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News brief: ◆ N.Y. Times, 8-30-2020: Taiwan has moved to revamp Taiwan’s military doctrine and strengthen its reserves...Taiwan cannot count on US as a matter of strategy. ◆ Economist, 8-30-2020: The island cannot rely on American help, but armed conflict remains unlikely ◆ Forbes, 8-30-2020: Taiwan simply does not have enough firepower to defeat a Chinese invasion without the help of the U.S. military ◆ National Interest, 8-28-2020: Could China Successfully Blockade Taiwan? China hopes direct action will yield clean and swift results, letting it present Asia, America, and the world a fait accompli — a done deal ◆ Wall Street Journal 8-30-2020: Fearing Hong Kong’s Fate, Taiwan Moves to Bolster Its Military Against China. N.Y. Times, 8-17-2020: U.S. Tries to Bolster Taiwan’s Status, Short of Recognizing Sovereignty. US Naval Institute, Proceedings, Aug. 2020: 2021 U.S. political transition would be an even more vulnerable time than usual for U.S. decision-making... such an opportunity would only appear every few decades...for achievement of a long-held goal — to bring Taiwan back into China. NY Times, 8-15-2020: Beijing continues to take a tough stance on Taiwan, but is dialing down its belligerence to avoid provocative moves that might give President Trump more opportunities to attack. CNN, 8-14-2020: What Taiwan needs form the US is a strong stable marriage not a hot passionate romance ... a long-term antagonistic relationship between the US and China wasn't sustainable after November... Taiwan needs to think about it. Daily Express, 8-13-2020: World War 3: China 'ready' for conflict with US over Taiwan row ... Peking University Bo: there could be parties with the US military aiming to create a small-scale and “controllable” conflict with their Chinese counterparts. MirageNews (Australia), 8-11-2020: Q: red line for the U.S. in terms of us going in and defending Taiwan? Pompeo: We thoroughly intend to uphold our obligations and commitments with respect to the historical understandings between the United States and China on Taiwan. CNN, 8-11-2020 : Beijing's warplanes have only crossed 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). aljazeera, 8-11-2020: Taiwan's top diplomat tells visiting US health secretary that Chinese pressure is making 'life increasingly difficult' . NewsWeek, 7-21-2020: Once military conflict breaks out - A slight plurality of 31 percent assigned blame to Chinese President Xi Jinping, while 30 percent of respondents said they believed both Xi and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen were responsible and 24 percent blamed Tsai. Daily Mail, 7-22-2020: China has made several 'simulated' military attacks on Taiwan. Daily Express (UK) 7-21-2020: WAR will break out between China and the US in the South China Sea if Beijing violates the alliance agreement between America and Taiwan. Bloomberg 7-20-2020: Beijing is no doubt waiting to see the outcome of the U.S. presidential election before taking any more significant actions. National Interest 7-18-2020: This will be much more difficult and costly than Hong Kong has been, but make no mistake: for these (CCP) people, that cost is deemed as necessary and they will gladly pay it. Unless the United States binds itself to protect the independence of Taiwan on pain of war, Taiwan is next. Asia Times, 7-20-2020: US tech giants exposed if China takes Taiwan ... Even an unsuccessful invasion of Taiwan would cause a supply chain disruption. Fox News 7-16-2020: US appears to change policy on Beijing’s ‘unlawful’ actions in the South China Sea and thus opens the legal floodgates to a potential military response. ecns.cn 7-17-2020: China: Two sides of Taiwan Strait should jointly safeguard China's sovereignty over the islands and reefs in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters, Foreign Affairs, 7-8-2020: Given how little Beijing’s crackdown in Hong Kong has cost it to date, we are concerned that Beijing will draw the wrong conclusions about the costs of future coercion against Taiwan. FoxNews 7-8-2020: The passage of a national security law on Hong Kong has put Taiwan on edge, with pro-democracy activists fearing that Beijing will soon have the self-ruled island in its crosshairs. Washington Post 7-7-2020: The Hong Kong security law could be China’s blueprint to deal with the ‘Taiwan problem'...China has arguably moved a step closer to preparing for war with the island democracy . National Interest 7-6-2020: China and Taiwan Could Be Headed Towards a Showdown... New York Times, 7-2-2020: The possibility of a military conflict between China and Taiwan remains remote, experts say, because the costs for Beijing would be extraordinary, including significant casualties and damage to its international standing. Yet the two sides are moving farther and farther apart, with little appetite for compromise. USA Today 7-5-2020: Taiwan has never been more important to American interests. LOWY institute 7-9-2020: Xi isn’t such a realist when it comes to Taiwan. Beijing views Taiwan in largely political terms – preoccupied with “the great trend of history” towards unification. NewsWeek 6-5-2020: If Washington does not act comprehensively and urgently, it could be Hong Kong today and Taiwan next. The diplomat 6-3-2020: the 3 flashpoints (Taiwan, HK, S. China Sea) that could turn a US-China cold war hot ... dangerously close to a tipping point where even a small action would serve as a catalyst that lets slip the dogs of war. Express (UK), 6-3-2020: South China Sea warning: All-out war fears erupt as Beijing rejects Taiwan peace plan. Financial Times 6-3-2020 : shrill rhetoric would make many believe that an assault on Taiwan could be imminent... Washington Post, 5-30-2020: The threat, China's vows to 'smash' any Taiwan independence move as Trump weighs sanctions, raised the prospect of a regional conflict that could draw in the United States...... the rapid deterioration in relations, already at their worst in decades. Economist: 5-29-2020 How far will China go? China has launched rule by fear not just over Hong Kong, but also over the South China Sea and Taiwan. L.A. Times 5-20-2020: the ruling Democratic Progressive Party advocates Taiwan’s formal independence, something Beijing says it will use force to prevent. Foreign Policy 5-20-2020: Taiwan would reject being ruled by China in the same way Hong Kong is now. The Guardian, 5-20-2020: Beijing also responded swiftly to Tsai’s speech and said China would never leave any room for “Taiwan independence separatist activities”. Washington Post, 5-21-20: As U.S.