan

For 2022 China Taiwan
world rank 3 of 140 21 of 140

¡»  Wall street Journal, 2022-3-29: Moves under discussion in Taiwan are still far from the kind of major revamp that some experts in the U.S. and elsewhere say is needed to upgrade Taiwan's military
¡» TIME, 2022-3-18: most analysts say that the island would not be able to stop a full-scale invasion on its own¡Xand Ukraine's situation has sparked debate over whether anyone would come to Taiwan's aid
 
¡» Economist, 2022-3-5: Taiwanese, seem too uninterested to fight to defend their land.... Taiwan's sloth in reforming its defence capabilities...(brief)
¡» Politico, 2022-3-14: Taiwan's military may be rightly criticized for its poorly coordinated forces, and its government has been hesitant to invest in its own defense...PLA would be more motivated than the Russian forces...China¡¦s deep integration into the global economy and the leverage of Beijing's $1,068 billion in treasury bonds would make Western sanctions more painful to implement


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Washington Post, 2022-1-25
 Taiwanese military has limited-to-no experience.

¡» Brookings, 2021-11-1 :  the asymmetric approach has been stretched beyond recognition in recent years by a recalcitrant MND  

¡» WSJ, FoxNews, 2021-10-25 :  the island's military is riven with internal problems...Among the most pressing concerns are poor preparation and low morale among the roughly 80,000 Taiwanese who are conscripted each year and the nearly 2.2 million reservists.
¡» WarOnTheRocks, 2021-12-6: Taiwan claims it must expend significant political capital and effort to convince its population to fight a prolonged war of attrition.  Asking the Taiwanese people to prepare for a long and bloody war of attrition ¡X one that might become a fool's errand if the US ultimately decides to stay on the sidelines.
¡» Global Times, 2021-12-28:  Survey: more than 52.1 percent of people believe the Taiwan authorities are not ready for a war with the Chinese mainland, and 51.3 percent said they do not want to personally or let family members go to the battlefield globaltimes.cn/page/202112/1243629.shtml   ¡ó full text cyber-links 

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Wikipedia : physicians density in Asia  ,  Mar. 2022

Asia's rankings country  physicians
per 10,000 people
1 Qatar 77.4
2 N Korea 33
3 Australia 32.7
4 Lebanon 32
5 Mongolia 28.4
6 New Zealand 27.4
7 Jordan 25.6
8 UAE 25.3
9 Saudi Arabia 24.9
10 Japan 23
11 Korea 21.4
12 Singapore 19.5
13 China 14.9
14 Malaysia 12
15 Philippines 12 
16 Vietnam 11.9 
17 Iran 9
18 Pakistan 8.3
19 Indonesia
20 India 7
21 Myanmar 6.1
22 Iraq 6.1
23 Thai. 3.9
24 Laos 1.8
25 Cambodia 1.7

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Doctors per 10,000 people in Taiwan

¡@ Taipei Southern and Eastern Taiwan (Kaohsiung, PinTung, TaiTung, PonHo), remote places
physicians (¤º¬ìÂå®v) 5.01 2.12
surgeon (¥~¬ìÂå®v) 1.77 0.82
Pediatrics (¤p¨à¬ì) 1.11 0.46
Obstetrics & Gynecology (°ü²£) 0.86 0.42
Accident & Emergency («æ¶E) 0.82 0.47
Liberty Times, 2020-1-6;talk.ltn.com.tw/article/paper/1343896

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Pew Research Center , N.Y. Times, 2021-11-18
   Where People find Meaning in Life

country Family Material well-being occupation
Australia 56% 22% 29%
NZ 55 19 29
Greece 54 13 25
US 49 18 17
UK 46 12 20
Sweden 45 22 37
Canada 42 22 26
Singapore 29 22 25
Japan 26 16 15
S. Korea 16 19 6
Taiwan 15% 19% 9%
¡¹  Gallup's accompanying article, ¡§Global Study Reveals Most Workers Enjoy What They Do¡¨, Taiwan ranks No. 114 out of 122countries.  moderndiplomacy.eu/2022/11/10/122-countries-ranked-on-workplace-happiness/  2022-11-10

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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:

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¡´ Ethics of Taiwan politicians :  New Yorker (2022-11-21):  When the Chinese test-fired the ballistic missiles, Tsai Ing-wen didn¡¦t tell the public that they flew over the island; that became known only after it was announced by Japanese leaders. When a Chinese drone flew into Taiwan's airspace, Tsai Ing-wen's government reacted with similar reserve... the government looks like it doesn't know what it's doing,¡¨ al jazeera, 2022-5-30:  Taiwan legislature erupts in violence over "secret expenses" billKMT lawmakers try to block bill they say could be used to overturn ex-President Chen Shui-bian¡¦s corruption conviction    Guardian, 2021-7-12: China accused Taiwan has rejected China's offers as fake altruism. ... putting politics above its people   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

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¡´  democracy : ¡´ Economist, 2022-11-29: many Taiwanese are tired of squabbles over national identity, especially after Ms Tsai¡¦s refusal last year to accept an offer of much-needed vaccines from China ... ¡´ Wall Street Journal, 2022-11-28: Taiwan Ruling Party's election drubbing could ease tension with China and persuade Chinese leaders that they can peacefully influence politics there. ¡´  US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 2022-4-12 :  In 2020 presidential and legislative elections, President Tsai Ing-wen won re-election,...there were allegations of vote buying by candidates and supporters of both major political parties.  ¡´  al jazeera, 2022-5-30: Taiwan legislature erupts in violence over "secret expenses" billKMT lawmakers try to block bill they say could be used to overturn ex-President Chen Shui-bian¡¦s corruption conviction.¡´ United Daily(Áp¦X³ø) , 2022-5-9, editorial:  Taiwan's news reports seem to be free, but in recent years, the speech market has tended to be "Homogeneity" (³æ¤@¤Æ); particularly, the state apparatus controls the media very deeply ¡´ 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 > (¨È¬w©P¥Z) 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, 6-23-2019The 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 (Áp¦X³øªÀ½×) 11-14-2019¡þTaiwan's democracy turns into grave ¡C (¥Á¥D³]­pªº¨}·N¡A¦p¤µÅܦ¨¨p±ý¼X³õ https://udn.com/news/story/11321/4163629)  democracy & freedom

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¡´  freedom of speech  : ¡´ US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 2023-3-20 : Reporters faced the threat of legal action under the liberal libel laws. ¡´ US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 2022-4-12 : CTi News was forced off the air after the National Communications Commission declined to renew its broadcast license. Opposition politicians and some academics and commentators claimed the decision was politically motivated retaliation for CTi News¡¦ criticism of the ruling party. ¡´  RSF, <Reporters Sans Frontieres>, France, 2022-5-3: Taiwan's press freedom situation has been "impaired" by some "serious problems". ¡´  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 <¤¤®ÉªÀ½×> , 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

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¡´  Family  New York times, Pew Research Institute, 2021-11-28:  unlike most other countries put family first, Taiwanese ranked Material well-being above family.  Marry for money not love

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¡´  justice ¡´ National ChungCheng University (ccu.edu),   2023-2-13: study found the percentage of Taiwanese trust in the judges is 32.8%.¡´  National ChungCheng University, 2022-2-14: study found 2/3 Taiwanese are not satisfied with the quality of judgment of criminal cases ¡´  United Daily, editorial , 2022-1-25 : More people suffered fear from invisible and delicate social control and threats by DPP government' flank and judiciary (prosecutor, police) ... ¡´  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.   : ¡´¡@The United Daily, Focus, 11-30-2019: ¡@The prosecutors  and Taiwan's 'FBI'¡@were questioned a lot for years for their political investigations and conducts ...in recent years, the judiciary giving services to DPP almost became a routine...:¡´  UDN 10-20-2019: politics overrode justice   ¡´ The Liberty Times,  head-line news, 3-16-2019: Taiwan PM is not satisfied with Judicial reform  ¡´  The Liberty Times, head-page, The China Times, head-page, 12-8-2018:   Taiwan P.M. (¿à²M¼w):  Taiwan has not made significant progress on judicial reform, which is roiling with public discontent;  ¡´  <The United Daily>,  06-18-2016, head page news: Taiwan's prosecutors admit usually following order to conclude legal cases.  ¡´ <USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices>, 2016-2018,  public trust on Taiwan's judiciary system keeps falling down.  ¡´ <United Daily>, opinion column, 12-16-2017:  Taiwan's public voice with a heavy heart  : The prosecutors should abide by the law too... don't be a political tool.    judiciary

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¡´  corruption 
¡´ TaiwanPlus, 2023-3-6:

 ¡´ Voice of America, 2022-11-23:  "black gold"-"heijin." Corruption in Local Politics   ¡´ Avios, 2022-6-28: Scandals and corruption have plagued the Taiwanese armed forces  ¡´ Economist, 2022-8-2: Taiwan needs to do more to combat corruption and waste in its armed forces  ¡´  US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 2022-4-12 :13 high-ranking officials, 79 mid-level, 93 low-level, and 18 elected officials were indicted for corruption.  the Ministry of Justice and the Judicial Yuan referred six officials to the Control Yuan for criminal investigation, including former minister of justice Tseng Yung-fu, former prosecutor general Wu Ying-chao, and two others for investigation of noncriminal misconduct... In 2020 presidential and legislative elections, President Tsai Ing-wen won re-election,...there were allegations of vote buying by candidates and supporters of both major political parties.  ¡´ USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,  2021-3-30:  Significant human rights issues included: the existence of criminal libel laws and serious acts of corruption. ¡´  Transparency International 1-29-2019: Taiwan has stagnated in the Corruption Perspective Index rankings since 2011 with its score 61~63 (dropped 2 spots this year), in contrast, South Korea improved by 3 points in 2017. ¡´ China Times, editorial , 2022-6-1,  "The whole DPP party backups corruption, a shame of Taiwan's democracy": When the corruption scandal broke out in 2008, all DPP members gave ex-President Chen Shui-bian a cold shoulder, Chen's daughter ³¯©¯§± was mad and shouted¡G"Has anyone in DPP not taken money from my father ?? ", which shocked all fields, therefore, pan-Green Coalition has been involved in Chen's case.(ºñÀç¦]¦¹¾D«ó¸j¬[¨Æ¥X¦³¦])¡C¡´ In platform presentation at 12-25-2019, Nationalist Party Presidential candidate Han criticized President Tsai has allowed top officials around grow very corrupt, Tsai refuted KMT was more serious, People First Party candidate Song said that speaking of corruption and unfair judiciary, KMT and DPP are about the same. ¡´  Apple Daily (12-7-2018) editorial :  Taiwan's corruption is off the charts by collusions between government officials and business owners,  furthermore, Taiwan's underworld going wild to assist government officials, business and some elected representatives (e.g., legislators) in corruption has been ahead of most corrupt countries, e.g., China, Indonesia, Brazil, Philippines, Vietnam, the stinky rotten food-chain crossing pan-Blue (Nationalist, KMT) and pan-Green (DPP) resurges after Taiwan's elections...¡´  Liberty Times, 1-12-2020, editorial: The administration's rottenness (»GÃa®ð®§) smells already.   corruption

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¡´  medical  :  ¡´ Taiwan ranks No. 249 in World's Best Hospitals by Newsweek and Statista in 2023 ¡´  Bloomberg's CovID ranking: Taiwan's 3-month case-fatality rate ranks the last twice in 2021 ¡´ Lancet / Measuring universal health coverage  Taiwan is behind countries of  Asia& Pacific like Japan, Singapore, S. Korea, Australia, NZ, Kuwait, Qatar   ¡´ Taiwan's hospitals were not included in Newsweek's "World's Best Hospitals" in 2020 and 2021  ¡´ Guardian (UK), 2022-5-9: The death of a two-year-old boy last month highlighted communication failures exacerbated by Taiwan¡¦s entrenched bureaucracy.  ¡´ al jazeera, 2022-5-30: The fatalities have notably included the sudden deaths of several very young children, which many Taiwanese attribute to failures of the healthcare system.   ¡´  China Times, editorial, 2021-9-8: The government ignores human lives of high-risk older populations.  Using vaccine to draw votes is "cold-blood", "losing their souls "  chinatimes.com/opinion/20210907005525-262101?chdtv ¡´  United Daily, editorial, 2021-9-4: Taiwan's vaccination policy is based upon government's selfishness and special purpose. ¡´ National Taiwan University professor, King ChwanChuen2021-9-1: CDC should not turn into a election campaign center. ¡´ UDN 2021-5-31, editorial: Taiwan's government fails to purchase enough CovID-19 vaccines, and stop civil org. to purchase from the west for saving its political face.  Till end May, patients are not easy to apply for and have CovID-19 medicine, which cause more deaths, Taiwan cares money more than human lives   hospitals,   CovID19

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¡´  pirate ¡´ USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,  2021-3-30:  some indigenous rights advocates argued a large amount of indigenous land was seized and privatized decades ago, depriving indigenous communities of the right to participate in the development of these traditional territories. ¡´ Green Peace, 5-2-2019:  It remains our view that Taiwanese fisheries still have many serious problems, both environmental and social, and that the need for reform is clear and urgent.  ¡´  Lowy Institute & <the interpreter>, 5-2-2019: Taiwan ...illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing... Taiwan has so far refused to adopt the Work in Fishing Convention. ¡´  EU warned in 2015 Taiwan with a yellow card for illegal fishing till  6 '19¡´  US  state government - 2019 Trafficking in persons report, Jun. 2019:   fishermen working on Taiwan-flagged and -owned fishing vessels experience non- or under-payment of wages, long working hours, physical abuse, lack of food or medical care, denial of sleep, and poor living conditions while indebted to complex, multinational brokerage networks. Migrant fishermen have reported senior crewmembers employ such coercive tactics as threats of physical violence, beatings, withholding of food and water, and pay deductions to retain their labor.    ¡´ Freedom House, June 2019:  labor advocates report poor implementation, citing ongoing mistreatment and abuse of foreign fishermen on Taiwanese vessels.

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 privacy¡´  The China Times (¤¤®É) , editorial , 2023-5-23: 23 millions of Taiwanese household administration data and 28 millions of labor insurance data have been leaked and were sold to fraud groups - all personal data of Taiwanese were sold out, Taiwan government looked the other way as its citizens were in fraud for leakage of their personal data  ¡´  US Naval Institute   , May, 2022 : Taiwan has extensive networks of closed-circuit TV cameras, and issued a national health insurance smartcard that tracks medical histories. ¡´ Amnesty International, June, 2021 :The government took several measures to control the spread of the COVID-19 virus, some of which threatened the right to privacy.  ¡´  People's Daily, 10-15-2020, commentary: Taiwan's Intelligence strictly monitors its own people, which is called "Green Terror". ¡´ The China Times (¤¤°ê®É³ø), 1-6-2021:  the human rights protected by the Constitution has been in danger for a long time... The government had not admitted the "skynet - electronic fence" until law-makers questioned them a number of times... ¡´ New York Post  4-25-2020 : Taiwan deals CovID with "a lot more authoritarian.", "almost everyone is tracked.". ¡´ Apple Daily 11-10-2020: Taiwanese health & medical data/information was forced without agreement of the party to be opened on purpose of business and academic use. ¡´ The United Daily News (Áp¦X³ø) , editorial, 3-31-2019 Taiwan is a backward country on personal-data protection.   Taiwan plans to sell general public's personal data and digital human rights (e.g., people's medical health data without giving any notice ), peep at whatever on the net , and even monitor all the citizens,  nothing people would normally notice ...   (brief https://udn.com/news/story/7338/3728815) ;  ¡´ EU General Data Protection Regulation - GDPR was given to effect at 5-25-2018, Taiwan is far behind, even is going in an opposite way  / Apple Daily Ä«ªG¤é³ø, 5-28-2018,  National Taiwan University Law School professor ªL౶¯    privacy

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secret police¡´  Law maker (2023-6-2): What an authoritarian era in Taiwan ? (¡u³o¬O¤°»ò«ÂÅv®É¥N¶Ü¡v) /  Dr. Su Hung-dah (Ĭ§»¹F), dean of the College of Social Sciences, National Taiwan University, reveals he was threatened by National Security Bureau ( state machine ) that "we can watch your LINE" (a popular online app. )   ¡´ USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,  2021-3-30:  Members of the security forces committed some abuses.   ¡´ The United Daily News, editorial opinion (9-19-2018) : "secret police" (¡uªF¼t­Ì¡v) have been active around us ...  ¡´ The Liberty Times, head-page, The China Times, head-page, 12-8-2018:   Taiwan P.M. (¿à²M¼w): "Secret Police event" (¡uªF¼t¨Æ¥ó¡v) has seriously damaged public trust on the government...;   ¡´ Apple Daily 12-4-2019 editorial : All political parties and many politicians found their cyber-forces to secretly attack targets... ,  the dark force are mean, base, cruel  and dark to destroy target's image and reputation, they executed without moral bottom line and military discipline  (brief).   ¡´ The United Daily News, editorial 11-30-2019: The state machine was abused as government's "tributaries".  ¡´ UDN 11-3-2018,  Intel. sys. (NSB) confirmed their investigations of Facebook and other's communities on the net.  All internet platform service providers in Taiwan were requested to hand in all users' personal information/data (intel denied).   ¡´ <Apple Daily (Ä«ªG¤é³ø)> 11-7-2018 editorial opinion:  by whatever name ( "secret police" or "national security bureau") it is called, what "it" did secretly were always more than what it admitted.  Taiwan's Intelligence and secret-agent systems keep on governing the country ... they're true Prime Minister (¦æ¬F°|ªø), ...So many suspected political murder cases remain unsolved  (ref to 2018.7.26¡i¬F¸g¬Ý¥Áµø¡j FTV, "¬F¸g¬Ý¥Áµø", 7-26-2018;  SET(¤T¥ß¹qµø), 9-24-2013 "Secret agents govern the nation (¯S°Èªv°ê)" www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBdZCdYrwF4;  Era TV,   ¦~¥N¹qµø, 9-22-2013; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1b4R2m6K3g; "Secret agent systems resurgence to control the nation (¯S°È´_¹@ªv°ê)"   repression, oppression