-China rhetoric grows harsher, new risks emerge with Taiwan drawn into the mix. Financial Times 5-19-2020 : Taiwan fears uptick in military threat from China in wake of coronavirus epidemic. New York Times, 5-12-2020, Pew Research Center: (Taiwanese) 52% support closer economic ties with China, only 36% favor closer political ties. Foreign Policy 5-15-2020: Beijing were to interpret ...... coronavirus as a uniquely advantageous moment, a Chinese military strike on Taiwan at this moment is unlikely... ... but a low level of risk is not the same as zero risk. New York Times 5-19-2020: US is Using Taiwan as a Pressure Point (TSMC in Arizona ...) in Tech Fight With China. Nikkei news Japan ( Nihon keizai shinbun, 日本経済新聞 ) , 5-20-2020: TSMC to Arizona may weaken Taiwan's security. DailyMail UK, France 24 , 4-20-2020: CoronaVirus: WHO chief hits back (by "Taiwan didn't report any human-to-human transmission," , "Taiwan's email was only seeking further information.") at Trump's claims (White House 4-15-2020: WHO kept Taiwan's lead from the public). FOXnews 4-9-2020, CNBC 4-8-20: WHO chief addresses death threats, racist insults from Taiwan. The China Times, 4-10-2020 editorial : Taiwanese Cyber bullying notorious worldwide. Guardian UK, 3-28-2020: U.S. increases support for Taiwan internationally by a new law Taipei Act, China threatens to strike back. Reuters 2-26-2020: Taiwan should continue to show goodwill to China during coronavirus outbreak and not give Beijing an excuse to attack the island as a way of relieving “internal pressure” ... Chinese public opinion believes people in Taiwan lack sympathy about China’s virus outbreak...L.A. Times 1-10-2020 ~ 1-11-2020: Taiwan's president sweeps to reelection, setting the stage for chilly relations with China . Bloomberg 1-9-2020: Slow income growth and aging society post challenge ahead, Taiwanese income-per-person, income per capita, lowest of Four Tigers. WSJ (Wall Street Journal) 9-20-2019: It’s clearly a big win for China having the two largest allies of Taiwan in the Pacific drop so quickly... New York Times 9-20-2019: As Taiwan Loses Influence, China Gains Ground in Race With U.S. ; WEF <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> of 2019 shows Taiwan had the sub-region's largest decline in competitiveness, Taiwan ranks 10th in Asia, Taiwan's prioritization of travel & tourism ranks world No.75; L. A. Times, 8-1-2019: The indefinite suspension (Chinese individual tourists to TW) is likely to prove a major economic hit to Taiwan, as well as a blow to cultural interplay. Daily Mail (UK) 4-1-2019: Taiwan blasts China for "reckless and provocative" incursion by 2 fighter jets across a largely respected line dividing the 2 sides in the Taiwan Straits. Japan Times, 4-1-2019: China's move also comes less than a week after the U.S. sent ships through the strait ( mission was unusual) — the third time in as many months...those sailings have likely been interpreted by China as implicit support for self-ruled Taiwan. Reuters 2-25-2019: US Navy ships ... riling China. ABC.net Australia: Chinese fighter jets cross Taiwan Strait after Tsai urges Pacific pushback against Beijing. New York Times 1-19-2019: Most of Taiwan’s 23 million people are in favor of maintaining the island’s de facto independence without taking any formal moves that might bring a military response from China. Le Monde France 1-2-2019: Le président chinois « n’exclut pas » la force pour récupérer Taïwan. BBC UK 1-2-2019: The US is by far Taiwan's only ally...most other countries seem happy to accept the current ambiguity... New York Times 11-28-2018: Will Taiwan Be the First Domino to Fall to China? New York Times, 11-23-2018: China said the results (Taiwan votes in elections) reflected a desire of Taiwanese for better relations with the mainland... Economic growth, employment and pension reforms were among key issues in the elections. Le Monde (France), 11-24-2018: A Taïwan, des élections sous influence chinoise. Washington Post, 8-20-2018: Taiwan's precarious role in the China-US spat (Trump adm.'s Taiwan policy is unpredictable... situation is undeniably risky for Taiwan); CBS News 11-14-2018: If the United States had to fight China in a war over Taiwan, Americans could face a decisive military defeat. / National Defense Strategy Commission ; Annual Report to US Congress ( Military and Security Developments Involving the PRC ), 8-17-2018: Much of Beijing’s defense budget is focused on developing the capability to unify Taiwan by force; 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—the deadline that [Chinese supreme leader] Xi Jinping has given the [People's Liberation Army] to be ready to invade Taiwan. The US subcommittee hearing (4-17-2018) Rep. Ted Soho, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific: Seems likely Xi will force the issue (unification) in his life time. Bloomberg 3-14-2018: Trump's "Taiwan card" (to annoy China when needed) is China's real worry. Deutsche Welle 3-17-2018: China has reacted angrily to the bill (Trump signed <Taiwan Travel Act> which paves way for official exchanges with Taiwan, and identifies indirectly (?) Taiwan as a country ― "visits to a country by United States cabinet members ...".) Bloomberg news 3-14-2018: Taiwan will suffer even more, as it gets caught in the middle between a stronger China and a inward-looking US... New York Times at 10-19-2017: China's Xi (in 19th CP Congress Speech) "called for the return of Taiwan, a self-governing island, to mainland Chinese control", only “with patriots playing the principal role.”..."the line that won the loudest applause" ―― "We will never allow anyone, any organization, or any political party, at any time or in any form, to separate any part of Chinese territory from China". FreeBeacon at 10-19-2017 : "China’s Xi Jinping Slams the Door on Taiwanese Appeals for Independence.". Spiegel Germany, 1-9-2017, Global Times of China: "There is no room for negotiations" ("Es gibt keinen Raum für Verhandlungen"). Le Monde Diplomatique of France, Mai 2016, depicted Taiwan (click for details ! ) as a trembling sweating rat , turning its back on an approaching huge cat (China), lifting high the banner "$O$" . New York Times at 11-4-2017: Chinese aircraft routinely probe Taiwan’s airspace ... aircraft carrier traversed the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan's travel & tourism - 10th in Asia

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

WEF travel & tourism category	Taiwan's rankings and/or score	comparison
prioritization of travel and tourism	No75	Singapore No.6 , Hong Kong No. 11
Natural & cultural resources	No.58 score 2.6	China No.1, score 6.0 , France No.2, 5.0, Spain No.3, 5.7, Japan No.7, 5.3, Indonesia No.18, Thailand No.21, Korea No.24, Vietnam No.26, Malaysia No.31, HK No.40, Philippines No.46, Sri Lanka No.52, Nepal No.56
Natural resources	No. 87	Hong Kong No. 42, Singapore No.120
cultural resources & business travel	No. 36 score 2.6	China No1, score 7.0
price competitiveness	No. 78	China 5.7
Health & Hygiene	No.43, score 6	score worse than Korea, Japan, Mongolia
international openness	No. 60	only better than China, Mongolia
Safety & security	No. 26	human resource & labor market: Taiwan No.18
ps: Compared to the report of 2017, Taiwan significantly tightened visa requirements (37th down to 119th), waning cultural resources and business travel (26th to 36th) and recalibrated figures showing a drastic reduction in protected areas (20th to 118th). For full details : http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TTCR_2019.pdf

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

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

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

world best surveys	Taiwan's rankings in top 25~30 list	comparison with other Asia & Pacific countries
2019/2020 Top 30 SOFT POWER by Portland	failed	No. 8 Japan, No.9 Australia, No. 17 New Zealand, No. 19 S Korea, No. 21 Singapore, No. 27 China
US News: 2020 Best Countries Overall The Best Countries in the World	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
Monocle's Soft Power survey 2010 ~ 2015	failed	Japan, Australia, New Zealand, S. Korea, Singapore, China, UAE , India, etc, were in the top 25 list