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¡´  int'l fraud :  ¡´ United Daily (Áp¦X³ø), editorial, 2023-5-11 : Taiwan government got no grades on fighting fraud¡CIn today, Taiwanese crimes of fraud have spread all over the world, the criminal methods have deteriorated to abducting people, selling human organs, defrauding money by using the name of the administration...¡´The China Times (¤¤®É) , editorial , 2023-5-8: The head of fraud group,¡uim.B­É¶U´C¦X¥­¥x¡v, has close connection with DPP's top ranking officials such as deputy premier   ¡´ Reuters, DW (Germany), 12-31-2020: Chinese court sentences 29 Taiwanese deported from Spain / In recent years, hundreds of Taiwanese nationals, suspected of committing telecoms fraud overseas...   ¡´ United Daily, 10-23-2019, editorial: Taiwanese telecom frauds run wild the entire world to damage Taiwan's image.   ¡´ CTV evening news, 12-14-2017,  EBC TV, 4-9-2017,  UDN opinion, 12-24-2017:  Taiwan is notorious for its fraud crimes all over the world.  quora, 4-16-2016:  Taiwan largely sees these telecom frauds/phone scammers as an asset rather than liability...  ¡´  China Times, 11-7-2017:  It's not easy for Taiwan to clean its bad name of 'fraud-crime empire' because "Rome is not built in one day".  (Asia Association of Police Studies, secretary general)     international fraud 

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¡´  torture & cruelty :  ¡´ Global Times, 2022-12-19:  There are forces on the island who are mentally controlling the Taiwan people...    ¡´justsecurity.org, Focus Taiwan, Taipei Times, etc, 2022-5-13:  international human rights review panel urges to ban torture and other cruelties ¡´ Global Times (globaltimes.cn/content/1209528.shtml), 12-9-2020: Taiwan authority ¡¥persecutes mainlanders, pro-reunification activists' by 'Political persecution, framing charge' .    Taiwan is far behind and keeps stalling legislating a new law against torture and other cruelty, conclusively advised by international review panel ( Philip Alston, law professor at New York University; Eibe Riedel, former member of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Jerome Cohen, law professor at New York University; and Nisuke Ando, professor emeritus at Kyoto University, etc. )  (ref. to Apple Daily, headline, 12-9-2017)  Taiwan's opposition party vice presidential candidate, NTU professor Lin Ruey-Shiung, was subject to electromagnetic wave attacks (French AFP ,Dec. 1, 2011 , Thailand's Bangkok Post,  Dec. 3, 2011, Yahoo UK & Ireland, etc. ), Taiwan gov. denied this.     ¡´ State violence and white terror (product of state violence) return in Taiwan (United Daily, opinion, 12-21-2017, 12-27-2017).     Taiwan's Facebook "Green terror" suppressed free expression...... (Wikipedia 2017, The China Times, public opinion, 11-18-2017).   The key-point is state violence (Apple Daily, opinion, 8-16-2013)  repression, oppression

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¡´  food safety  : ¡´ United Daily (¸gÀÙ¤é³øªÀ½×),  2023-2-1: Food safety is an anxious issue for Taiwanese people ¡´ Global Times,  2022-9-17 : DPP authority is sacrificing the people's interests for their political ends.   the Taiwan authorities detected Caesium-137 in the batch of konjaku jelly powder since the island in February relaxed a decade-long ban on imports of "nuclear food"  from Japan.   ¡´ Scientific Reports Journal, Food Navigator Asia, 2-9-2021: Fish fraud findings: Almost 20% of fish in Taiwan found to be mislabelled - study (Taiwan food scare, including 5 star hotel restaurant foods  which the website revealed earlier in 2017).   ¡´ The China Times, 10-20-2018  opinion (editorial)   https://opinion.chinatimes.com/20181019003889-262101 Taiwan's food safety failed again and again,  Dioxin, Fipronil poison-eggs in last year, Nicarbazin illegal drug residue event in this year.  Europe was very cautious about Fipronil event, in contrast, Taiwan did nothing about it.   Even worse, Taiwan officials hide Nicarbazin issue from Taiwanese people to baby related business indulge business to retrieve problematic eggs and then resell them as promotion goods.  Why do high-ranking officials always fudge Taiwanese people's only, and humblest request ¡H?   (brief)  ¡´  UDN, 2-17-2019: Gov. did not declared poison eggs until almost sold out...  ¡´ The China Times (¤¤°ê®É³ø), 2-28-2019,  opinion (editorial) questions Taiwan officials are trying very hard to hide the epidemic state of Marek's virus in chicken eggs ...

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¡´ int'l drug base :

¡´ Statista 2022-11-18: Offense against narcotics hazard prevention act ranks No.2 crime by the Number committed in Taiwan in 2021 
¡´
:"patrols of the coast became almost nonexistent and, as a result, it was easy to smuggle guns and drugs into Taiwan.¡¨

 ¡´ Taiwan is narcotic drugs producing & selling center of Asia (The China Times <Want Weekly>, 9-18-2019).  Taiwan was already reduced to be a 'kingdom' of producing narcotic drugs. (United Daily, headline news, 11-2-2017)   Philippine President Duterte ... blaming Taiwan-based organised crime behind all this drug traffic... for using his country as a shipping hub. (Reuters, 9-27-2017, The Straits Times, 9-29-2017)   Duterte: Triad supplying illegal drugs to PH is based in Taiwan, not China (inquirer.net, 9-26-2017).    Taiwan is scandalous for being a major drug transit center & a major drug exporting country, part of Taiwanese government including Judicial sys. refused to improve this issue. (UDN Opinion, 11-6-2017, The China Times, head-page & focus, 4-4-2017, The Liberty Times, 5-12-2017)    illegal drugs

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¡´  exploitation ,   children & women trafficking ¡´ US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 2023-3-20: A rise in the number of reports of child sexual exploitation cases;  The NGOs called for increased prosecutions and heavier penalties. ¡´ USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,  2022-4-12 the number of male victims of child sexual exploitation was increasing and that male and female minors of indigenous heritage were targeted at higher rates than those of other ethnic groups. ¡´ USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,  2021-3-30:  NGOs raised concerns regarding online sexual exploitation of children and reported sex offenders increasingly used cell phones, web cameras, live streaming, apps, and other new technologies to deceive and coerce underage girls and boys into sexual activity.  ¡´ US  state government - 2019 Trafficking in persons report, Jun. 2019:   in the last five years, human traffickers subject foreign men and women to forced labor and sex trafficking in Taiwan, and traffickers subject local men and women to forced labor and local women and children to sex trafficking. ... take advantage of Taiwan and foreign women¡¦s and children¡¦s drug addictions to subject them to sex trafficking. Taiwan traffickers increasingly use the internet, smartphone apps, livestreaming, and other such online technologies to conduct recruitment activities, often targeting child victims, and to mask their identities from law enforcement.  ¡´ USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, March 3, 2017, 4-20-2018:  Exploitation of  foreign workers,  official corruption,  some media self-censorship with regard to China, vote buying, etc.     prostitution

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¡´  life protection  : ¡´  BBC, Independent, 2023-6-20:  the drugging of preschool children in Taiwan have sparked widespread alarm on the island.  Some teachers at the kindergarten gave children phenobarbital to ¡§make them more compliant¡¨. A rally demanded transparency from the government. ¡´ NY Times, 2021-10-15:Taiwan has a spotty record when it comes to fire safety... severe disrepair as a result of weak management and government neglect.  Skyrocketing housing costs in Taiwan¡¦s cities ¡X and a rapidly aging population ¡X have exacerbated these issues in recent years and have outpaced the government¡¦s efforts to resolve them...  ¡´ China times, 2021-10-15 Behind the fire sea in Kaohsiung building («°¤¤«°) is the government's discrimination and indifference to those underprivileged group who can not afford buying fire-fighting equipments ¡´ UDN 2021-4-1: foolish energy policy kills our lungs, people in southern and middle of Taiwan increasingly got related diseases ¡´  Apple Daily, 2021-4-10, editorial: The bane of Taiwan- backward infrastructures, e.g., no early-warning system for railway train, pollution in stream, dam, reservoir deposition ¡´ The government has not well taken its fundamental responsibility of protecting the safety of people's life and property - why 5/6 bridges badly in need of repair have not done ?  government even has never made public the info. and where those bridges are. (ref. to United Daily, 10-9-2019, headline news)   why are there so many tall buildings located on the fault-zone? why are poor architectures everywhere on bad geologic grounds ? why are those shit-hole politicians doing nothing and ignoring urban renewal so as to risk millions of old houses and human beings? (ps: may face death in 6 magnitude quake)    (full text: https://udn.com/news/story/11321/2974813 Áp¦X³øªÀ½×¡þÂ_¼h±a¤W¦ó¥H«Ø¤F¨º»ò¦h°ª¼Ó¡H  2-8-2018,  https://udn.com/news/story/7338/2977079 ¤ÅÅý³n¸}¼Ó¦¨§|±þ¤H©R³´¨À 2-9-2018,  https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/daily/20180209/37928659ªá½¬ ³£§ó Äê¬F«È   2-9-2018)

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¡´ life protection (2) : ¡´ CIA Fact Book, Dec. 10, 2021: air pollution; water pollution from industrial emissions, raw sewage; contamination of drinking water supplies; trade in endangered species ¡´ Taiwan's CCPI (Climate Change Performance Index - GHG emissions, renewable energy, etc) rank of 2019 is reciprocal third among countries, the score/ranking is from bad to worse since 2017 ¡´ USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,  2021-3-30: the total number of sexual assaults was seven to 10 times higher than the number reported to police.   ¡´  United Daily, 2021-4-10, editorial: The death rate of traffic accident (8+ per day) is higher than hat of many backward countries.  Large-bus structure is problematic - Jerry-built or bad safety specification. So many gods are hidden in the detail  ¡´ UDN 1-2-2018 udn.com/news/story/7266/2908720,  The China Times. 8-6-2016, <­¹«~¤£¦w¥þªº¦~¥N¦p¦ó¦Û«O>, 2016, etc : Taiwan failed to solve food-safety issue, professors and MDs advised eating at home.  Taiwan is dishonest and 'cruel' ― trying to hide, block, delay public-health news, e.g., poisoned eggs, PCV virus vaccine, and Bird-flu more than one time.  ref to BBC news :  www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese_news/2012/03/120304_taiwan_birdflu_investigate. ¡´  Due to bad Income distribution, Taiwan's social security (offender rate) worsens (China Times, 2-25-2020 editorial).   ¡´  The China Times 5-9-2018 column : This is an EVIL state apparatus ... The China Times 5-26-2018 column : The government likes to conceal bad news, put paper over the cracks, e.g., air pollution, rupture of diplomatic relationships, ...http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20180509000843-260109  ¡´ Taiwan's CCPI (Climate Change Performance Index - GHG emissions, renewable energy, etc) rank of 2019 is reciprocal third among countries, the score/ranking is from bad to worse since 2017. ¡´ Apple Daily 12-11-2019, headline news: Taiwan's air pollution is bad to worse, about half population were endangered by PM2.5 and PM10 from top 10 hazardous level companies (China Steel, Taichung Power plant, etc)  ¡´ Taiwan administration's policy led to air pollution, toxic pollution in the land and sea ...   (The China Times, 1-7-2018 ¥xÆW®ü³°ªÅ¦Ã¬V¬r®`¡A¤s®üÅܦâ http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20180107000465-260114¡CDaily Mail (UK) 7-14-2017 : Shocking underwater video from Taiwan shows ocean floor littered with plastic (bottles) garbage)

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¡´  transportation safety ¡´ UDN, CTN, Apple Daily editorial¡B2021-4-3: NY Times, CNN: train carrying 490 derails /  Serious transportation accidents repeat -  all are SOP ignoring man-made disasters, no one treats seriously the warning message behind each accident, The gov. is good at risk management and focus-shifting, instead of preventive management in advance, all these lead to tragedy again and again. The event is just a tip of a iceberg, Taiwan should establish a culture respecting human life Taiwan railway bureau got rigid grading system  and reform failure ¡´ United Daily News 1-20-2020:  The death rate caused by traffic accidents in Taiwan is 5 times that in Japan.  ¡´ The SUN, BBC (UK) 2-13-2017: "BUS CRASH HORROR!" , Taiwan's tour bus  "has come under fire in recent months over safety standards"...  ¡´ MSN, Reuters, EuroNews, Mirro(UK), NewsWeek, CNN, etc (2-4-2015) :"Taiwan has had a poor aviation safety record in recent years" .   transportation   Taiwan's aviation safety

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¡´  Labor rights ¡´ Le Monde diplomatique (France),  2023-2-14: Most migrant workers to higher-income Taiwan incur substantial debt to finance their fees, which binds them to their employers¡¦ whims and exploitation while they pay it off.  ¡´ US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 2022-4-12: Large enterprises frequently made it difficult for employees to organize an enterprise union through methods such as blacklisting union organizers from promotion or relocating them to other work divisions. ¡´ USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,  2021-3-30: The right to strike remained highly restricted.  24 percent of foreign fishermen suffered violent physical abuse; 92 percent experienced unlawful wage withholding; 82 percent worked overtime excessively.  ¡´  , 3-16-2021the U.S. Labor Department placed Taiwan on its 2020 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor.  ¡´ National Geographic, 11-25-2020 : Wildlife crimes and human rights abuses plague Taiwanese fishing vessels ...illegal dolphin catching, shark finning, and physical and verbal abuse ... ¡´ USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,  3-11-2020:  The right to strike remained highly regulated. Teachers, civil servants, and defense industry employees do not have the right to strike. Workers in industries such as utilities, hospital services, and telecommunication service providers are allowed to strike only if they maintain basic services during the strike. Authorities may prohibit, limit, or break up a strike during a disaster. For all workers, the law divides labor disputes into ¡§rights disputes¡¨ and ¡§adjustment disputes.¡¨ Workers are allowed to strike only in adjustment disputes, which include issues such as compensation and working schedules. The law forbids strikes in rights disputes related to violations of collective agreements and employment contracts.    foreign laborers

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¡´  underworld gang & politics : ¡´ Global Times, 2022-11-28:  black (underworld) gold politics and nepotism severely violated what the DPP had pledged to the people  ¡´ China Times,  2022-11-27: Tsai's DPP has entangled with Mafia, has abused of power and corrupted (¶Â¹DÄñ¨­¡BÀÝÅv»G¤Æ) ¡´ United Daily, editorial, 2021-5-7: The underworld gang links with the legal syndicate, or the gangsters parasitize the political party, which certainly leads to deviation and collapse of the adm. order.  (udn.com/news/story/7338/5439377?from=udn-catehotnews_ch2)  ¡´ Apple Daily, 2021-5-7:   the country has been ruled by "black-gold" gangsters and bureaucratic factions. The "big guys" of gangs can decide or influence which democratical representatives will reach the stage of electoral campaigns for law-makers, city-councilors, ....  President Tsai won't be able to crack down gangsters.  ( brief from  tw.appledaily.com/forum/20210507/AWDMO7WLEBCAZCIYHGO7UBA4DA/  »¯¤Ö±d)    democracy

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¡´
 social security 
¡´ TaiwanPlus, 2023-5-4: ¡´ The China Times (¤¤®É) , editorial , 2023-5-5: The "Social security net" is proved to be broken -  they fail to protect citizens' personal basic data/information ¡´ ¡mYahoo Taiwan¡n, 2021-11-23:  all opposition parties blast the government not fulfilling its promise to patch the loophole of social security network.  ¡´¡mNext TV news ³ü·s»D¡n, 2021-11-23, 12:11: a big loophole in our social security net ¡´ The China Times, 2-25-2020 editorial: Due to bad Income distribution, Taiwan's social security (offender rate) worsens.  ¡´ 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 world No.5 Hong Kong, No. 6 Singapore , No. 7 UAE,  No. 10 New Zealand,  11 Qatar,  13 Japan, 19 Australia,   23 Saudi Arabia.   ¡´¡mEconomist¡nUK , EIU ¡uThe Safe Cities Index 2019  ¡v  Taiwan's "personal security" dropped 14 places compared with previous yrs. report,  Taiwan is worse than neighbors Singapore, Japan, China, Korea...     police

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¡´  discrimination ¡´ Taipei Times, 2023-6-12:  immigration authorities hand out insult after insult to people whose skins are a bit too brown... the reality of its suicidally discriminatory immigration policies is painful for those of us who live and work here. ¡´ USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,  2021-3-30: The majority of sex discrimination cases reported in 2019 were forced resignations due to pregnancies. Scholars said sex discrimination remained significantly underreported.   There was reported discrimination, including employment discrimination, against persons with HIV or AIDS.  ¡´ USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,  3-11-2020:  Activists for LGBTI rights said due to victims¡¦ reluctance to lodge formal complaints, discrimination against LGBTI persons was more widespread than suggested by the number of court cases.  There was reported discrimination, including employment discrimination, against persons with HIV/AIDS. ¡´  US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 3-13-2019  Foreign and PRC-born spouses were reportedly targets of social discrimination outside and, at times, inside the home.   Discrimination against LGBTI persons was more widespread than suggested by the number of court cases.  Employment discrimination against persons with HIV/AIDS continues, Taipei officials pressured a magazine reporter to drop an investigative report about the city¡¦s breach of personal information for more than 3,000 AIDS patients.