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

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

Taiwan's hard power : military Taiwanese military vs. Chinese military
Taiwan military	opinions New York times, 8-30-2020: Lawmaker said Taiwan’s military needs to improve a lot
personnel ( soldiers, officials )	◆ Taiwan’s Military Is a Hollow Shell. US Defense Department officials have privately expressed dismal assessments regarding Taiwan's current force level and reserve system. ◆ armor, mechanized infantry, and artillery units are always in desperate shortage of enlisted soldiers ◆ few front-line units have more than 80 percent of their positions filled / Foreign Policy, 2-15-2020; https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/15/china-threat-invasion-conscription-taiwans-military-is-a-hollow-shell/ ◆ Politicians in our country are afraid to discuss these issues with the public because they believe our people are not willing to sacrifice... / Financial Times (UK), 7-12-2020 Full text: www.ft.com/content/92029f49-3e9a-47b7-b967-2af823f185cd ◆ 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 ◆ Taiwan's active force down to under 200,000 (the exact number is classified). The nearly two million reservists exist in name only... / New York times, 5-18-2017 ◆ The ROC (Taiwan) Armed Forces number approximately 300,000, and reserves reportedly total 3,870,000. / Wikipedia, May 2020
strategy	◆ To against the threats of cyber warfare, cognitive warfare, and ‘unrestricted’ warfare from China , we ( Taiwan ) 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, once the US military comes to rescue, they will return and join the war / Apple Daily, 8-14-2020 tw.appledaily.com/headline/20200814/KDQ5JJAYQUR5JLE6EIIXK5VJM4/
firepower	◆ France forced Taiwan to withdraw its request to upgrade 20-year-old Mirage fighters ... F-16 A/B and F-CK-1 fighters are growing tired; 60 or 70 new fighters and a few missiles won’t really change the balance of power. And heavy tanks – especially if they lack trained crews – won’t do much to stop a Chinese invasion / Forbes, 8-30-2020 ◆ China has ｎｕｃｌｅａｒ　ｂｏｍｂ，Neutron bomb， hydrogen bomb, Taiwan has none of those. / Next TV news, 5-8-2020 ◆ Three Taiwanese presidents Lee (李登輝後期)、Chen(陳水扁)、Tsai(蔡英文) squandering those "bonus for peace" 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
military logistics system	◆ The logistics inside the military remain so abysmal ... The army likely has no clue how many tanks or guns actually mission-capable ... / Foreign Policy, 8-20-2020 ◆ Taiwan lacks enough supplement of all items of military equipments / United Daily (聯合報社評), opinion, 5- 7- 2020
morale	◆ “Their underlying thinking is that PLA has grown to be too strong for us to fight militarily anyway... Taiwan should just focus on putting up a good show of being tough, buy enough U.S. weapons for display, and pray that Americans come to our rescue / Foreign Policy, 8-20-2020 https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/20/taiwan-military-flashy-american-weapons-no-ammo/ ◆ Policies put forward by the Kuomintang and the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party have left the military understaffed and in a state of low morale... / New York times, 5-18-2017 ◆ Taiwan fears uptick in military threat from China in wake of coronavirus epidemic ... / Financial Times 5-19-2020
discipline	◆ The practice of judicial system has proved not as good as military criminal code to educate and train the military discipline. A soldier's 洪仲丘 'torture to death" sparks massive protest around 2013, the military court was hence no longer to judge the troops . / The China Times, 7-17-2020, editorial
budget	◆ High personnel expense pushes aside the logistics and maintenance budget, the govt. needs to plan special budge to purchase arms. / The China Times, 7-17-2020, editorial ◆ Taiwan would increase Taiwan’s defense budget by 10 percent, on top of a 5 percent increase the year before. That would raise military spending to more than 2 percent of gross domestic product / New York times, 8-30-2020

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

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

world's most livable cities
world best surveys	Taiwan's rankings in top list	comparison with other Asia & Pacific countries
The EIU's Global Livability Index Ranking 2019	failed in the top 50	No.2 Melbourne, No.3 Sydney, No.4 Osaka (Japan), No. 7 Tokyo, No.10 Adelaide, No.12 Auckland (NZ), No.15 Wellington (NZ), 18 Brisbane (Aus) , No. 38 Hong Kong, No. 40 Singapore, No.57 Seoul (Korea), Taipei behind
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
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
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
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	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
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
EIU (Economist UK)'s Global Liveability Index evaluates stability, healthcare, culture&environment, education, Infrastructure of each country

● Taiwan's university rankings in Asia, Quacquarelli Symonds，QS UK, 2021
ranks	Taiwan	Malaysia	China	Korea	Hong Kong, Macau	Singapore	Japan
1~15			15. Tsinghua University Beijing 　　 23. Peking University Beijing		22. University of Hong Kong	No. 11. National University of Singapore 　　 No.13 Nanyang Tech. Univ. Singapore	24 University of Tokyo
26~50			34. Fudan University, Shanghai 　　 47. Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai	37. Seoul National University, Seoul 　　　 39. KAIST Korea	27 Hong Kong Univ. Science & Tech. 　　 43 Chinese Univ HK 　　 48. City University of Hong Kong		38. Kyoto University
51~60		No. 59 Universiti Malaysia	53. ZheJiang Univ.				56. Tokyo Institute Tech.
60~80	66. National Taiwan University (台灣大學)			69. Korea Univ. 　　 77 Pohang U Science Tech	75. Hong Kong Polytechnic University		72. Osaka U Japan 　 79. Tohoku U Japan
80~100			93. U Science & Tech China	85. Yonsei U Korea 　 88. SKKU Korea
https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2021 QS Quacquarelli Symonds，QS UK 　 QS 2020 Asia universities, top 15 rankings : subtotal number : Singapore ( 2 ), Hong Kong ( 3 ), Japan ( 2 ), Korea ( 3 ), China ( 4 ), Malaysia ( 1 ), Taiwan ( 0 ) 　　 ★ In <Nature Index> , "2019 Tables: Institutions, about 32 universities in China, 8 universities in Korea, 6 Hong Kong universities, 9 univ. in Japan, 2 universities in India, 2 in Singapore, one in Saudi Arabia ranked higher than all Taiwan's Taiwan's higher education

introduction of Taiwan

★ㄇE in

"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, about 30% the size of New York. The current population around 23 million is roughly the same as Australia’s, its climate is subtropical.

Taiwan's travel and tourism competitiveness is ranked No.10 among Asian nations, Taiwan's soft power has never entered top 30, losing Asia-Pacific's Japan, Australia, NZ, China, Singapore, Korea, UAE, India, Thailand, Qatar in recent years. Taiwan's higher education is ranked about No.7~9 in the region, Taipei is behind other AP cities Melbourne, Sydney, Osaka (Japan), Tokyo, Adelaide, Auckland (NZ), Wellington, Brisbane, Hong Kong, Singapore,etc in EIU's Global Livability Index Ranking 2019.

To contrast China, Westerners gave so many fulsome compliments to Taiwan's democracy, however, Taiwan's democracy is "Flawed" ( Economist EIU Democracy Index '19 released in 2020) , and even at surface level or in name only, it has shown a retrogressive trend in recent years, the freedom of speech, publication, assembly etc were persecuted by excuses such as national security. Taiwan lacks good separation & balance of powers between the ruling party and the opposition, the executive and the legislative, the government and the media. The press freedom is ranked No.43 in 2020. The Liberty Times, 1-12-2020, editorial: The administration's rottenness smells already....

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. China 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 15 formal relation allies till middle of 2020 (Taiwan lost Salvador etc 3 allies within half yr. China rankled TW president's visit to NASA - LA Times 8-20-2018), most of them are little, unknown countries. On the other hand, China took the strategy " Allowance of economic benefits to Taiwan"("讓利", such as ◆ charming Taiwan by offering preferential treatment in a soft power bid / le monde diplmatique may 2019; ◆ 40% exports from Taiwan to China / CTN 5-30-2020; ◆ mainland China remains the largest market outside Taiwan for Taiwanese workers and companies, with around 1 million Taiwanese working there / German Institute for Int'l and security affairs, 2-7-2020 ◆ encouraging tourists to Taiwan. / WEF <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> of 2019 shows Taiwan had the sub-region's largest decline in competitiveness, Taiwan's overall score ranks 10th in Asia. ◆ L.A. Times, 8-1-2019: The indefinite suspension of individual travel visa is likely to prove a major economic hit to Taiwan, as well as a blow to cultural interplay. ) so that Taiwanese people may have higher tendency toward unification with China, Taiwanese understood this interdependence is unavoidable, but over-dependence is risky. Modern Diplomacy (EU) at 6-9-2020: Roughly 26 percent of Taiwan’s trade is with China, which is its largest trading partner. China has replaced US as No 1 destination for Taiwanese export accounting for approximately 40% of total exports (Hong Kong included). New York Times 12-3-2019: Trade between China and Taiwan exceeded $181 billion in 2017, up from about $35.5 billion in 1999.

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 now (semiautonomy), and announced TW will revise the constitution which may be interpreted by Beijing as a ploy to formalize Taiwan's independence. In the annual meeting of China’s parliament, there was no mention of the word "peaceful" in front of “reunification”, departing from the standard expression Chinese leaders have used for at least four decades, an apparent policy shift that comes as ties with Taipei continue on a downward spiral (Reuters 5-22-2020). 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. 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, otherwise pro-Independence DPP's candidate 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... Foreign Affairs (9-2-2020): fewer than ten percent support pursuing independence.

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. Many countries seem welcome this ambiguity. Yomiuri Shimbun, Opinion, 6-22-2017 stated the US is the key to keep the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait ("米国は台湾の防衛力強化を担っており、台湾海峡の平和と安定のカギを握る"。). But the U.S. does not have an “iron-clad” commitment to defend Taiwan, despite Taiwan's leaders made an assumption that American will always come to protect this island, and made a core policy to resist Chinese PLA for about 2 weeks only, former president Ma was lashed out by many DPP politicians and pan-Green media for his opinion ― The US won't come to rescue in time. The US Naval Institute's <Proceedings> (Aug. '20) and two authors (former CIA director and top official) were sort of put down for similar reason.

The US Dept. Defense report (9-1-2020) shows that China-Taiwan military balance has tilted in favor of the China's side, Foreign Policy (2-15-2020) even names Taiwan’s military is a 'Hollow Shell', and comments (8-20-2020) 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. Beijing regards reunification of the mainland and Taiwan is priceless and a "sacred mission” , 'do or die' prestige issue. The policy of “strategic ambiguity” the US applying for 40 years is unlikely to deter a confident and "more potent" China with growing military capabilities any more, but there have been no moves from the US to shift strategic ambiguity to strategic clarity ― hot debates about passing Taiwan Defense Act are still going on among military specialists and within the Pentagon.