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Harvard professor Dr. Joseph Nye advised in 2010 that hard and soft power enable Taiwan to deal with China and expand its international space. Brookings at 1-22-2018 commented that Increasing ¡§soft power¡¨ is a low-cost, high-return strategy for Taiwan.  However, Taiwan's soft power was behind that of Asian's countries, China and Asian's Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, India, UAE.  Taiwan failed to be included in UK based Monocle's Soft Power list 2010 ~ 2019 and Soft Power 30 by USC Center on Public Diplomacy, 2017 ~ 2019/2020.   Taiwan's military power was recently cut down by half and is in a state of low morale, Taiwan's administration made a core defense strategy to resist Chinese PLA for 2 weeks, and made assumption that then American sons and daughters will always risk their lives to protect our home.   full text : Taiwan

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Reuters Report 2022

¡@ proportion that trusts
 most news
most of the time
proportion who
mostly read news
 in text
proportion who
think news org.s
in their market
are politically
 far apart
proportion who
accessed news
via email in
the last week
Thailand 53 56 48 16
Japan 44 67 26 13
Singapore 43 65 16 16
Australia 41 61 29 17
Hong Kong 41 60 36 14
India 41 58 33 ¡@
Indonesia 39 69 18 13
Philippines 37 47 32 18
Malaysia 36 63 23 15
S. Korea 30 58 15 10
Taiwan 27 54 38 12
reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2022-06/Digital_News-Report_2022.pdf

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Taiwan's press freedom
RSF 2022-5-3  rsf.org/en/index

Sociocultural context Reuters Institute survey in 2021: The Taiwanese have one of the lowest levels of trust in media amongst democracies
Political context The media landscape, although free, is impaired by a strong political polarisation, undeclared advertising, sensationalism, and the pursuit of profit which hinders the work of journalists and can prevent citizens from accessing objective information.
Legal framework Over the past decades, few concrete measures have been taken by consecutive Taiwanese governments to improve journalists¡¦ editorial independence and encourage media to raise the quality of public debate.
Economic Indicator  No .49,  Social  Indicator No 57,  Legislative  Indicator  No 40,   Political  Indicator No33, No. 38 Press Freedom Index

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GDP per capita (Norminal) Ranking
Taiwan - No.10 in Asia & Pacific

country/economy (Asia) 2021 world rank 2020 world rank
Singapore 66263 ($) 8 59795 ($) 7
Australia 62619 9 52905 10
Qatar 61791 10 54185 9
Hong Kong 49485 20 46657 15
New Zealand 48349 21 41165 21
UAE 43538 24 38661 25
Macau 42107 25 35621 27
Japan 40704 26 40089 24
Korea 35196 29 31638 29
Taiwan 33402 32 28358 32

statisticstimes.com/economy/projected-world-gdp-capita-ranking.php

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Taiwan's COVID-19 performance

World Index

Taiwan's ranks

link

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Statista, 2022-7-27: Coronavirus (COVID-19)  death rate, in countries with confirmed deaths and over 1,000 reported cases
as of April 26, 2022, by country
Taiwan ranks No.143, behind NZ, Singapore, Australia, S Korea, Qatar, Mongolia, Israel, Laos, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Malaysia, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, India, Nepal, etc statista.com/statistics/1105914/coronavirus-death-rates-worldwide/
Nikkei CovID-19 Recovery Index, as of Jul. 31 Taiwan ranks No. 79 , behind Cambodia, Vietnam, UAE, S. Korea,  China, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Mongolia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia,  etc asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/COVID-19-Recovery-Index/Japan-tumbles-in-COVID-recovery-ranking-as-infections-surge
Bloomberg's CovID Resilience Ranking, 2022-6-29 Taiwan ranks next to the last bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-resilience-ranking/
Bloomberg CovID Resilience Ranking   2022-5-27 Taiwan ranks the 3rd from the end    bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-resilience-ranking/spanish.html
Bloomberg CovID Resilience Ranking   2021-10-28 Taiwan's "3-month case fatality rate ", 7.7 %, ranks world worst bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-resilience-ranking/
Bloomberg CovID Resilience Ranking  2021-9-28 Taiwan's "3-month case fatality rate ", 13.4 %, ranks world worst bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-resilience-ranking/
Nikkei CovID-19 Recovery Index, as of Aug. 31 (released at 2022-9-9) Taiwan ranks No. 57 , behind Vietnam, Cambodia, UAE, S. Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, Mongolia, China, Australia, Malaysia, Pakistan, India, etc asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/COVID-19-Recovery-Index/China-slips-in-COVID-recovery-ranking-with-fresh-lockdowns

full details
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Bloomberg, Nov. 25, 2021  

"Winners and Losers" from a year of ranking Covid resilience

 Pandemic MVPs - Only 7 places never fell into the bottom half of the ranking

world rank country of Asia & Pacific Asia's rank
4/53 U.A.E. 1
6 S. Korea 2
8 Mainland China 3
9 Hong Kong 4
10 Saudi Arabia 5
12 Japan 6
13 Australia 7
17 New Zealand 8
20 Singapore 9
30 Pakistan 10
31 Taiwan 11
32 Bangladesh 12

moneyweb.co.za/news/international/winners-and-losers-from-a-year-of-ranking-covid-resilience/
Taiwan successfully eliminated and kept out Covid in the first year , now it is in the bottom half among 53 countries

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Bloomberg CovID Resilience Ranking: Taiwan's 3-month case fatality rate in 2021-9-28, 13.4%; 2021-10-28, 7.7%, both are world worst

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pic.: No.1 "understand Taiwan" on US Yahoo search engine, 2022-1-28,  2021-10-29

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pic.: The sites-group was ranked No.1 by "understand Taiwan" on Yippy (IBM), 2-13-2021, 5-13-2020, 2-5-2020, 12-10-2019

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No.1 "understand Taiwan" on AOL search engine, 2021-10-8, 2021-9-29, 2021-8-22, 2021-6-16, 2021-6-2,  3-3-2021

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pic.: No.1 "understand Taiwan" on US Google,  3-8-2021,  2-14-2021, 3-3-2021

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pic.: No.1 "understand Taiwan" on Google,  2-13-2021, 2-11-2021, 1-29-2021, 1-20-2021, 01-01-2021, 12-14-2020, 11-17-2020, Nov. 3, 2020

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   pic.: No.1 "understand Taiwan" on Google, 1-1-2021 

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pic.: The sites-group was ranked No.1 by "" on US Google, 4-22-2020, 4-4-2020, 2-28-2020, 2-26-2020

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pic.: top 2  "understand Taiwan" on Yahoo Japan (largest in Japan), 2021-4-18, 3-3-2021,  2-13-2021, 8-17-2020, 5-19-2020

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pic.: No.2  "understand Taiwan" on QWANT (most well-known engine in France) , 8-17-2020, 7-6-2020

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pic.: The sites-group was ranked No.1 by "understand Taiwan" on US Google, 7-12-2019

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¡@Economist, E.I.U. Safe City Index 2021
Asian cities' ranking

   https://www.eiu.com/n/campaigns/global-liveability-index-2021/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_name=liveability21&utm_term=liveability_definition&utm_content=general&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6aq_iY3V8gIVwtaWCh15cwBrEAAYASAAEgJaRPD_BwE

¡´ Infrastructure security :  No.1 Hong Kong  2. Singapore 5. Tokyo   7. Osaka  9. Sydney  12. Wellington   15. Melbourne  20. Seoul   25. Taipei

¡´ Digital security:

No.1 Sydney     2 Singapore   8.  Melbourne   9. Wellington  20. Tokyo    21 HK  24. Dubai   27. Osaka   30. Taipei   31.  Seoul 

¡´ Health security:

 No.1  Tokyo  2.  Singapore  3. Hong Kong  4.  Melbourne  5. Osaka  6. Seoul  10. Sydney  13. Dubai   19. Beijing   19. Shanghai   21. Taipei  22. Bangkok

¡´ personal security :

No.7. Wellington   11. Sydney   13  Singapore  16. Tokyo   
 17. Osaka  19. Taipei 

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¡@Economist, E.I.U. Safe City Index 2021
The CovID-19 pandemic and the understanding of health security
The need to focus better on what works
Asian cities' ranking

¡@ 1. Tokyo (87.7)   2. Singapore (84.1)   3. Hong Kong (84.0)   4. Melbourne (81.9)    5. Osaka (81.8)    6. Seoul (81.1)   10. Sydney   12. Abu Dhabi   13. Dubai   19. Beijing  19  Shanghai    21. Taipei (73.5)    22. Bangkok

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 ¡´   UNESCO¡¦s list of intangible cultural heritage  /    https://ich.unesco.org/en/lists

Taiwan is about the last one

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.

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 Taiwan's soft power  vs.  Asia's soft power
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Till '20, Taiwan has not been included in Portland or USC Soft Power survey ranking list, so Taiwan's soft power is behind Asian's nations , including Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, China, India, UAE.     for details : click Soft Power
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world best surveys Taiwan's rankings
in top 25~30 list
comparison with
other Asia & Pacific countries
Brand Finance -  Global soft power Index 2022 failed

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1. US, 2. UK, 3. Germany, 4. China, 5. Japan, 6. France, 7. Canada, 8. Swiss, 9. Russia, 10. Italy
ISSF's World Soft Power 2022 failed

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1. US 2. France, 3. Germany, 4. Japan, 5. UK, 6. Swiss, 7. Italy, 8. S. Korea, 9. Spain, 10. China,11.India,12. Sweden, 13. Canada, 14. Australia, 15. Denmark
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
2020 Best Countries Overall
The Best Countries in the World
n/c 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
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¡¹  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."
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¡¹ 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


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¡´    world's most livable cities 

Till 2020, Taiwan has not been included in the top ranking list of the world's most livable cities  
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world's most livable cities
world best surveys Taiwan's rankings
in top list
comparison with
other Asia & Pacific countries
EIU's Global Liveability Ranking 2022 Taipei -No. 53 1. Vienna 2. Copenhagen 3. Zurich 4. Calgary 5. Vancouver 6. Geneva 7. Frankfurt 8. Toronto 9. Amsterdam 10. Osaka
The World's Best Cities to Live In 2022 failed top 10 1. London, 2. Tokyo, 3. Shanghai, 4. Singapore, 5. Melbourne, 6. Sydney, 7. Paris, 8. Beijing, 9. NY, 10. Amsterdam
The EIU's Global Livability Index Ranking   2021 failed top 10 ¡@
The World's Best Cities to Live In 2020 failed top 10 1. Tokyo Japan, 3. Singapore, 5. Melbourne Australia, 8 Seoul Korea, 10. Sydney Australia
The World's Best Cities to Live in 2020 not included

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No. 1. Singapore, 2. Tokyo, 3. London, 4. NY, 5. Melbourne, 6. Frankfurt, 7. Seoul Korea, 8. Sydney, 9. Berlin, 10. Paris
 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
not included in the top list https://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/RPS_EN-PROD/PROD0000000000494405/Mapping_the_world%27s_prices_2019.pdf
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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  
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EIU (Economist UK)'s  Global Liveability Index evaluates stability, healthcare, culture&environment,  education,   Infrastructure

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   understanding Taiwanese -  from CovID-19 flare-up
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¡¹ 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.
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¡¹ 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". 
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¡¹ 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)

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

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¡´  Taiwan's hard power

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¡´  N.Y. Times, 2022-6-19: A Looming Threat /  ...Taiwan politicians have electoral considerations. Extending military conscription, for example, would probably not be very popular

¡´ L.A. Times, 2022-3-20: over much of the last decade, Taiwan moved in the opposite direction: It cut the size of its regular army and reduced the training of its reserves.
¡´ Breaking Defense, 2022-3-11: Until recently, President Tsai has appeared reluctant to discuss how Taiwanese citizens can help defend their country... the Taiwanese people must understand that a US-led coalition can only come to their aid if Taiwan can hold out for an extended period of time
¡´ Economist, 2022-3-5: Taiwanese, seem too uninterested to fight to defend their land.... Taiwan's sloth in reforming its defence capabilities...(brief)
¡´ Washington Post, 2022-1-25  Taiwanese military has limited-to-no experience.

¡´ Washington Post, 2022-1-24: Defending Taiwan is a worthy goal. But are we ready for heavy casualties? it would be a grave mistake for the United States to promise to defend Taiwan without preparing its public ¡X and its soldiers ¡X for the tough fight they could face
 
¡´ WarOnTheRocks, 2021-11-18:  Taiwan's military seems to be taking its defense preparations less and less seriously;Taiwan¡¦s Ministry of National Defense has abandoned asymmetric defense reform, Washington ought to step in to get Taiwanese defense reform back on track

¡´ FT(UK), 2021-9-16 :Washington keeps scolding Taipei over its supposed lack of preparation against an ever mightier Beijing, Taiwan is failing to reorient its military towards an asymmetric strategy, US defence experts are growing exasperated over the Taiwan military¡¦s reluctance to decisively act on their instructions.
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WSJ, FoxNews, 2021-10-25: the island's military is riven with internal problems...Among the most pressing concerns are poor preparation and low morale among the roughly 80,000 Taiwanese who are conscripted each year and the nearly 2.2 million reservists.  foxnews.com/world/taiwans-military-against-china-us-military

¡´  Financial Times, 2021-8-23: Anti-Beijing sentiment is growing but the government has done little to prepare the public for war...
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Defense One, 2021-8-18: Taiwan proposed sale is stark proof that far from undertaking long overdue defense reforms with a sense of existential urgency, Taiwan is acting like it is business as usual. American analysts and think tanks have instead tried to get Taiwan to adopt an asymmetric force posture ¡Xweapons like drones, coastal defense missiles, naval mines, portable air defenses, and mobile ground forces
¡´ Foreign Policy, 2021-4-5: the state of Taiwan¡¦s own forces does not bode well. If Chinese forces actually land, ... This would require well-trained conscripts and a reserve force¡Xboth major problems for Taiwan right now . The government has adamantly refused to expand the length of conscription, which is only four months, or to draft women foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/05/taiwan-covid-19-success-china-military-threat/
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DW (Germany), 2021-4-5: Taiwan's army 'ill-prepared' for potential Chinese attack   dw.com/en/taiwans-army-ill-prepared-for-potential-chinese-attack/a-57102659

¡´ 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/

¡´ Economist, 2021-5-1:Taiwan must start to devote fewer resources to big, expensive weapons systems that are vulnerable to Chinese missiles and more to tactics and technologies that would frustrate an invasion. economist.com/leaders/2021/05/01/the-most-dangerous-place-on-earth
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¡´ 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¡XIt 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

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¡´ 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
¡´ Reuters , 12-10-2020:Taiwan is suffering a serious and worsening decay in the readiness and training of its troops,
 particularly its army units...  crucial element is dramatic reform of the reserves and civil defense units, creating
 urban and guerrilla warfare units... but " It is almost as if fighting to defend the country is
somebody else¡¦s responsibility,¡¨ expert says

¡´ 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
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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.
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armor, mechanized infantry, and artillery units are always in desperate shortage of enlisted soldiers
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  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/
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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
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  The ROC (Taiwan) Armed Forces number approximately 300,000, and reserves reportedly total 3,870,000.   /  Wikipedia, May 2020
¡»   Any political party advocating full conscription will loss election /  ¾È¦t¥þµø¬É 2021-5-1

¡»  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

¡»   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/
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firepower

¡» 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 ¡V especially if they lack trained crews ¡V 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

¡»  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

¡»  Today China has more and better conventional forces than Taiwan.   /  Forbes, 6-3-2020

¡»  China has ¢ö¢ý¢ë¢ô¢í¢é¢ú¡@¢ê¢÷¢õ¢ê ¡ANeutron bomb¡A hydrogen bomb, Taiwan has none of those. / Next TV news, 5-8-2020
¡»   Three Taiwanese presidents Lee (§õµn½÷«á´Á)¡BChen(³¯¤ô«ó)¡BTsai(½²­^¤å)  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
¡» 
Taiwan military strength is ranked No. 26 ,  China PLA No. 3  /  Global FirePower, 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

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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 (Áp¦X³ø ªÀµû), opinion,   5- 7- 2020

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 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

¡»  ¡§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/

¡»  Taiwan¡¦s preparedness and its will to fight both look shaky /  Economist,10-9-2020

¡»  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

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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 Äõ¹ç§Q¡n; https://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20200707006231-260417?chdtv

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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 ¬x¥ò¥C '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
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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

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¡»  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

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The People¡¦s Daily, 10-15-2020 , Global Times, 10-15-2020:  ¡§Don¡¦t say we didn¡¦t warn you"  (¡u¤Å¿×¨¥¤§¤£¹w¡v)...  