New York Times 9-5-2019: it would also be a catastrophe if Taiwan were blockaded or squashed into submission, because Taiwan is the source of 90+ % of the most advanced computer chips, and stands in the way of any Chinese projection into the Pacific. In May 2020, the US asked TSMC in Taiwan to build a factory in Arizona as a "Pressure Point" in tech. fight with China (N.Y. Times, 5-19-2020) , which Japan's日本経済新聞 ( Nikkei news, Nihon keizai shinbun ) points out may weaken Taiwan's security. The LOWY Institute ( Australia ), The Interpreter, 6-16-2020 : treating Taiwan as a conduit to frustrate Beijing imperils Taiwan’s security. United Daily's editorial (1-4-2020, 5-22-2020) worried Taiwan functioning as a chess piece at front-line to block China in American's containment chessboard may become a sacrifice-piece or cannon fodder. After "poking the bear (China)" for a few years, Taiwan's govt. on Fox News at 5-27-2020 warns it is next on Chinese agenda ( military actions ) and asks for international support.

Taiwan is the 7th largest economy in Asia. Global Wealth Report (Credit Suisse, Oct., 2018) shows Taiwanese wealth per adult, at USD 212,375, is close to that of W. Euro., (UK USD 279,048, France USD 280,580) and Singapore (USD 283,118 ), Hong Kong (244,672), but nation's share world wealth (1.3%) is less than USA(31%), Japan(7.5%), China(16.4%) and Korea(2.2%). Singapore's GDP per adult is more than 2 times Taiwan's. In Global Wealth Report of 2019, in terms of Wealth per Adult, Taiwan is behind other Asian countries like Hong Kong (world No.2), Australia (4th), NZ (5th), Singapore (6th), Japan. United Daily, editorial, 12-3-2019: The amount of average regular monthly earnings of nationals of last year is NTD38,000 (USD1200) which is NT100+ less than that of 2001.

★

Taiwan was one of the world's top producers of computer technology, relying upon importation of key components and advanced technology from the US ( e.g., semiconductor ) and Japan, Taiwan's high-tech sector is falling behind for lacking of key tech. and its low pay to attract university-educated talent. (Taiwan lacks key tech. to make a large bus / CTN , 3-29-2017) Taiwan's GDP per capita retreated successively in recent years, UDN (1-28-2019) reported GDP per capita of Shanghai, Beijing, GuangZhou and SenZhen all were closed to that of Taiwan. China's GDP from 2016 till 2018 each is about 23 times the number of Taiwan's, one province (GD's GDP) alone is 2+ times Taiwan's (ref. to CTN, 3-14-2019). Taiwan's 中研院 (Academic Sinica '17) warned that Taiwan will fall into “middle-income” limbo (15-30 countries will catch up with it) in the next 10 years if it fails to deal with “three evil hands”, the law, environmental assessments, and Taiwan-China relations.

★

country	GDP per capita (USD)
Singapore	64 thousands
Hong Kong	48 thousands
South Korea	30+ thousands
Taiwan	just set up a goal USD 30 thousands to reach

★

The ROC on Taiwan, has most of the characteristics of an independent state, however, Taiwan's image and brand personality suffered for getting benefits by any means ( as Confucius analects : "窮斯濫" ) and having some principal human rights problems as below:

○

● Ethics of Taiwan politicians : 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...

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● corruption : United Daily, opinion, 8-3-2020: Corruption in parliament seems never end. Apple Daily, headline editorial, 8-3-2020 (https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/20200803/BQXMSWTYOVERHBPGLUKPXAA5LQ/) lawmakers of same party shared illegal benefits or covered each other, and usually won't disclose political rivals' greasy palms, that's Taiwan's political culture and 'ecology'. Liberty Times, 5-25-2020: Univ. presidents' graft or malfeasance was heard frequently. 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. 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 (腐壞氣息) smells already.

○

● freedom of speech : 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. < Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF, France) , 4-18-2019: Taiwan’s journalists are suffering from a very polarized media environment dominated by sensationalism and the pursuit of profit. Although President Tsai Ing-wen has said she wants to continue developing press freedom in Taiwan, few concrete measures have been taken to improve journalists’ editorial independence and encourage media to raise the quality of the public debate. Beijing is exploiting this weakness by putting pressure on Taiwanese media owners, who often have business interests on the mainland. ● China Times, editorial <中時社論> , 3-9-2020: Political power forms threats (penalty fine and suspending the license) to certain media ... Secretly bullying by (gov.-related) cyber force. ● 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.

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● democracy : Reuters, New York Times, 7-14-2020: Violence and protests inside the chamber are not unusual in Taiwan. New York Times, 1-11-2020: Taiwan’s young and vibrant, if messy at times, democratic society. 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). 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. <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. <United Daily> editorial 1-8-2020, <UDN> editorial (聯合報社論) 11-14-2019／Taiwan's democracy turns into grave 。 (民主設計的良意，如今變成私欲墳場 https://udn.com/news/story/11321/4163629) <UDN> editorial,12-6-2018: Taiwan's democracy exists in name only ...; <United Daily News>, editorial opinion, 6-23-2019: The operation of democracy usually strays off most public-opinions, ... 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 ...

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● justice : 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. (賴清德): 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.

● children & women trafficking : 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.

● pirate : 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.

● privacy : The United Daily News (聯合報) , 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 蘋果日報, 5-28-2018, National Taiwan University Law School professor 林鈺雄

● secret police : The United Daily News, editorial opinion (9-19-2018) : "secret police" (「東廠們」) have been active around us ... The Liberty Times, head-page, The China Times, head-page, 12-8-2018: Taiwan P.M. (賴清德): "Secret Police event" (「東廠事件」) has seriously damaged public trust on the government...; 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 (蘋果日報)> 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 (行政院長), ...So many suspected political murder cases remain unsolved (ref to 2018.7.26【政經看民視】 FTV, "政經看民視", 7-26-2018; SET(三立電視), 9-24-2013 "Secret agents govern the nation (特務治國)" www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBdZCdYrwF4; Era TV, 年代電視, 9-22-2013; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1b4R2m6K3g; "Secret agent systems resurgence to control the nation (特務復辟治國)"

● fraud : 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)

● torture & cruelty : 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. ● Liberty Times 6-7-2019 : Control Yuan's new mission - against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment / Pavel Doubek ● United Daily, editorial, 5-6-2019: Control Yuan should work for underprivileged people, not only cover their own politicians. ● 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).

● food safety : 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 ？? (brief) UDN, 2-17-2019: Gov. did not declared poison eggs until almost sold out... ● The China Times (中國時報), 2-28-2019, opinion (editorial) questions Taiwan officials are trying very hard to hide the epidemic state of Marek's virus in chicken eggs ...

● drug base : 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)

● exploitation : Freedom House, June 2019: labor advocates report poor implementation, citing ongoing mistreatment and abuse of foreign fishermen on Taiwanese vessels. 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 . US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 3-13-2019: 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.

● life protection : The government 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? (ps: may face death in 6 magnitude quake) (full text: https://udn.com/news/story/11321/2974813 聯合報社論／斷層帶上何以建了那麼多高樓？ 2-8-2018, https://udn.com/news/story/7338/2977079 勿讓軟腳樓成坑殺人命陷阱 2-9-2018, https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/daily/20180209/37928659花蓮都更爛政客 2-9-2018)

● life protection (2) :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 (1-2-2018 UDN udn.com/news/story/7266/2908720, Taiwan failed to solve food-safety issue, professors and MDs advised eating at home. (The China Times. 8-6-2016, <食品不安全的年代如何自保>, 2016, etc.), 2012 BBC news : www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese_news/2012/03/120304_taiwan_birdflu_investigate) , not to mention big issues. ● 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 administration's policy led to air pollution, toxic pollution in the land and sea ... (The China Times, 1-7-2018 台灣海陸空污染毒害，山海變色 http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20180107000465-260114。Daily Mail (UK) 7-14-2017 : Shocking underwater video from Taiwan shows ocean floor littered with plastic (bottles) garbage)

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● transportation safety 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" , full text Taiwan's aviation safety

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● Labor rights 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.

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● social security The China Times, 2-25-2020 editorial: Due to bad Income distribution, Taiwan's social security (offender rate) worsens.

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● discrimination 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.

Taiwan tried to follow US academic Joseph Nye's notion of applying power by persuasion and attraction rather than coercion or force 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 performed worse than that of 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 ~ 2018. Taiwan's military hard power was reduced by half (the number of active forces) and is in a state of low morale, Taiwan's leader made a 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.

Taiwan ★ world No. 1 in 2020, 2017~19, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2010~12 ★ Top rankings since 1998 ★

home brief Taiwan TW FB tour personality food medical restaurants night markets buffet women speech massage prostitution watching judiciary prosecutors police politicized judicial persecution corruption foreign labor illegal migrants soft power death penalty happiness housing avia image creativity human rights intl human rights repression, oppression univ bully military fraud

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

Salmon is poking the bear ? Taiwan suffers !

★ 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...

★ 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.　https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/taiwan-s-wildcard

★ Bloomberg news 10-19-2018: Taipei mayor says
Taiwan is "just a product on a shelf" for Trump
Washington Post, 8-20-2018:
★ Washington Post, 8-20-2018: Taiwan's precarious role in the China-US spat !
(Trump adm.'s Taiwan policy is unpredictable);

◆ Independent UK, 7-23-2019: China "ready to go to war" if Taiwan tries to gain independence ( white paper released by the Chinese gov.).

CNN 6-17-2019: mass protests (in Hong Kong) emboldened anti-China elements in Taiwan. Daily Mail (UK) 4-1-2019: Taiwan blasts China for "reckless and provocative" incursion by 2 fighter jets across a largely respected line dividing the 2 sides in the Taiwan Straits. Japan Times, 4-1-2019: China's move also comes less than a week after the U.S. sent ships through the strait — the third time in as many months. Reuters 2-25-2019: US Navy ships ... riling China.

◆ New York Times at 4-18-2018: Mr. Trump questioned why the US should be bound by the One China policy if Beijing

will not budge on trade ... 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 ......"

◆ 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.