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

Taiwan,  Next TV, ³ü·s»D, 10-17-2020

The People¡¦s Daily¡m§i¥xÆW±¡ªv³¡ªù®Ñ¡nfull text : http://js.people.com.cn/BIG5/n2/2020/1015/c359574-34350271.html

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¡´  China's PRC state council office for Taiwan affairs (°ê¥x¿ì) , 2021-4-28¡G¡§Don¡¦t say we didn¡¦t warn you ¡¨(¡u¤Å¿×¨¥¤§¤£¹w¡v) - after DPP looses constitution committee's advocating rectification of country name to be "Rep. of Taiwan" ...
¡´ Economist,10-22-2020: The People¡¦s Daily, (CCP¡¦s mouthpiece¡m¤H¥Á¤é³ø¡n), carried a commentary... using a phrase¡X¡§Don¡¦t say we didn¡¦t warn you (ps: Taiwan intelligence)¡¨ ¡X that has preceded Chinese military action against other countries in the past
¡´  After China's mouthpiece, People's Daily or XinHua editorial issued a severe warning "Don¡¦t say we didn¡¦t warn you" in 1962¡B1967¡B1978¡AChinese 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" , 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 a pressure expecting Taiwan's giving up ... those sort of psychological war.
¡´  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. 
¡´  SCMP (Hong Kong), 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.

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No.1 "understand Taiwan" on US Yahoo search engine, 2022-4-8, 2022-1-1, 2021-12-25, 2021-12-3, 2021-11-9, 2021-10-8, 2021-10-2, 2021-9-30, 2021-8-22, 2021-6-16, 2021-6-2,  3-8-2021, 3-3-2021; No.2 at 2021-10-22

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pic.: No.1 "Taiwan comments" on Yandex of Russia2022-2-14

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¡» Financial Times (UK), 2021-10-7 : US special forces secretly training Taiwan¡¦s military; rotations had been occurring for at least a decade... the disclosure could further raise tensions. ¡§Making this public will compel the Chinese to react ¡» Global Times, 2021-11-9: The US are aware that there is a red line - US troops and combat equipment must not land on the island. So they sent a small number of soldiers there to train Taiwan military forces globaltimes.cn/page/202111/1238576.shtml

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 Taiwan is :

¡» "Washington's lapdog", "tool"  Global Times, Sept., 2021 globaltimes.cn/page/202109/1234662.shtml

¡»  Eurasian Times  7-9-2020: The Tsai authority ... turns to Washington and is willing to be used.  Taiwan Now Under ¡¥Deep Control¡¦ Of The US.

¡» "a conduit (tool)"  /    The LOWY Institute( think tank in Australia ) , 6-16-2020 : treating Taiwan as a conduit to frustrate Beijing imperils Taiwan¡¦s security... and then the United States abandons Taiwan to deal with the consequences.

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Latest news:  ¡» New York Times, 2022-6-13: Taiwan's defenses are, by many accounts, ill-equipped and understaffed...Should China invade, Taiwan's defenses will almost certainly crumble unless the United States and its allies help.  ¡» AFP, France24, 2022-6-10: China will 'not hesitate to start war' if Taiwan declares independence, Beijing says ¡» NY Times, 2022-6-10: American officials ... worry that China's leader, Xi Jinping, may be willing to go to war over Taiwan in the coming years. ¡» CNN, 2022-6-1: China has the power to take Taiwan, but it would cost an extremely bloody price ...China is more likely to emulate the "shock and awe" bombardments that preceded the US' invasions of Iraq. ¡» Daily Express (UK), 2022-5-30: Putin is winning his war, China Taiwan is next and that will be so much deadlier ¡» New York Times, 2022-5-23: Biden Says U.S. Military Would Defend Taiwan if China Invaded, ...dispensing with the ¡§strategic ambiguity¡¨
traditionally favored by American presidents
  ¡» New York Times, 2022-5-24:  Asked if he would send in troops if China attacked Taiwan, Biden said, ¡§The policy has not changed at all.¡¨¡» Economist, 2022-5-23: the gap between presidential statements and official policy is giving rise to a new form of ambiguity¡Xstrategic perhaps; or maybe simply incoherent  economist.com/the-economist-explains/2022/05/23/what-is-americas-policy-of-strategic-ambiguity-over-taiwan  ¡»  NY Times, 2022-5-24: the US is trying to walk a fine line between deterrence and provocation... risk pushing President Xi Jinping of China to order an attack on Taiwan 
¡»  full text 

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Trump takes Taiwan as leverage , one-China policy as bargaining chips

 ¡» Foreign Policy, 1-22-2021 :  Taiwan seeks assurances from Biden admin., but Biden and his team
 are likely to resist using Taiwan as a cudgel against China the way Trump did. 
¡»  Foreign Policy, 12-14-2016 named Taiwan President Tsai as
one of leading thinkers of 2016 for "Poking the bear" .

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Salmon is poking the bear ?  Taiwan suffers in danger !

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¡» Bloomberg, 2021-4-1: The U.S. also makes no iron-clad guarantees it will come to Taiwan¡¦s defense if China makes good on threats to invade, only agreeing to help the separately ruled economy maintain its capacity for self defense¡´

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¡» Foreign Policy, 2021-4-5: the state of Taiwan¡¦s own forces does not bode well. If Chinese forces actually land, ... This would require well-trained conscripts and a reserve force¡Xboth major problems for Taiwan right now . The government has adamantly refused to expand the length of conscription, which is only four months, or to draft women

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¡» The Interpreter , The LOWY Institute ( Australia ), 6-16-2020 :
treating Taiwan as a conduit to frustrate Beijing imperils Taiwan¡¦s security.
 Already many in China¡¦s party-state suspect that the US intends to promote Taiwan independence, ...
The risk here is that U.S. policy encourages an overreaction from China, upsetting the
cross-straits status quo or whatever remains of it, and
then the United States abandons Taiwan to deal with the consequences.
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¡» DW (Germany) ,11-10-2020:The Biden administration will have to make it quite clear
from the outset whether it is ready to go to war for Taiwan's sake


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Japan Sankei Shimbun ( ²£¸g·s»D),10-29-2020:Japan's DM ©¤«H¤Ò: Given military imbalance of
both sides, anything can happen, Taiwan must be very cautious
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¡» WSJ,10-13-2020:  continued ambiguity in the face of Xi's escalating rhetoric and provocative movements by his armed forces
in the Taiwan Strait presents the greater risk of a confrontation as dangerous  as the Cuban Missile Crisis
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  ¡» Bloomberg news 3-14-2018: In the future, Taiwan will suffer even more, as it

gets caught  in the middle between a stronger China and a inward-looking US...

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¡» Chicago Tribune, Yahoo News,10-12-2020: We should defend Taiwan... Yet, to be effective as a deterrent, Beijing has to see it as
 a defensive move by Washington, aimed at preserving the status quo, and not as part of a new offensive against China
 ¡» Economist,10-9-2020:  China could wipe out Taiwan¡¦s navy and air force ...  Taiwan¡¦s preparedness and its will to fight both look shaky. 
Many insiders are accordingly pessimistic about its ability to hold out.


¡» New York Times at  4-18-2018: The U.S. and Taiwan are seen

as heading in a direction that is getting perilously close to

 Chinese red lines...... (Taiwan president Tsai  stated)

" Many  people say we are pawns of other people ......"   

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¡»   CNN 2-19-2020:  TW president: "What we are expecting is, after withstanding the first wave of
Chinese attacks ourselves, the rest of the world would stand up to exert strong pressure on China" ....
"Taiwan as an underdog facing down the growing might of Beijing" ... 
  Taiwan military

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 Washington Post, 8-20-2018: 
Taiwan's precarious role in the China-US spat  !
(Trump adm.'s Taiwan policy is unpredictable); 

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 United Daily, 1-4-2020, editorial opinion :  Taiwan functions as a chess piece to block China
in American's containment chessboard, if Taiwan doesn't follow every order American gives , The US Indo-Pacific strategy has a gap ...

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New York Times 9-5-2019:  it would also be a catastrophe if Taiwan were blockaded or squashed into submission, because Taiwan ...
and stands in the way of any Chinese projection into the Pacific or toward, say, Okinawa.

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Independent UK, 7-23-2019: China "ready to go to war" if Taiwan tries to gain independence

( white paper released by the Chinese gov.).

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¡»  NewsWeek, 10-28-2020: As China Threatens War, Nearly Everyone in Taiwan Wants Peace: Poll

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¡»  ¡§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/

¡»  Taiwan¡¦s preparedness and its will to fight both look shaky
/  Economist,10-9-2020

¡@

¡» USA Today 5-18-2018: Xi JinPing has signaled that China will seek to reclaim its historical properties by 2049.  Freebeacon 5-17-2018 :   2020¡Xthe deadline that [Chinese supreme leader] Xi Jinping has given the  [People's Liberation Army] to be ready to invade Taiwan

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China  Slams the Door on Taiwanese Appeals for Independence.

¡»

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¡´  VOAnews, 3-23-2018 : John Bolton (Trump's new National Security Adviser) has long argued  that Washington can play a "Taiwan card" to compel Beijing's attention for its potentially

destabilizing actions in East Asia and the South China Sea.

¡@

¡´ New York times,  5-18-2017: Taiwan's leaders have gutted the military and continued to base defense planning on the assumption that the United States would always come to the rescue.  Policies ... have left the military understaffed and in a state of low morale...

¡@

¡@

¡´ Le Monde diplomatic of France, Mai 2016, depicted Taiwan as a trembling sweating rat  (click to view the political cartoon ! ), turning its back on an approaching huge cat (China), lifting high the banner "$O$"  .  

¡@

¡´  New York Times at  11-4-2017, the Pentagon report, May 2017: China¡¦s military modernization has ¡§eroded or negated many of Taiwan¡¦s historical advantages (geography and the US support) ¡¨ in deterring a potential attack.

¡@

¡@

¡´  FreeBeacon at 10-19-2017 : "China¡¦s Xi Jinping Slams the Door on Taiwanese Appeals for Independence.".   Washington Post at 10-18-2017: "Mr. Xi¡¦s biggest applause line was a vow to 'never allow anyone. . . to separate any part of Chinese territory from China.'  That would include...Taiwan."(19th CPC national Congress).   Spiegel Germany, 1-9-2017, Global Times of China: "There is no room for negotiations" .


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     ¡» "Is it progress if a cannibal uses knife and fork?"/ Stanisław Jerzy Lec
¡@

 ¡» In a State of the Union Address, US President R. Reagan quoted Chinese  philosopher Lao-Tzu's
(<¹D¼w¸g>, <the book of morals & ethics>)
 "Governing a great country is like 'cooking a small fish'"
(
ªv¤j°ê¦p²i¤pÂA).
How did the state machines... do "small fishes" in the past years ??
  political oppression

¡» People's Daily, 10-25-2020: Taiwan Intelligence strictly monitors Taiwanese people by so called "Green Terror"

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¡´ 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 Liberty Times,  head-line news, 3-16-2019: Taiwan PM is not satisfied with Judicial reform :

 <The United Daily>,  06-18-2016, head page news: Taiwan's prosecutors admit following
 
order to conclude legal cases, usually.  

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

Taiwan judiciary crashes ¡@

Apple Daily, editorial, 1-19-2021:
Rotten & stinky judiciary s
hakes 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.

¡@

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Apple Daily, 1-21-2021: Taiwan government dares to investigate high-position judicial officials' connections and property from unidentified sources (dummy accounts) ?? tw.appledaily.com/daily/20210121/ASVXWX4ASZCQ3PEWMSQKZ7CDS4/

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Liberty Times, 1-21-2021: Taiwan's legal machine was already a chunk of meat for "interest group"'s exclusive domain, even Control Yuan took the role of "body guard "
ª÷ùÚÞm  https://talk.ltn.com.tw/article/paper/1426899

¡@

 

Apple Daily, 1-21-2021: "How big is the iceberg under the sea ?"  200 involve, 40 punished only  tw.appledaily.com/forum/20210121/LETBH6VACRHTPJAOVH6DL2LATY/

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

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.

¡@

■ United Daily, editorial, 1-21-2021:  Who believes the Supreme Court is not giving problematic directions to entire legal system, in order to commit himself to pledging loyalty to the politicians in power  https://udn.com/news/story/7338/5190996

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

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Taiwan - an 'empire' of int'l fraud

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 international nuisances & social harms

¡@

¡´ United Daily, 10-23-2019, editorial: Taiwanese telecom frauds run wild the entire world to damage Taiwan's image.  

¡´ CTV evening news, 12-14-2017  19:19pm: Taiwanese fraud crimes are really all over the world.   EBC  TV news 4-9-2017 6:54am: Taiwan is notorious for its fraud crimes all over the world, damaging the image of Taiwan 

¡@

¡´ BBC 4-22-2016: Taiwanese massive international telecoms frauds lead to diplomatic row between Taiwan and China, and cost Chinese victims billions of Yuan and to have driven some to suicidehttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-36108762

¡@

¡´    Taiwan largely sees these telecom frauds/phone scammers as an asset rather than liability... / quora

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¡´ Taiwan's legal system is extremely tolerant of the scammers. Not matter how much money was involved in a scamming case  /  https://www.quora.com/Does-Taiwan-rely-on-the-fraud-industry-heavily,  /4-16-2016

¡@

¡´  Taiwan's legislators and judicial system don't have a sense of shame on int'l telecomm scammers issue  /  ref to United Daily News (Áp¦X³ø), Opinion, 8-2016 

 

¡´  Crime liability in China, or Japan, Germany is much more serious than that in Taiwan, China may give it  life imprisonment , Taiwan treats it  minor offense, converting Imprisonment into Fine.   Taiwan is a "low risk, high profit" country for fraud crimes ... / EBC TV news 4-9-2017 6:54am ps14

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¡@

 †     Ethics of Taiwan politiciansThe 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. But as a precondition for talks, China demanded that Tsai acknowledge the ¡§one China¡¨ principle.  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...   

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Taiwan state apparatus fully support freedom of expression & democracy !
¡@

You can scream as loud as you want

  The louder you scream, the more I enjoy ...

¡» Taiwan's Apple Daily, editorial, 6-16-2020: Taiwan's politics still intervene or meddle media. 
 
¡» Apple Daily, editorial, 12-14-2019 : Since DPP took office in 2016,  political culture of authoritarianism («ÂÅv¦¡¬Fªv¤å¤Æ) gradually showed up in Taiwan.  ¡» United Daily, editorial, 6-23-2019: mega-data became politician's instrument to control public opinions

¡@

¡»  China Times, editorial  3-9-2020  The gov. suppressed freedom of speech by 4 layers:
1¡B Political power forms threats (penalty fine and suspending the license) to certain media¡C
2¡B Secretly bullying by internet army, cyber force ... and so on

¡@

¡» State violence and white terror (product of state violence) return in Taiwan (United Daily, opinion, 12-21-2017, 12-27-2017).

¡» 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 

¡» This is an EVIL state apparatus (column, CTN, 5-9-2018): Taiwan has shown a general tendency toward pandering state apparatus, surrendering in mind control ... http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20180509000843-260109

¡» Abusing power to invade citizen's rights, going old route of anti-democracy are their nature  (United Daily, opinion, 12-20-2017).  https://udn.com/news/story/11321/2886710

ref to https://udn.com/news/story/11321/2897025¡Chttp://udn.com/news/story/7338/2179800¡C

¡» Now it seems hard to keep Taiwan's skin-deep democracy ... the people's "livelihood" was sacrificed for politics ...The United Daily - Opinion, 3-7-2017

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 ( a violent, penetrative scientific power) "You called Discovery,  I called the Rape ..." 
/  Jurassic Park ,  1990

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Taiwan - an 'empire' of  illegal drugs 

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¡»

¡´Taiwan's image  ―  notorious for being a major drug transit center & a major drug exporting country ("drug" - amphetamine, etc, ps13 )

¡@

¡´ Police of Japan and Australia already labelled Taiwan as "High Risk" illegal drug-exporting country

¡@

¡´ Based on Japan's statistics,  Taiwan is its No.3 drug resource country ......  ref to The China Times, headline news, 4-4-2017

¡´

¡´   Taiwan was already reduced to be a 'kingdom' of producing narcotic drugs, United Daily, 11-2-2017, headline news.   Taiwan's anti-drug is a fake show / CTN, 7-2017

¡´

¡´ Drug-abuse in Taiwan is too serious to stop / Apple Daily, Opinion, 5-15-2017;   ¡´Philippines President Duterte (9-26-2017) : Triad supplying illegal drugs to PH is based in Taiwan, not China / inquirer.net 

¡@

¡´  Taiwan got bad records in The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG)  for the law and law-enforcement problems / UDN 4-11-2017

 †   international nuisances & social harms

       ps: Taiwan government sponsored an int'l cartoon contest under the theme of "anti-drugs", now we have reason to doubt whether or not  this probable propaganda event used world artists to fool the world.

¡´

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¡»

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Taiwan politicians buried people alive 

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in quakes of magnitude 6.0

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Taiwan government (including local gov.) has not well taken its fundamental responsibility of protecting the safety of people's life and property -

¡´ why are there so many tall buildings located on the fault-zone?

¡´ why are poor architectures everywhere on bad geologic grounds ?

¡´ why are those shit-hole politicians doing nothing and ignoring urban renewal so as to risk millions of old houses and human beings ?? 

¡´ why 5/6 bridges badly in need of repair have not done ?  government even has never made public the info. and where those bridges are. (ref. to United Daily, 10-9-2019, headline news)

¡@

  (full text: https://udn.com/news/story/11321/2974813 Áp¦X³øªÀ½×¡þÂ_¼h±a¤W¦ó¥H«Ø¤F¨º»ò¦h°ª¼Ó¡H  2-8-2018,  https://udn.com/news/story/7338/2977079 ¤ÅÅý³n¸}¼Ó¦¨§|±þ¤H©R³´¨À 2-9-2018,  https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/daily/20180209/37928659ªá½¬ ³£§ó Äê¬F«È   2-9-2018)

 †  

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¡»¡»

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Green Peace, 5-2-2019:  It remains our view that Taiwanese fisheries still have many serious problems, both environmental and social, and that the need for reform is clear and urgent.    <the interpreter>, 2019: Taiwan ...illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing... Taiwan has so far refused to adopt the Work in Fishing Convention. 

¡@

 illegal migrants,  foreign laborers ! 

¡@

Taiwan illegal fishing

Taiwan, a pirate boat ?

¡´ <The Diplomat> (4-14-2016) :  Taiwan's illegal fishing is 'out of control', GreenPeace criticized Taiwan gov. for knowing this issue but does little EU warned in 2015 Taiwan with a yellow card for illegal fishing till  6 '19.

¡´ Washington Post 2-22-2018: Taiwan is No.2 fishing nation as measured by Global fishing Watch's Automatic Identification Sys., 2016. 

¡@

¡´ US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 3-13-2019: Labor laws do not cover domestic household workers, leaving them vulnerable to labor exploitation.   Foreign workers were most susceptible to forced labor, especially when serving as crew members on Taiwan-flagged fishing vessels.   Mistreatment and poor working conditions for foreign fishermen remained common.   Foreign fishermen recruited offshore were not entitled to the same labor rights, wages, insurance, and pensions as those recruited locally.  Some labor brokers charged foreign workers exorbitant recruitment fees and used debts incurred from these fees in the source country as tools of coercion to subject the workers to debt bondage.  

¡@

¡´   More than 100 foreign laborers were raped each year  / BBC 1-24-2017

¡´  Taiwanese endured foreign household caregivers who prefer an easy job and are picky about patients and severe disabilities...,  Economic Daily News ( ¸gÀÙ¤é³ø, 2015-11-28)
ps: Many laborers are 'good' at committing crimes (running away,
malicious destroy/damage, guilty of burglary, etc ), something wrong with TW system.

¡´ Taiwan's principal human rights problems reported : exploitation of foreign workers, including foreign crewmembers on long-haul fishing vessels  / USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,   3-3-2017

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¡´¡´    <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.

¡@

¡´¡´  <Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF, Reporters without Borders),  France,  4-27-2017 :   Local government officials are also directly interfering in the editorial policies of state-owned media;  Taiwan's press freedom is at 45th place.

¡@

¡´¡´  USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,   3-3-2017 :  some media self-censorship with regard to China...... 3-13-2019: self-censorship continued.  Journalists said they faced pressure from management to submit news stories to complement or support the content of paid advertisements.

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¡´¡´   Those faceless coward-hackers tried to damage speech-freedom and stop my modifying this and some other web-pages.  6-10-2017

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Taiwan travel¡¹

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Does Taiwan
Have democracy?

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 Taiwan democracy

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Taiwan food

¡´ WEF <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> of 2019 shows Taiwan had the sub-region's largest decline in competitiveness,  Taiwan ranks 10th in Asia

¡@

¡´   BBC UK, The SUN (2-13-2017): "BUS CRASH HORROR !" Taiwan's "safety standards need to be improved".

¡´ China - People's Daily's Global Times (7-19-2016) Opinion-editorial: Tourists're gambling their lives in Taiwan  ...
click Taiwan travel  for details


¡´ Taiwan has had a poor aviation safety record/
CNN, Newsweek
, 2-4-2015


¡´ People's Daily (8-4-2016) Opinion-editorial: Chinese not dare to visit Taiwan without safety assurance,  there's loopholes in law and regulation, careless mistakes in administration, not-good-enough system, etc

¡@

¡´  All night-market districts across Taiwan have safety problem similar to the big gas-cylinder LPG-explosion in Fengjia (³{¥Ò) night market (known as largest night-market business district in Taiwan) / The China Times, 7-19-2017

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 †

¡´ Economist EIU Democracy Index 2019 shows Taiwan is "Flawed democracy", 2019's overall score is lower than 2015's and 2016's, the scores of "political culture", "political participation" are low (5.63, 6.11)

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¡´ 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.

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¡´ Taiwan politics belongs to corporations (not the people) and is controlled by the political parties <Foerign Policy> 2015.

¡´

¡´ Now it seems hard to keep Taiwan's skin-deep democracy ... the people's "livelihood" was sacrificed for politics ...The United Daily - Opinion, 3-7-2017
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¡´ Taiwan's financial system is rotten ... / FTV news, 5-29-2017

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¡´  Food scandals never end, the officials hide  news from consumers CTN editorial, 10-20-2018

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¡´ Food safety is one of biggest challenges to Taiwan / The China Times. 8-6-2016,
 an interview to Taiwan president Tsai

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¡´ Government's food-safety budget is too little, only USD0.03 for each Taiwanese, according to «e¤plan / China Times, 7-9-2017
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¡´ Professor Yin M.D. (ÃC©v®ü, Doctor, Univ. of London ): Minimize the times of dining out to protect your health !
¡´ The  limit-amount  (ppm, part per million) of pesticide  residue are restricted to in Taiwan is 1000 times that in Europe / The China Times, Opinion <µuµû "Taiwan is more toxic than before>, 4-21-2017
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Beaviss : dummy ! the re's no poison, addictives, MSG, lard oil, gutter oil,  added in these Chinese heritage arts - pork stone and cabbage jade
 Butter-Head: so, we can eat these healthy foods now?!
  ps4
a visual parody by Zola Zu¡@


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¡¹ ps: <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. 
 
ps: The incidence rate of Taiwanese people suffering colon/rectal cancer was ranked world No.1,  many black-heart tainted foods containing Carcinogen (cancer producer)...../ 8-28-2015 apple daily.

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 †  Taiwan, a "kingdom" of mask  ― 
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¡´ Taiwan's CCPI (Climate Change Performance Index - GHG emissions, renewable energy, etc) rank of 2019 is reciprocal third among countries, the score/ranking is from bad to worse since 2017.


¡´
Apple Daily 12-11-2019, headline news: Taiwan's air pollution is bad to worse, about half population were endangered by PM2.5 and PM10 from top 10 hazardous level companies (China Steel, Taichung Power plant, etc) 

¡@

¡´ Lancet Planetary Health (April 10, '19):

"The 4th worst for rate of kids getting Asthma from traffic air pollution" 

¡´¡m China Times¡n, Taiwan,  4-12-2019 :
the government was criticized that lacking intention to improve air pollution.

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¡´ Taiwan administration's policy led to air pollution, toxic pollution in the land and sea ... 
 
 (The China Times, 1-7-2018 ¥xÆW®ü³°ªÅ¦Ã¬V¬r®`¡A¤s®üÅܦâ http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20180107000465-260114¡CDaily Mail (UK) 7-14-2017 : Shocking underwater video from Taiwan shows ocean floor littered with plastic (bottles) garbage)

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¡´ Taiwan's environmental quality (serious air pollution, bad water) was ranked

almost the last in all OECD countries  / 9-21-2015 China Times

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¡´  Taiwan built an environment to kill legally , for its PM2.5 air-pollution-control standard
15 years behind  /
dean, College of Public health, National T
aiwan University,  UDN headpage, 10-16-2017;   Liberty Times 1-4-2016 (http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/life/paper/945998).

¡@

¡´ Taiwan,  in the lower ranks, placing 54th out of 57 nations in the CCPI with regards to cutting down carbon emissions

and other greenhouse gases. / Taipei Times, 11-23-2017  ¡¹taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2017/11/23/2003682785
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¡´ United Daily, Opinion, 12-2-2017: 2/3 of Taiwan's air pollutions came from local,

the "culprit" is too many
coal-fired power generation - Taiwan government's policy.

¡¹T

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Justice's raped  !

Taiwan justice dead


Taiwan Justice sys. is ruler's tool,

 judiciary is controlled by politics

 - Liberty Times, 6-19-2016
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UDN 2-26-2019: Nearly 80% Taiwanese are not satisfied with judicial reform, Nearly 80% don't believe justice

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Nearly 80% Taiwanese are not satisfied

 with gov. measures against corruption

  - Liberty Times 2-23-2016

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 †

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Taiwan, a rotten country

One of Taiwan's Principal
human rights problems :

rotten (corruption)

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ref. to US Country Report on Human Rights, 2015-2017, and PERC 2009, etc.

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In platform presentation at 12-25-2019, Nationalist Party Presidential candidate Han criticized President Tsai has allowed top officials around grow very corrupt, Tsai refuted KMT was more serious, People First Party candidate Song said that speaking of corruption and unfair judiciary, KMT and DPP are about the same rotten.

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cyber-link:
Corruption in Taiwan
Prosecutors in Taiwan
Justice in Taiwan

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democracy vs DEMOcrazy?
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Taiwan torture¡¹

   

Torture on Taiwan's own people - a major difference from what CIA did (ps2)
also violate Nuremberg Code (ps12)

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Professor Lin R.S. was subject to electromagnetic wave attacks / French AFP, Bangkok Post,  Dec. 2011, Yahoo UK & Ireland, etc

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 †

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¡´  Taiwan's university rankings in Asia,

Quacquarelli Symonds¡AQS  UK,  2021
¡@

ranks Taiwan Malaysia China Korea Hong Kong, Macau Singapore
¡@
Japan
1~15 ¡@ ¡@
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15.  Tsinghua University Beijing
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23.   Peking University Beijing
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22.    University of Hong Kong

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No. 11.   National University of Singapore

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No.13 Nanyang
 Tech. Univ. Singapore
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24  University of Tokyo
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26~50 ¡@ ¡@ 34.   Fudan University,  Shanghai

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47.    Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai

37.   Seoul National University, Seoul

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39.  KAIST  Korea

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27 Hong Kong Univ. Science & Tech.

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43 Chinese Univ HK

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48. City University of Hong Kong

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38.  Kyoto

University

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

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56. Tokyo Institute Tech. 

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60~80 66.   National Taiwan University

(¥xÆW¤j¾Ç)¡@¡@

¡@ ¡@ 69. Korea Univ.

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77  Pohang U Science Tech

75.  Hong Kong Polytechnic University ¡@ 72. Osaka U  Japan

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 79. Tohoku U Japan

80~100 ¡@ ¡@ ¡@

93.  U Science & Tech China

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85. Yonsei U   Korea

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88. SKKU Korea

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

QS  Quacquarelli Symonds¡AQS  UK

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QS 2020 Asia universities, top 15 rankings :

subtotal number : Singapore ( 2 ), Hong Kong ( 3 ), Japan ( 2 ),  Korea ( 3 ), China ( 4 ), Malaysia ( 1 ), Taiwan ( 0 )

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 ¡¹  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

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Taiwanese
have been patient sufferance of so many politically bullies

 and toying (and killings),
hence turned into obedient, docile people 

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¡¹Washington Post, 1-2-2017 :    When asked to choose between

formal independence or maintaining economic ties with China,

 83 percent chose bread over romance...

¡¹

 †

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Hawkish at home, chicken abroad,
sharp spikes pointing

to its own hoi polloi


 Le Monde of France, Mai 2016, depicted Taiwan as a trembling sweating rat (or mouse), turning its back on a huge cat (China), lifting high the banner "$O$"

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Taiwan air force¡´

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¡´


¡´
 Express UK, 6-17-2020:  World War 3: China preparing for 'military struggle' as Taiwan row intensifies ¡´   CNN, 8-11-2020 : Beijing's warplanes have only crossed  the Taiwan Strait "median line" ( "the de facto cease-fire line") intentionally three times since 1999 (ps: Newsweek 8-12-2020: since 1949)-- once in March 2019, in February of this year, and again on Monday (Azar met with Taiwan President Tsai) ps: In 2020, PLA fighters crossed median line more than 40 times

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VS

 

¡´Taiwan declared no other air forces are allowed to flex their muscle in Taiwan air space/ Apple Daily 5-30-2016,...

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  Taiwan's sky, our air-space ? 

      

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    Taiwan     a piss boy polluting the environment 

      

     ¡´   Asian's biggest sewage treatment plant in Taiwan's New Taipei,  skipped the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and disposed dirty and disgusting water into the sea for probably 4-5 years, witnesses confirmed. / Next, front-page, 4-6-2017
    
¡´  Taiwan administration's Dioxin ("poison of the century") control system crashed completely / FTV news, 4-22-2017
    
¡´
   NO justice !  The courthouse judged enterprise's disposing 5000 ton cancer-producer strong acid and waste water into the river-creek (color changed to dark yellow ) and endangering the natural environment  is no guilty !  / headline news of Apply Daily, 9-30-2015  http://www.appledaily.com.tw/appledaily/article/headline/20150930/36807420/
    
¡´  Taiwan ignores environmental protection (ocean garbage clean-up) of 90% coast-line of Taiwan island for large garbage-distributions... / UDN, 5-30-2017
    
¡´  "Wanna murder people?"  Official certification  for food (CAS) includes not Dioxin.    Pollution for12 yrs never end, Dioxin inside many people already over the limit probably, TW government has never done source-control, never stop contaminants (pollutant, e.g., plastic, inks from industry, fly-ash from incinerator, etc) going to our environment  / Apple Daily, head-page, 4-22-2017 

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lay the blame to an innocent one
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Major crimes fled easily,
The little or innocent took the rap
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¡´ Taiwan's legislators and judicial system don't have a sense

 of shame on releasing many int'l telecomm scammers

and fraud groups  (United Daily, 8-24-2016 editorial ).

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¡´  In the past 8 years, about 100 major crimes escaped

overseas easily and happily (Next magazine, Liberty Times, 12-31-2015),

 including the leader of Legislators, Liu ¼BªQÿ (apple daily 12-8-2016) ps3

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privacy toilet 
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   pic. : political dig-dirt...ps1

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watch the people, or listen to the people?

keyhole or loophole ?

Taiwanese privacy

¡» The United Daily News, editorial opinion (9-19-2018) : "secret police" (¡uªF¼t­Ì¡v) have been active around us ... ¡» UDN 11-3-2018,  Intel. sys. (NSB) confirmed their investigations of Facebook and other's communities on the net, all internet platform service providers in Taiwan were requested to hand in all users' personal information/data.    ¡» <Apple Daily (Ä«ªG¤é³ø)> 11-7-2018 editorial opinion:  by whatever name ( "secret police" or "national security bureau") it is called, what "it" did secretly were always more than what it admitted. 

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Wanted Poster

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pic. :  Looking for the guilty?
need only look into a mirror on WANTED poster
 /
Taiwan's political culture & ecology can't cultivate citizens knowing and obeying the law ...

/
<United Daily> 8-24-2016 editorial

TW Taiwan government logo
 Taiwan lacks creativity, not cold calculations
  The logo
(pic. above) of Taiwan gov. / Ministry of Economic Affairs (pic. above) is similar to Canadian logos (pic.below) appeared earlier       click for Taiwanese creativity


       logo Canada    
¡¹    ps: The China Times, 3-29-2017: Taiwan lacks key tech. to make a  coach (L.  bus).

¡¹  ¡¹
¡¹  
                  

         

  ¡»   Hypocritical government / Taiwan declared crackdown on prostitution, only to turn into a country with world No.1 percentage of  sex-related business consumers of all the adults. (Apple Daily 12-25-2014 ).  ¡» Taiwan is hard to stop sex transactions, a 9 yrs old girl as prostitute (Next Magazine, no. 1887) ¡» Prostitution is violence against women / ref to <Prostitution : violence with no name>, "Prostitution et Societe", 2010, "Int'l Day for the Elimination of Violence against women", 11-25-2016 France.   ¡»Taiwan government is the main criminal  to harm women's rights in large scale.   †

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Taiwan diplomacy

'comfort women' style kowtow diplomacy,

Taiwan served 2 powers, USA and/or China

Taiwan's economy is highly reliant on China,
Taiwan needs the US for national defense

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ps: "serving dicks" ("±·L.P.") is a widely-known political slang in Taiwan

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white

 terror
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Taiwanese privacy / Leaking patients' medical records is a normal social protocol in Taiwan     UDN  1-3-2017

In Taiwan, journalists are not used to respect patients' privacy... our hospital members do not get (cognosis) very clearly on the principle of protecting patients' privacy...
 <
<§Ö³t¬Ý¶E¡B¬ªÅS¯f¾ú²_±`ºA ÂåÀø­Û²z¦ó¦b¡H>> https://udn.com/news/story/7266/2205935  by  president of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center

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 †

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Potential 'suicide bomber' !?

undergound das explosion disaster Taiwan


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¡´  It triggered public anger that Taiwan gov. never and

refuse to go public residential-area locations with potential explosion risks,
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¡´   Hidden underground pipelines with dangerous

Ethylene, Propylene, liquefied petroleum gas, etc may

pass through your home  / apple daily,  8-2-2014  (ps15)

  ps: the little whale is Taiwan-island shape.

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 †

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¡¹¡¹Land slide disaster in Taiwan¡¹¡¹

   

¡´ Taiwan has never gone public via media
those area with
landslide disaster risks,

lots of houses with potential fatal dangers in Taiwan.

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¡´ <CTS HD>, 5-23-2016 :

<»·¨£> study found Taiwanese

 people gave a "failure" score

 (53.5) on "living safety".

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 †

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USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,   3-13-2019: Victims of rape and domestic violence did not report the crime for fear of social stigmatization, and various nongovernmental organization (NGO) and academic studies estimated the total number of sexual assaults was seven to 10 times higher than the number reported to police. Some abused women chose not to report incidents to police due to social pressure not to disgrace their families.  NGOs raised concerns about online sexual exploitation of children. 

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where's Birds Flu ...?

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Taiwan (TW) is dishonest and 'cruel'
trying to hide, block, delay public-health news,
e.g., poisoned eggs, PCV virus vaccine,
and Bird-flu more than one time


(1-2-2018 UDN udn.com/news/story/7266/2908720,

2012 BBC news :  www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese_news
/2012/03/120304_taiwan_birdflu_investigate
)

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ps:  USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,   3-3-2017 & 2016, 2015 /

One of Taiwan's principal human rights problems -domestic violence, Taiwanese Women suffered being raped (spousal rape).
  Many victims did not report the crime for fear of social stigmatization.  Various nongovernmental organization

 (NGO) and academic studies estimated that the total number of sexual assaults was seven to 10 times the number

 reported to police. 

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¡» United Daily, 9-6-2018, headlines : Any solution to our ocean crisis  ??  
a bowl of plastic trash soup still trouble Taiwan
 
     ¡»
Apple Daily, 9-6-2018: serious pollutions in many locations around Taiwan, ...
Phenol may harm human health ...

¡» Apple Daily, headline news, 8-30-2018: Taiwan is reduced to a world dumping ground  -  one million ton of
 stinky trash were delivered to Taiwan between Jan. 2018 ~ July 2018

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Taiwan !  'Garbage island' 

Save the ocean !


save the ocean

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Daily Mail  (newspaper UK),  7-14-2017

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comments it as "selfish" human beings ,
"Taiwan was once called 'Garbage island'
and more conversation is needed" ......

¡»

    Taiwan ignores environmental protection
 (ocean garbage clean-up) of 90%
Taiwan's coast
 with large garbage-distributions...

/ UDN, 5-30-2017

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pic above: Daily Mail (UK) :
Shocking underwater video

from Taiwan
shows ocean floor littered with plastic

 (bottles) garbage
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4690526/The-bottom-ocean-filled-plastic-bottles.html  (news & video)


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damaged web-pages of the sites

dirty attacks !  free speech is worse ever in the past 20 years !   prime suspects are ... ?    11-22-'18, Nov. 3, 2020

Taiwan justice  (e.g., page1, page2, etc). New form attacks happened at 11-20-2018 ... each char. being typing in took a long time (seconds, even 10+ minutes, or forever) to be shown on the screen while updating my web-pages concerning Taiwan judicial systems and prosecutors...  attacks last ...  
¡@ details : news centre news center (Chinese)

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                                          Free speech in Taiwan   

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 Nov. 18, 2017  The China Times : Taiwan president gave tacit (secretly) permission to Facebook (Taiwan) to restrict or block certain contents  ... brief http://opinion.chinatimes.com/20171118000516-262114;  Taiwan government did not deny or respond this.   

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free expression on FB Taiwan Freedom of speech in Taiwan

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Too many fake scholarly papers

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¡´  Lousy conducts and bad ethics in Taiwan's academic circle happened again and again, but never be handled seriously,
some careless-done fake papers are either ignorant or extremely audacious, some are even fraud-crimes,
only legal punishments can stop these, Taiwan government should take hard line now, even resulting in

 "corpses lie all over the country " ps11

¡´   Lousy students with totally 38 score in entrance examination are good enough to be freshmen

of Taiwan's university, it's an international joke ! / The China Times, 7-20-2017

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Trump in polygraph test (Trump Russia tie)

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Mona Lisa in danger

pic.: Mona Lisa encounters Taiwan state apparatus

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pic.: Trump in polygraph test

likes Taiwan prosecutor's inner conviction better


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ps : The Control Yuan (Dept. of Monitor) warned to impeach
Taiwanese prosecutors' abuse of inner conviction ("not free" beweiswurdigung)
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¡¹   ¡¹  

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 ♦ 2.    suspect within reason
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Has Taiwan been doing something
so base

to its own national(s)
―  treat 'em like enemies
or traitors ??

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(state-violence drama - flunkies and opportunists  humiliating or persecuting the innocent targets)
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public shaming show
sort of "dancing-monkey-parade", dusty old political theatrics

like what happened in world war II, Chinese cultural revolution, and Chinese civil war
(ROC fooled int'l reporters by a fake show of big military victory in Yan 'an starring by fake prisoners of war )

 return in new forms   †

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public punishment
Public shaming showbiz returns ? ps10
 like those kinds happened in world war II and cultural revolution in chn.   †


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waterboarding

left: CIA waterboarding
right: The "suspect" poisons the little by painting a picture of "state enemy" 
 †

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 Electrocution  method 2.0
torture, electric shock, electrocution
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 freedom of expression is re-defined
"pls. feel free to express(scream) when I  'rape' u !"   †

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more readings

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ps: UDN 12-20-2016 chief editorial <Be careful the "state violence" ghost camouflaged themselves in new forms >:
New-form state violence never end (brief;  full text
http://udn.com/news/story/7338/2179800)

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ps 2: We should not let "public trial" by media (being misled by fake news offered by TW prosecutors & police)

happen again / Apple Daily, Opinion, 4-22-2017


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3.   brief

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News brief: ¡» Business Insider, 2022-7-21: CIA chief: the Ukraine war likely won't shake China's resolve to invade Taiwan ¡» FoxNews, 2022-7-20: CIA director 'wouldn't rule out' near-term Taiwan invasion  ¡» Asia Nikkei (Japan), 2022-7-20:  Taiwan's ex-defense chief calls for sweeping military reforms ¡» FoxNews, 2022-7-7: Chinese diplomat says 'reunification' with Taiwan near ¡» Washington Post, 2022-7-3:  these steps (asymmetric warfare) may not be enough to repel a far more powerful opponent like China. Taiwan's mandatory military service ... spend more time doing menial labor than learning combat skills. Tactics taught are comparable to those (Gulf War or the Vietnam War) ¡»VOA, 2022-6-30: US Believes China Still Hoping to Take Taiwan Without Force ¡» Axios,2022-6-28: Taiwan focuses on power projection instead of defense,  and lacks a well-developed security studies academic community... distrust in Taiwan between politicians and the military lingers  ¡» EurAsian Times, 2022-6-27: Bonnie Glaser told Politico: the active-duty military is not willing to work with the reserve force, which is seen as insufficiently trained;  there isn¡¦t much enthusiasm among the civilians to work with the military or the military to work with civilians  ¡» N.Y. Times, 2022-6-19: A Looming Threat /  ...Taiwan is a democracy, and politicians have electoral considerations. Extending military conscription, for example, would probably not be very popular ¡» NY Times, 2022-6-13: Taiwan¡¦s defenses are, by many accounts, ill-equipped and understaffed... Taiwan military leaders argue that smaller weapons are not useful for standing up to China in visible ways.  Long-range missiles capable of striking the mainland could deter Beijing ...Should China invade, Taiwan's defenses will almost certainly crumble unless the United States and its allies help. ¡» NY Times, 2022-6-10: American officials ... worry that China's leader, Xi Jinping, may be willing to go to war over Taiwan in the coming years. ¡» CNN, 2022-6-1: China has the power to take Taiwan, but it would cost an extremely bloody price...China is more likely to emulate the "shock and awe" bombardments that preceded the US' invasions of Iraq. ¡» Asia Nikkei (Japan), 2022-6-1: Washington fears a possible Chinese invasion by 2027. All for one: U.S. enlists its Asian allies in defense of Taiwan  ¡» Daily Express (UK), 2022-5-30: Putin is winning his war, China Taiwan is next and that will be so much deadlier  ¡» NY Times, 2022-5-27: A 2018 congressionally-mandated assessment warned that America could face a ¡§decisive military defeat¡¨ in a war over Taiwan, citing China¡¦s increasingly advanced capabilities and myriad U.S. logistical difficulties ¡»  NY Times, 2022-5-24: the US is trying to walk a fine line between deterrence and provocation... risk pushing President Xi Jinping of China to order an attack on Taiwan ¡» NY Times, 2022-5-24: Former presidents have hinted that the United States would fight for Taiwan but have otherwise remained studiedly vague...Taiwan's defense budget... remains scandalously low ¡»  New York Times, 2022-3-20: If Russia succeeds in overtaking Ukraine, it increases the danger for Taiwan.¡»Yahoo Finance, 2022-3-5: China will put Taiwan on ¡¥back burner¡¦ after ¡¥scary¡¦ Russia sanctions ¡» Economist, 2022-2-26:  Parallels with Taiwan colour Asian views of the war in Ukraine - Some fear a Chinese invasion has become more likely  ¡» New York Times, 2022-2-23: With some seeing parallels to Ukraine, Taiwan steps up its defenses ¡»  CNN, 2022-2-3: China's leaders may be watching Ukraine with an eye on Taiwan ¡» New York times, 2022-1-19: China's Growing Menace Hardens Island's Identity...60+% identify as solely Taiwanese  ¡» Reuters, 2021-12-20: Chinese spies have penetrated Taiwan's military, Even the security detail of President Tsai Ing-wen has been compromised ¡» Hill, 2021-12-20: China could obliterate Taiwan. It could seize Taiwan's tiny islands ... impose an embargo... And it could attempt regime change... ¡» Financial Times (UK), 2021-12-5: US defence chief warns of China ¡¥rehearsals¡¦ for attack on Taiwan; Lloyd Austin cites concern over scale and frequency of Beijing¡¦s military sorties ¡» Nikkei Asia (Japan), 2021-9-10: Will Xi move on Taiwan? History warns he might ¡»  Reuters, 2021-9-1 :Taiwan says China can 'paralyse' its defences, threat worsening ¡» VOA, 2021-8-28 : Survey: Most Americans Support Defending Taiwan if China Invades 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 ¡X especially if China continues to believe that a weakened America isn¡¦t ready to fight back ¡»  Forbes, 2021-3-26: Many observers believe the moment when the option ¡§reunite¡¨Taiwan by force is exercised is fast approaching  ¡»Bloomberg, 3-21-2021:  I see a very dangerous situation. The U.S. commitment to Taiwan has grown verbally stronger even as it has become militarily weaker... the reluctance of the Taiwanese themselves to treat their national security with the same seriousness that Israelis take the survival of their state ¡» Australian, 3-22-2021: Unfortunately for Taiwan, its future grows increasingly uncertain as Beijing¡¦s military expansionism continues unabated... ¡» New York Times, 3-14-2021: Taiwan is selling a life without fear of the CovID-19virus. Every day, droplets fly with abandon in packed restaurants......The influx helped make Taiwan one of last year¡¦s fastest-growing economies ¡» Seafood Source, 3-16-2021: the U.S. Labor Department placed Taiwan on its 2020 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor ¡» nature, 3-2-2021: Taiwan¡¦s government can classify research activities as political whenever it wishes ¡» BBC, 2-10-2021, "Why Taiwan has 'luck-improvement services' ": There¡¦s a pervasive idea running through Chinese culture that things aren¡¦t random ¡» Politico, 3-15-2021:Trump indicated (in 2019) America might not come to Taipei¡¦s defense in the event of a Chinese invasion..."If they invade, there isn¡¦t a f---ing thing we can do about it." ¡» 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¡¦ ¡»  NY Times, 1-24-2021: China sent warplanes into the Taiwan Strait over the weekend, a show of force to the Biden administration that signals Beijing¡¦s plans to maintain pressure on Taiwan even as it calls for a reset with the US  ¡»   Washington Examiner, 1-24-2021: The United States does not recognize Taiwan as an sovereign country, but U.S. strategists regard the island as a crucial link in a chain of islands that restrains the Chinese Communist military¡¦s ability to threaten U.S. forces ¡»  Reuters, 1-20-2021: Blinken : US would uphold its commitment to ensure that self-ruled Taiwan has the ability to defend itself ¡»  WSJ, 1-11-2021: China has launched one of the greatest military buildups in the history of the world across the straits from Taiwan. Coupled with the artificial islands and military buildup in the South China Sea, it¡¦s clear Beijing has been systematically seeking to create the conditions for a successful invasion of Taiwan.  ¡» VOA, 1-6-2021: China Is Increasing Taiwan Airspace Incursions ¡» Newsweek, 1-6-2021:  China Wages Cognitive Warfare To Topple Taiwan Government  ¡» 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  ¡»  National Interest, 11-20-2020: Would China really invade Taiwan? Maybe ! But the costs would be nuts  ¡»  Washington Examiner, 11-18-2020: China will race to expand 'empire' and attack Taiwan during window of opportunity (~2022), experts fear  

 

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¡³

  Intro. to Taiwan

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"We call ourselves the Republic of China, Taiwan", president Tsai has told BBC UK at Jan. 15, 2020, but later BBC changed it to "the Republic of China (Taiwan)".  This self-governing island country lies roughly 100 miles off the coast of southeastern China ( Taiwan's small island, Kinmens,  just one mile off China ) .  Taiwan's current population around 24 million is roughly the same as Australia's, close to New York's, but the area of Australia is 207 times larger than Taiwan's, that of NY is about 4 times Taiwan's.  Taipei's housing price is about triple Tokyo's or Singapore's.  Taiwan's climate is subtropical.
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¡@ ¡@ ¡@ means you should eat & drink nothing for 29.68 years
 to buy a house
in Taipei
¡@ area population data , 2023 Ratio of house price to income
UK 7 Taiwan 3 Taiwan Taipei (Taiwan) 29.68
Japan 10 Taiwan 5 Taiwan Tokyo (Japan) 12.65
Australia 207 Taiwan same Singapore 15.73

  

Taiwan's travel and tourism competitiveness is ranked No.10 among Asian nations (WEF,  9-4-2019), ranked about No.13 in Asia & Pacific (Statista, 2-4-2021) , ranked n/a in 2022 (WEF) . Taiwan's higher education is ranked about No.7~9 in the region (QS  UK, Times, Nature Index, ARWU World 2019~2022) Taipei ranks No.53 in EIU's Global Livability Index Ranking 2022 Taiwan's justice ministry was insufficiently independent and was questioned the impartiality of judges and prosecutors involved in high profile, politically sensitive cases (USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices , 2018, 2019, 2021 ; http://intlhumanrights.com/PoliticalPersecutionsTaiwanENG.htm  ) CTN opinion (4-12-2019): Taiwan's three presidents should be ashamed of Taiwan's judiciary.  Taiwan's physicians density is almost the last in Asia Taiwan was still "in its early days" of building soft power  (abc news Australia, 9-28-2022) .Taiwan's soft power has never entered top 30 before CovID-19, losing Asia-Pacific's Japan, Australia,  NZ, China, Singapore, Korea, UAE, India, Thailand, Qatar in recent years (USC, Portland , Monocle's Soft Power Survey, 2010 ~ 2020)

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To contrast China's 'authoritarian', Westerners gave too many fulsome compliments to Taiwan's democracy, however, Taiwan's democracy  is at surface level.  USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices (2022-4-12, 2021-3-30) There were allegations of vote buying by candidates and supporters of both major political parties in Presidential election in 2020.  Besides, Taiwan lacks good separation & balance of powers between the ruling party and the opposition, the executive and the legislative, the government and the media.  New York Post (4-25-2020) comments that Taiwan deals with CovID-19 with "a lot more authoritarian".  Global Times, 2022-8-11: under the guise of "democracy", the DPP authorities are practicing "green terror".  Taiwan's ruling party, DPP's official website : human rights abuses occur anywhere and anytime in Taiwan (https://www.gotv.ctitv.com.tw/2020/12/1648383.htm)

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Economist at 2022-11-29 reported many Taiwanese are tired of squabbles over national identity, especially after president Tsai's refusal to accept an offer of much-needed vaccines from China during a severe coronavirus outbreak.   Guardian, 2021-7-12: Taiwan has rejected China's offers as fake altruism. ... putting politics above its people The priority of the CovID vaccination is to draw votes (electoral interest) instead of saving human lives, which is "cold-blood", "losing their souls " (ref. to China Times, 2021-9-7, United Daily, 2021-9-12, Guardian, 2021-8-14)

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 Taiwan's press freedom is ranked No.43 in 2020 and 2021.  At end of 2020, Taiwan shuts Pro-China TV channel first ever since Taiwan's liberation, which could have a "chilling effect, strongly impacting press freedom".   The Liberty Times, 1-12-2020, editorial: The administration's rottenness smells already.... It has shown a retrogressive trend in recent years, the freedom of speech, publication, assembly etc were persecuted by excuses such as national security (NHU paper, Jun. '20)Taiwan not only harm its democracy for national security, but also harm its national security for democracy

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Now China keeps inching closer to Taiwan, Economist (2021-5-1) describes Taiwan as "The most dangerous place on Earth", western experts (e.g., Foreign Policy, 4-5-2021, 10-28-2020, Financial Times (UK), 7-12-2020 ) advise Taiwan to make urgent defense reforms such as lengthening the existing four-month conscription and improving reservist systems, but, Taiwanese politicians are afraid to discuss this issue with the public because of electoral realities, Taiwan's leaders don't want to shift to a policy which could be deeply unpopular among the young voters courted by the ruling party (DPP), according to Foreign Policy (10-19-2020).  N.Y. Times, 2022-6-19: 'A Looming Threat'  ¢w¢w  but "politicians have electoral considerations".   Most younger generation don't want to be soldiers (China Times, 2022-9-28: 81.5% oppose one-year compulsory military service ).  Financial Times (UK), 2021-9-15 : Washington keeps scolding Taipei over its supposed lack of preparation against an ever mightier Beijing.  New York Times criticized Taiwan's nearly two million reservists "exist in name only" - Eventually, in Dec. 2022, Taiwan extends its mandatory military service - still shorter than that of Singapore, Israel, S. Korea... and president Tsia denied the decision was made under US pressure - it's a lie.    

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The People's Republic of China (PRC) has identified that Taiwan as part of its territory and its most important core interest, since the Kuomintang (Nationalists or KMT) government retreated to the island in 1949 following defeat in the Chinese civil war.  Beijing regards reunification of the mainland and Taiwan is priceless  and a   "sacred mission¡¨ ,  'do or die' prestige issue,  and has traditionally used a double strategy  of ¡§carrot and stick¡¨  towards Taiwan, on one hand, it has vowed to reunite this "breakaway province" by force if necessary, and has been ramping up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan since president Tsai I.W. (2016 ~) refused to recognise the "1992 consensus" a 'pseudo'-agreement made by Taiwan's KMT party and the Chinese Communist Party, that proclaimed "the existence of only one China ¡¨, but ¡§ with different interpretations ¡¨ (being free to decide which side was legitimate.).  In early 2019,  CCP Xi openly equates One Country Two Systems with the 1992 Consensus to eliminate other interpretations.   Under China's political development and strengthening its trade ties to our allies, Taiwan is diplomatically isolated, has only 13 formal diplomatic relation allies till Mar., 2023, most of them are little, unknown countries

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On the other hand, China took the "carrots" strategy ¢w "Allowance of economic benefits to Taiwan"("Åý§Q" ) so that Taiwanese people may have higher tendency toward unification with China ―― about 52% Taiwanese want closer economic ties with the mainland China.  Brookings, 1-22-2021: Only 23% Taiwanese thought that democracy was more important than economic development.  Washington Post, 2017-1-2:  83 percent chose bread ( economic ties with China) over romance (political independence) Taiwanese understood this interdependence is unavoidable, but over-dependence is risky. New York Times, 2022-6-22:  To Pressure Taiwan, China Flexes Economic Muscle...  L.A. Times, 2022-7-29: (Taiwan) The country's economy relies on China, its largest trading partner .  Washington Post, 2022-10-2142 percent of Taiwan's exports ¡X and 60 percent of its chip exports ¡X go to China.  But after China's largest ever drills around Taiwan to respond Pelosi's visit, New York Times (2022-8-7) comments the policy carrots that China has used to entice Taiwan toward unification may carry even less weight.

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President Tsai (ruling party DPP) in her inauguration speech at 5-20-2020 reiterated that Taiwan calls for stability in China relations but would reject being ruled by China in the same way Hong Kong is.  Washington Post (7-22-2020) reports: In a major speech in January 2019, Xi offered an ultimatum to Taiwan to come to the table for unification talks or face annexation by force.  Then, in Mar., the PLA warplane crossed the Taiwan Strait "median line" that has served as a "de facto border" (Newsweek, 8-11-2020) or "the de facto cease-fire line" ( Japan's asia nikkei review, 8-13-2020) for the first time since the end of Chinese civil war in 1949 (Newsweek, 8-12-2020). However, Taiwan's government was tight-lipped about this ultimatum, a everyone's life-and-death issue,  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...

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Yomiuri Shimbun, Opinion, 6-22-2017 stated the US is the key to keep the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait ("¦Ì国は¥x湾の¨¾½Ã¤O±j¤Æを担っており¡B¥x湾®ü峡の¥­©Mと¦w©wのカギを´¤る"¡C).   The United States,  Taiwan's most important protector,  ¡§acknowledges¡¨ there is one China and Taiwan is part of China, but has never officially ¡§recognized¡¨ Taiwan as part of China.  The US Congress passed a law ("Taiwan Relations Act") to commit the US to defend Taiwan's sovereignty, and provide necessary 'defensive' services.   After Biden's 4th remark about defending Taiwan in Sept. 2022, it looks like the US has moved from strategic ambiguity to deterrence...  But CNN (2022-9-20) comments Biden's remarks don't necessarily equate to how he would behave in a real crisis.  In Dec. 2022,  the US Senate passed legislation authorizing $10 billion in security aid for Taiwan.

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Till end of 2022, seeing US' actions on the Taiwan run counter to its clear political promise, the Chinese increasingly and really believe that the U.S. government is ¡§salami slicing¡¨ and ¡§hollowing out¡¨ the One China policy (US also blames China's salami-slicing behaviors against Taiwan ), as Beijing's ambitions grow and relations between the U.S. and China deteriorate.  Anyway, China has long assumed that the US would intervene to defend Taiwan - maybe not sending their troops.

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After Vietnam war, Afghanistan withdrawal, and Ukraine-Russia war, Taiwan learns it must defend itself.  But Taiwan's defense budget remains scandalously low New York Times, 2022-5-7: US presses Taiwan to buy missiles and smaller arms for asymmetric warfare (suited to win against China);  But some Taiwanese defense officials are resistant.   Foreign Policy (8-20-2020) comments Taiwan 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 (Politico, 3-15-2021:Trump indicated (in 2019) America might not come to Taipei's defense in the event of a Chinese invasion.  ) Foreign Affairs, 2022-9-14: (US) military's most promising capabilities to counter China will not be ready until the 2030s...This creates a window of vulnerability for Taiwan, most likely between 2024 and 2027.  

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Taiwan also relies upon its computer chips as "silicon shield" to protect Taiwan, perhaps from a highly optimistic viewpoint.   Taiwan is the source of 90+ % of the most advanced computer chips relying upon importation of key components and advanced technology from the US  and Japan WSJ, 2021-6-19: The world relies on one chip maker in Taiwan, leaving everyone vulnerable.  That's one of the reasons we're trying to produce semiconductors here in the United States, Blinken told CBS (2022-9-25), but this will take years to accomplish at the cost of trillions of dollars (National Interest, 2021-9-11) .  Japan's¤é¥»経済·s»D (Nikkei news, Nihon keizai shinbun ) comments in May 2020 that the US asking TSMC-Taiwan to build a factory in Arizona as a "Pressure Point" in tech. fight with China (N.Y. Times, 5-19-2020)  may weaken Taiwan's security .  Some analysts argue that calculations over supply chains are insignificant in a decision over war (NY Times, 2022-8-29).

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Wikipedia (Oct., 2022): Taiwan is the 8th largest economy in Asia (Forbes, 2022-5-15: Taiwan is home to the world's 22nd largest economy), although its high-tech sector is falling behind for lacking of key tech. and its low pay to attract university-educated talent.   Global Wealth Report (Credit Suisse, Sept., 2022) shows Taiwanese' "Median wealth per adult", USD 113,940, is higher than Americans' USD93,270, but nation's share (Credit Suisse, Oct., 2018) world wealth (1.3%) is less than USA(31%), Japan(7.5%), China(16.4%) and Korea(2.2%).

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   In world media's eyes, Taiwan is  ~ ¡@
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"conduit (tool)"  /    The LOWY Institute( think tank in Australia ) , 6-16-2020 : treating Taiwan as a conduit to frustrate Beijing imperils Taiwan¡¦s security... and then the United States abandons Taiwan to deal with the consequences.

¡» "meat on chopping blocks" New York Times , 9-18-2020: Taiwan has become completely dependent on the United States,... Many people are saying that Taiwan has become the meat on others¡¦ chopping blocks¡¨

¡»  "human bomb"  /  Global Times, 9-8-2020: US sets Taiwan up as a 'human bomb'  ( drive the little to poke the big  )

¡»  "food on the menu"  /  SCMP, 10-7-2020: "If you are not at the table, you are on the menu,¡¨ When the great powers sit at the geopolitical table, Taiwan has long been on the menu."

¡»  "a dog under control"  /  Eurasian Times  7-9-2020: The Tsai authority ... turns to Washington and is willing to be used.  Taiwan Now Under ¡¥Deep Control¡¦ Of The US.

¡»  "a rat" /  Le Monde diplomatique of France, '16: Taiwan, a trembling sweating rat, doing nothing to approaching huge cat (China), but turning around and  lifting high a banner "$O$" . 

¡»  ¡§a ticking time bomb"   /  Brookings, 12-14-2020:  Taiwan should follow suit and take a pragmatic approach, and avoid becoming what Graham Allision described as ¡§a ticking time bomb" that could lead to a tragic conflict

¡»  "a bargaining chip"  /  Forbes, 10-5-2020:  It would be a mistake for the U.S. to pursue an FTA as part of its China policy or to use Taiwan as a bargaining chip, and Taiwan has reasons to be wary as well.

¡»  " a tradable pawn", "a useful chess piece"  /  Global Times, 8-23-2020: Taiwan is a useful chess piece for the US only because of the US strategy to suppress the Chinese mainland. On the one hand, Washington exploits the Taiwan question to contain China, on the other hand it is inciting tensions and making money by selling arms to Taiwan...Taiwan is a tradable pawn.  Taiwan for the US is only a tradable chess piece, but for the mainland, reunification of the mainland and Taiwan is priceless.

¡»   "dispensable  irritant"  /   Asia Times, 11-16-2020;   Washington Post 1-18-2019: Trump abandoned the Kurds in Syria. Could Taiwan be next ?  WP, 7-14-2020: Trump's policies are undermining the security of Taiwan's democracy ...

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¡¹  Taiwan Shuts Pro-China TV Channel in Battle over Press Freedom
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media

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NCC side

Reuters 11-18-2020 ...citing evidence of interference from a Beijing-friendly tycoon amid fears over China's campaign to win support on the island.
there was no evidence that CTi had received Chinese government funding.  and key shareholder Tsai has previously rejected accusations of newroom interference.

Taiwan's main opposition party, said it opposed the decision, as it could have a "chilling effect, strongly impacting press freedom"

CTi had been fined for several violations such as failure to check facts and endangering the public interest
Bloomberg 11-18-2020 Taiwan Shuts Pro-China TV Channel in Battle over Press Freedom
TV station says its closure is politically motivated
the latest example of the often fraught relationship between press freedom and concerns over Chinese influence in Taiwan¡¦s fiercely competitive media landscape.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-11-18/f-16-disappears-off-taiwan-s-eastern-coast-fate-still-unclear
NCC says Chung T¡¦ien News violated broadcast regulations     The key issue is its largest shareholder Tsai Eng-meng is directly and indirectly involved in the production of news programs
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Guardian, 11-18-2020 ¡§Today is the darkest day for freedom of the press and freedom of speech in the 30 years since Taiwan¡¦s liberation,¡¨
CTi has been accused of acting as a mouthpiece for Beijing and lobbying against the Democratic Progressive party (DPP) government, led by Tsai Ing-wen, and in favour of the opposition Kuomintang (KMT)
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/18/pro-china-tv-station-in-taiwan-ordered-off-air-over-disinformation
Pro-China TV station in Taiwan ordered off air  after Taiwan¡¦s media regulator found it had failed to address serious and frequent findings of bias and disinformation.
CTi had devoted 70% of its airtime to the KMT mayor of Kaohsiung, Han Kuo-yu, who unsuccessfully challenged Tsai in the presidential election. In January, CTi was fined  for airing false statements by a KMT politician without factchecking or interrogating the claims before broadcast
AFP, Yahoo News Australia, 11-18-2020 Many of the large media outlets are openly partisan, backing Beijing-friendly politicians or their opponents
"It is completely and utterly hypocritical for governments to invoke press freedom only when it fits their agenda," tweeted KMT chairman Johnny Chiang.
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It called for NCC to make public all the evidence it examined and apply the same standards to all future license reviews regardless of their political orientation.https://au.news.yahoo.com/taiwan-pulls-plug-china-friendly-100647362.html 
He has sparked criticism in the past for being overtly pro-Beijing and imposing his political preferences on the media outlets he owns.
The NCC accused Tsai of making direct and indirect interventions in news coverage by CTi.

One example was a false report that local farmers had to dump massive quantities of pomelo fruit last year because they were unable to sell their produce to mainland China as relations soured.

Times of India, 11-18-2020 The channel, which vowed to fight the decision in court, says the government is seeking to silence those who do not support its policies. Taiwan's government has repeatedly said China has stepped up efforts, including a media campaign, to infiltrate and gain influence on the democratic island
SCMP, 11-18-2020 CTI: The Tsai government has closed CTi; press freedom is dead! CTi is seen as pro-China and the decision marks the first time the regulator has effectively shut down a television news station  It cited evidence of editorial interference from major shareholder Tsai Eng-meng
The Straits Times, 11-18-2020
The rejection of CTi cable's request is the first time Taiwan has shut, even though indirectly, a television news station since the regulator, the National Communications Commission was set up in 2006.
The decision provoked immediate anger from CTi and Taiwan's main opposition party, which called it an attack on media freedom.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/taiwan-cti-cable-shut-down-china-tycoon-tsai-eng-meng-13585436
CTi had been fined for several violations such as failure to check facts and endangering the public interest
Focus on Taiwan, 11-18-2020 at the time of the hearing that the Tsai Ing-wen (½²­^¤å) government was looking to close the station, effectively threatening Taiwan's media freedom
CTiTV called the day "the darkest" for the freedom of press and speech since martial law was lifted over 30 years ago.
In denying the license renewal based on two reasons -- the number of complaints that led to fines imposed on the station and the interference of a major shareholder -- the NCC "ignored the issue of political manipulation and disregarded communication theory and practice," CTiTV said.
"Under the NCC's current standards, every news stations in Taiwan should be shut down,"
Though CTi News submitted eight measures during the review process to improve the situation, Chen contended that none of them would have eliminated the interference of major shareholders in its news.
China Times, editorial 11-19-2020
Freedom of the press is dead! ! !
The ruling authorities ignored the Constitution's guarantees for freedom of speech. The National Communications Commission (NCC) betrayed the establishment purpose of the Constitutional Freedom of Speech stipulated in Article 1 of its Organic Law and decided to shut down the CTI News Channel. This was a naked, a blatant political ruling.  NCC finished the assignment Taiwan president Tsai gave.

In the 2018 elections, CTI TV stood on the opposite side of the ruling party. As a result, the DPP suffered a fiasco, the authorities grew enmity and decided to revenge CTI.

The reasons NCC claimed for shutting down the CTI  are completely ignorant of media practice and even violate the basic principles of communication. If the same standards are used,  should all news stations in Taiwan be shut down?  The gov, wants to kill one to scare many, and forces all media to follow the authorities, otherwise the same would be the case.

  United Daily, China Times, Apple Daily, Liberty Times are four major news in Taiwan.
UDN, editorial, 11-19-2020 NCC  passed the elimination of CTi News with "no objection" . Another symbolic meaning is: this is a "beheading" of Taiwan's freedom of speech, because the DPP government no longer allows "objection."   From today on, NCC is no longer an independent institution !
Apple Daily, editorial, 11-19-2020
We express our regret for NCC's Shutting Cti TV Channel
The National Communications Commission (NCC) rejected the Zhongtian News Channel¡¦s renewal case results in a harm to the image of Taiwan¡¦s press freedom, We express our regret for this.
LTN no comment

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TAIWAN in 2019 ~ 2020

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¡´  Public trust on Taiwan's judges is about the lowest, compared with OECD member countries
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¡´ 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 (¥q§ï·|) survey 7-18-2020:  64% Taiwanese people do not trust judges.  (https://www.storm.mg/article/2861744)   

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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

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 US News & World Report 2021,  Asian countries' world influence top 30 rankings  

Cultural Influence No.5  Japan   No. 7  S Korea   11. China  12. UAE   15. Singapore  16. Australia   19. NZ  22. Thailand    25. India Cutting-edge centers of art, entertainment and fashion
Quality of Life 6. Australia   10. NZ   13. Japan  16. Singapore  18. S Korea   23. China   24. UAE    28. Malaysia   29. Thailand Through all phases of life, these countries treat their citizens well
Heritage 6. India   7. Thailand    10. Japan   12 China   23. Australia  25. Vietnam  26. Indonesia   28. NZ A deep vein of history courses through these countries
Adventure 5. Thailand   7. NZ   8. Australia  17. Philippines   18. Singapore  25. Malaysia  28. Japan popular travel destinations to fulfill your wanderlust
Agility 2. Australia   5. Singapore  6. S Korea   7. Japan   9. NZ  13. China  21. UAE   27. Qatar  30. India adaptable, dynamic, modern, progressive, responsive
Open for business 6. NZ   11. Malaysia  12. Australia   14. Singapore   17. Thailand   20. Sri Lanka   21. Vietnam   22. Indonesia   25. Philippines  26. Japan market-oriented countries
Social Purpose 1. Canada  2. Denmark  3. NZ   4. Sweden  5 Nederland  6. Norway   7. Finland  8. Australia  9 Swisss   10. Austria   11. Germany  12. Belgium   13. Ireland  14. UK  15. France  16. Portugal  17. Italy  18. Spain   19. US   20. Japan Residents of certain countries can often come together to support certain causes they feel strongly about: human rights, the environment and  freedom
www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/influence-rankings

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 US News & World Report 2020,  Asian countries' world 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

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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,   ¡¹ worse than China's
Rule of Law Index 2020

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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

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¡mEconomist¡nUK , EIU
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The Safe Cities Index 2019  ¡v
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
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¡´ 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 

¡¹ 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.
¡¹ ¡m China Times ¡n, 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.
¡¹ ¡mLiberty Times ¡n, 11-12-2020:  Crimes of violence kept worsening  ―  in recent 5 years, the number of four major crimes¡]®£À~¨ú°]¡B¶Ë®`¡B§«®`¦Û¥Ñ¡B¤M±ñºjªK¡^gradually increases from 20732 in 2015 to 24638 in 2019 in all six major cities, according to statistics.

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 pic: This websites-group was ranked No.1

by keyword "comment Taiwan"
on US Google, 3-8-2019, 6-1-2018,  2-18-2018,
1-11-2018, 12-2-2017, 9-30-2017, 6-3-2017,
5-27-2017, 12-4-2016, 11-25-2016

     TAIWAN  No.1 on search.Yahoo, AOL, Yandex, etc, 2-18-2018

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pic: This websites-group was ranked No.1 by keyword  "understand Taiwan" on US Google, 3-8-2019,6-1-2018,
2-18-2018, 1-11-2018, 12-2-2017, 9-30-2017,
6-3-2017, 5-27-2017, 1-6-2017, 4-25-2017

¡´  review Taiwan ranks top on US Bing, Yahoo, Google
1-11-2018,
12-2-2017, 9-30-2017 ...

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 pic.: No.1 "comment Taiwan" on US Google,   11-11-2019 , 2-28-2020

¡´  pic.: This websites-group was ranked No.1  by keyword "comment Taiwan"
on US Google at
 9-19-2019   , 2-28-2020

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pic: This websites-group was ranked No.1 by keyword 
"Understand Taiwan" on US Bing 
 tested at
3-8-2019,
6-1-2018,
2-18-2018, 1-11-2018, 12-2-2017, 5-19-2017, 9-27-2017

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pic: This websites-group was ranked No.1, 2, 3
on Bing 

by "comment Taiwan" , "review Taiwan"
 tested at
3-8-2019, 6-1-2018, 2-18-2018,
1-11-2018,
12-2-2017, 5-19-2017, 9-27-2017

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This sites-group was ranked No.1,
by "
comment Taiwan" and "review Taiwan", on US Yahoo,
 tested at
3-8-2019,,6-1-2018, 2-18-2018

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pic: This websites-group was ranked No.1 by keyword  "Understand Taiwan" on US Yahoo, 3-8-2019, 6-1-2018, 2-18-2018, 1-1-2018, 5-4-2017

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4.   Understand truly Taiwan ...  bit more

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Taiwan

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Deposit room safety box

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 †  Taiwan's society,
 laughs the poor instead of the prostitute

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      Organs harvest  2.0 / unbloody version  Some people's compliance with the powerful  (ps: In the past, government encouraged its people to struggle and sell out each other for self-preservation or benefits which may degenerate humanity and make a decadent society. ) this cartoon was prt. in The China Times.

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Taiwan prosecutor¡¹¡¹

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  Lack Judicial independence
    
United Daily 6-18-2016 head page: Taiwan prosecutors admitted they usually took compliant & subordinate manner to follow their commanding officer's order to access legal cases  Prosecutors in Taiwan
Also ref to "USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices", the US State Department, 3-3-2017.

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 † Taiwan's justice dodged the celebrity
       ps: The official hat has 2 flies-swappers - implying they only deal with
             tiny little ones instead of major crimes   
Justice in Taiwan

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  Taiwan Police fired strong water cannon
against unarmed students and compatriots

courtesy news photos by Apple Daily and Liberty Times

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 †  Japan fired strong water cannon
        toward Taiwan's official ship and fishing boat,

        Taiwan's very weak water cannon was mocked by Japanese media  (ps5)

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Taiwan, a weak country¡¹

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¡¹Panda love bamboo¡¹

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  backbone had degenerated, tail-bone has strengthened for too many whip, ... to see through political tool's bones!
 
TW legislator (congressman): Is Taiwan president US's puppet emperor? professor criticized that Taiwan president doesn't dare to land our island without the power's approval / CTV 7-15-2016 21:02

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 †  Taiwan should stand manly,
     project strength

Taiwan may go to "USA and China co-adm. Taiwan" status again - it was the way during former president Chen's time / the China Times , Mar. 2016

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 †  Panda loves bamboo

        (the shape of Taipei 101)

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¡´ The Chinese theory about economic integration with Taiwan is that it will bind the two together politically... /  Economist, 11-14-2015
¡´ Taiwan tries to use US to confront China... / ref to China Times Weekly, 3-18-2016 ½å¸Ü¬F¾Â
¡´ About 5000 Chinese spies in Taiwan ... 
/UDN opinion  3-15-2017

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¡¹fire dragon¡¹

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old man, sea, remote island¡¹

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  Taiwan has enough laws, but lax management (administration) hurt too many people, e.g., traffic accidents killed too many people - local and international tourists. / ref. to The Sun, BBC, People's Daily, Washington Post, CNN, etc 2015 ~ 2017.
The SUN 2-13-2017: :
BUS CRASH HORROR !  it has come under fire in recent months over safety standards.
BBC
2-13-2017 :

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Cart before the horse
Be b
lind to fundamental issues - democracy, human rights, food safety, judiciary, etc,  But put efforts on political propaganda 'show' !
ps: this cartoon was exhibited in Bulgaria, Cyprus, etc

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Taiwan legal system

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   Big muzzle on law enforcement officers
      
  money-talks working fine in Judicial system
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         a deep-rooted perspective in Taiwanese mind

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 Lady Justice turns into Venus

¡¹  ps:  Should any of cartoons above is opaque to you, pls. read remarks (whole story) below each cartoon for the whole story.

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Singapore's The Straits Times, (awarded Asia best news at that time) reported (on head-page, 4th page) Zola Zu was organizing world no.1 int'l cartoon-arts contest on his own dime to promote human rights and freedom of expression

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6.   Understand truly Taiwan in all aspects

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       Understand Taiwan    ¥x湾のÊ^験    
    
     ¡¹   this site's world No. 1 in  2020-2022,  2017~19,  2016 2015 2014,  2013 2010~12     ¡¹     Top rankings since 1998   ¡¹         

¡´¡´  Taiwan       Review Taiwan       comment Taiwan     all top rankings on the net !!

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7.   PS

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PS 1  ¡´ FTV: 9-25-2013  20:01pm    To much monitoring in Taiwan, every body is risky  (ºÊÅ¥¥ÆÀݤH¤H¦Û¦M)
         
The Liberty Times, 9.25.2013, Apple Daily, 2006    Human rights in Taiwan is not good or lousy!  1/4 Taiwanese were being listened by the government per year
        
¡´  About 2/3 (74.03%) proportion of Taiwanese are aged 15 ~ 64, according to Statista.com of 2014.   Working age 16-64 for men, 16-59 for women, according to nomisweb.co.uk.

PS 2
       ¡¹ World media like French AFP (Dec. 1, 2011), Thailand's Bangkok Post (Dec. 3, 2011), and Yahoo UK & Ireland etc reported  Taiwan's opposition party vice presidential candidate,  professor Lin R.S., was subjected to "electromagnetic wave" attacks, Dr Lin thinks it's launched by a Taiwanese intelligence unit, but that unit denied, some media reported these weapons were researched & developed and  imported from USA
       ¡¹ The China Times (Dec. 11, 2011) reported that professor Lin R.S. thought those high tech. 'weapons' most likely were imported from USA.
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Lin Ruey-Shiung, professor, PhD., Johns Hopkins University, USA, Ruprecht-Karls-Universitat Heidelberg Germany.

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PS 3  Next Magazine, The Liberty Times, 12-31-2015    <Lots of major crimes escaped overseas easily>
           ... most of them are big financial crimes ...

PS 4

Too many problems Taiwan 're facing

¡@ ¡¹ About 80% Taiwanese don't believe judiciary / The Liberty Times, 2-23-2016
¡¹ Taiwan air pollution  -  environmental quality was ranked nearly the last in OECD countries.  / The China Times, 9-21-2015
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Taiwan president Tsai : Food safety is one of biggest challenges to Taiwan / The China Times, 8-6-2016
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¡´The New York Times and The Economist (11.29.2014) comment a series of food safety scandals is one of few main factors causing the KMT, Taiwan's ruling party, has suffered one of its worst electoral defeats since Chiang Kai-shek and his forces fled to the island at the end of Chinese civil war in 1949.

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¡´The New York Times (9.8.2014): the new scandal  (Taiwan food-safety scare) shows that there is still not enough being done to eliminate lawbreaking production lines.

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¡´Apple Daily News (Ä«ªG¤é³ø) 8-28-2015,  A2 Prime News Edition:

The incidence rate of Taiwanese people suffering colon/rectal cancer was ranked world No.1 , Taipei Medical University Hospital's director of surgeons expressed Taiwan's food scandals constantly happened in recent years, many black-heart tainted foods containing Carcinogen (cancer producer) is a factor causing high incidence rate.

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¡´TIME  ( 9.8.2014): Gutter Oil' Scandal Raises Food-Safety Fears Once Again in Greater China.

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¡´Bloomberg BusinessWeek  (9.8.2014): Tainted Lard: China's Latest Food-Safety Scare Comes From Taiwan.  

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¡´BBC news (Nov. 19, 2013): A series of food safety scandals in Taiwan has hurt consumer confidence, and now there are worries they could dent the island's economic growth and damage tourism.  

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¡´The Economist (UK) commented :  Taiwan's former reputation as a reliable and safe food manufacturing country has been damaged... 

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¡´The China Times (Taiwan, Nov. 30, 2013) stated black-heart food, risks and traps are everywhere, and comments Taiwan government is short of will-power, ability, and resolution to combat illegal targets ...

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 ¡´   BBC , 6-6-2013 Taiwan is the only country in the world to import GM soy for eating ,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/taiwan_letters/2013/06/130606_twletter_food_safety.shtml  (Chinese version ¦MÉó¥|¥ñªº饮­¹)

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 ¡´The China Times 6.23.2013
Taiwan imports pigs' food for human kinds in Taiwan

 ¡´ WikiLeaks 2010 : Taiwanese people are friendly for Bio. tech. and are intend to buy GM label food, so the "Embassy" of a strong nation is planning to build a  Genetic Modification (GM) zone in Taiwan.
 In fact, it's a so called "national scandal" (the China Times, Mar. 29, 2013) that Taiwanese consumers generally do not fully know or don't care  the controversy of health risks caused by GM food.  Taiwanese government should urge everyone refusing to buy GM food. 
 About 99.5% of soy food products in Taiwan are imported, 90% of them are GM soy beans.
 

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pen books

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PS
5
Japan's major TV media NHK mocks that the WEAK water cannon in Taiwan's patrol boats defending Taiwanese fishing boats in Diaoyu Islands, and fighting back Japan's STRONG (heavy) water artillery in Japanese coast patrol ships.

ps: Japan, Taiwan, and China all insist Diaoyu Islands are belong to them.

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PS6 According to Hong Kong's MinPao (©ú³ø) and Singapore's ZaoBao (Áp¦X¦­³ø 9-16-2014), "You're being monitored, if residing in New Zealand", based on Western media (11-20-2013), US-UK deal allows USA surveillance of UK citizens not suspected of any wrongdoings.   Without oversights, the possibility that some suspected force did something much worse than UK, NZ did can not be excluded.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33730758

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/20/us-uk-secret-deal-surveillance-personal-data

https://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/wikileaks-says-us-spied-on-japanese-government-companies

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/06/04/national/nsa-whistleblower-snowden-says-u-s-government-carrying-out-mass-surveillance-in-japan/#.V-dDUSzr2Uk

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PS 7   others

http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/paper/1001956

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http://www.appledaily.com.tw/appledaily/article/headline/20160720/37314963/

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http://news.ltn.com.tw/news/politics/breakingnews/1748960

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http://www.appledaily.com.tw/appledaily/article/headline/20160830/37364648/¶¯¤T»~®g3©x§L°_¶D

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http://udn.com/news/story/7338/1915115

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PS 8,,9 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33730758

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/20/us-uk-secret-deal-surveillance-personal-data

https://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/wikileaks-says-us-spied-on-japanese-government-companies

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/06/04/national/nsa-whistleblower-snowden-says-u-s-government-carrying-out-mass-surveillance-in-japan/#.V-dDUSzr2Uk

 

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PS 10

It did happened in some universities, e.g., National Taiwan Ocean University (ref to MirrowMedia.mg,10-19-2016), Fu-Jen Catholic University, how about the government? any new forms?

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PS 11

Academic circle lacks ethics /  UDN  1-11-2017   http://udn.com/news/story/7338/2222591

Accomplice structure to fake scholarly papers / China Times 11-19-2016   http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20161119000399-260109

NTU should not be too snobby /  The Liberty Times  11-25-2016   http://talk.ltn.com.tw/article/paper/1055359

Scholar : Only heavy punishment stops fake papers / UDN 11-19-2016   https://udn.com/news/story/10586/2115844

Strange phenomenon in academic circle /11-19-2016 UDN  https://udn.com/news/story/10586/2115842

Faking papers is a long-time malpractice / UDN  11-21-2016 https://udn.com/news/story/6885/2118616

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PS 12

 Nuremberg Code :  a set of research ethics principles for human experimentation set as a result of the subsequent Nuremberg trials at the end of the Second World War

  1.       Required is the voluntary, well-informed, understanding consent of the human subject in a full legal capacity.
  2.       The experiment should aim at positive results for society that cannot be procured in some other way.
  3.        It should be based on previous knowledge (like, an expectation derived from animal experiments) that justifies the experiment.
  4.        The experiment should be set up in a way that avoids unnecessary physical and mental suffering and injuries.
  5.        It should not be conducted when there is any reason to believe that it implies a risk of death or disabling injury.
  6.        The risks of the experiment should be in proportion to (that is, not exceed) the expected humanitarian benefits.
  7.        Preparations and facilities must be provided that adequately protect the subjects against the experiment¡¦s risks.
  8.        The staff who conduct or take part in the experiment must be fully trained and scientifically qualified. 
  9.        The human subjects must be free to immediately quit the experiment at any point when they feel physically or mentally unable to go on.
  10.         Likewise, the medical staff must stop the experiment at any point when they observe that continuation would be dangerous.

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PS 13

   ¡´ definition of "drugs" - amphetamine, Cocaine, cannabis¡Amarijuana, Morphine, Ketamine, heroin, diacetylmorphine, opium, etc.

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PS 14

¡¹ http://news.ebc.net.tw/news.php?nid=58590

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PS 15

       http://www.appledaily.com.tw/appledaily/article/headline/20140802/35996992/; apple daily 5-12-2018

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Want some official pronunciation?? try cyber-link of the Office of Taiwan President as below:

http://english.president.gov.tw/Default.aspx?tabid=387

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!! Taiwan, root out all the ugly,
including ugly brand personality !!

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a survey since years ago  (in various versions)

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To all the people:

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According to Amnesty Int'l report years ago, "over half the world's government continue to use torture against their own citizens"

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Is Taiwan a country which should be ranked latter half of the world ?

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Taiwan had numerous lousy records of fooling Taiwanese and even the world, e.g., murdering American journalist ¦¿«n, making Taiwan white terror again, the latest one is trying to hide minor news about birds-flu at 1-2-2018 (BBC '12 reported this) not to mention big issues.

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This website is much better in credibility, reliability and objective degree than the mouthpiece of the government.

 

To accelerate Taiwan's reform, please provide with what you saw, knew or experienced about attacks or persecutions on someone in the way of demonization,  setup/conspiracy (e.g., giving dog a name and hang it), high-tech tortures, Orwellian terror, murders ...... by the state apparatus - if any.

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Scary political climate for many years has made Taiwanese very obedient, hope some may speak out this time.

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To the state apparatus:

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Any rats doing cat's job, or cats with rat's genes in state apparatus should be completely revealed and eradicated ! (if any)

"Police" should be open as the day, not hiding at dark corner underground, doing & speaking things sneaky and lousy like a crime.

Bring everything to light ! No keeping people mis-informed or half informed (worse than a lie) any more.   No waiting until media dig dirt one after another.

Obscurantism and avoiding admitting mistakes only prove rats' intention of repeating mistakes, as US Obama said.

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  ps: straight-forward words pls. to avoid any mis-interpretations

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Survey, for catching rats or cats with rat-genes

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CourageZu@gmail.com

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