◆ <Foreign Policy> 12-14-2016 named Taiwan President Tsai as
one of leading thinkers of 2016 for "Poking the bear" ;

But, most likely, Taiwan is a leverage, a bargaining chip
between the US and China, not a true player at the game

◆ In Mar. 2018, Trump signed <Taiwan Travel Act>, which paves way for official exchanges with Taiwan and

identifies indirectly (?) Taiwan as a country ― "visits to a country by United States cabinet members ...".

Deutsche Welle 3-17-2018: China has reacted angrily to the bill.
Bloomberg news 3-14-2018: Trump's "Taiwan card" (to annoy China when needed) is China's real worry.

◆ 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—the deadline that [Chinese supreme leader] Xi Jinping has given the [People's Liberation Army] to be ready to invade Taiwan.

◆ Global Times of China, March 2018: China can defeated and occupied Taiwan within 100 hours
before the US and Japan taking actions.

◆ Taiwan Defense Secretary: can resist Chinese army for about 1+ week (CTV 12-18-2016)

●●

pic. : This websites group was ranked No.1 by keyword "introduction to Taiwan"
on Bing at 6-21-2020, 4-20-2020, 4-10-2020, 10-6-2019, 8-17-2019, 8-1-2019, 6-27-2019, 4-29-2019

pic. : This websites group was ranked No.1 by keyword "introduction to Taiwan"
on Yahoo earch engine at 10-6-2019, 8-5-2019, 4-28-2019, 5-24-2018, 4-13-2018, 3-30-2018, 2-25-2018, 1-28-2018, 2-20-2018

pic. : This websites group was ranked No.1 by keyword "introduction to Taiwan"
on Euro. MetaGER.de at 10-6-2019, 8-17-2019, 8-5-2019

pic. : This websites group was ranked No.1 by keyword "introduction to Taiwan"
on Baidu of China at 10-6-2019, 8-4-2019

pic. : This websites group was ranked No.1 by keyword "introduction to Taiwan"
on Yippy at 10-6-2019, 4-29-2019, 3-8-2019

pic. This websites group was ranked No.1 on AOL at 4-29-2019
　

No.1 ranking - Introduction Taiwan

pic. This website was ranked No.2 on Lycos by keyword "Introduction to Taiwan" at 3-8-2019;
No.1 "introduction of Taiwan" on US WebCrawler at 2-25-2018, 12-11-2017
(the upper 3 are ads.); No.2 "introduction to Taiwan" at 6-18-2018
　

pic. This websites group was ranked No.1 on Hotbot at 3-8-2019,
No.2 "introduction to Taiwan" on Yahoo Taiwan , 3-8-2019

pic. : This websites group was ranked No.2 "introduction of Taiwan" and "introduction to Taiwan"
on Google at 6-18-2018, No.3 at 3-8-2019, 4-29-2019

pic. : This websites group was ranked No.1 "introduction to Taiwan"
on Euro. MetaGer.de at 4-29-2019, 6-18-2018

●

Taiwan

Taiwan Economy

○

● United Daily, editorial, 11-5-2019: Taiwan's economy is really back to top of Four Asian Tigers (HK, Singapore, Korea, TW)? https://udn.com/news/story/11321/4144692○

● BBC UK 1-2-2019 What's behind the China-Taiwan divide? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34729538

The US is by far Taiwan's most important friend, and its only ally.
Given the huge divide between these two positions, most other countries seem happy to accept the current ambiguity, whereby Taiwan has most of the characteristics of an independent state, even if its legal status remains unclear.

... links between the two peoples (ps: Chinese, Taiwanese) and economies have grown sharply. Taiwanese companies have invested about $60bn (£40bn) in China, and up to one million Taiwanese now live there, many running Taiwanese factories.

Some Taiwanese worry their economy is now dependent on China. Others point out that closer business ties makes Chinese military action less likely, because of the cost to China's own economy...

● Taiwan votes in elections, Nov. 2018
● New York Times, 11-23-2018: Economic growth, employment and pension reforms were among key issues in the elections...China said the results (Taiwan elections) reflected a desire of Taiwanese for better relations with the mainland...

● Quartz , 11-25-2018 :
Taiwan’s elections have given Beijing much to celebrate (https://qz.com/1473960/taiwans-elections-have-given-beijing-much-to-celebrate/)

● Le Monde (France), 11-24-2018 : A Taïwan, des élections sous influence chinoise

● Wall Street Journal , 11 25 2018:

A great virtue of Taiwan’s voters is that they’re pragmatic, a useful trait for an island under threat of a Chinese invasion. That pragmatism was on display in local elections Saturday that rebuked President Tsai Ing-wen while refusing to ban nuclear power.

● Reuters UK , 11-26-2018: Beijing told Reuters simply: “They’re really happy.”
● SET news, Taiwan, 11-26-2018: 英國路透社一針見血，認為中國是這次選舉的最大贏家，而華盛頓郵報和法國世界報也都認為，中國是左右這次選舉的最大關鍵

● New York times, 12-13-2016 : Today, more than two-thirds of Taiwan’s outward foreign direct investment is to China, which is also Taiwan’s leading trading partner.

Taiwanese has emerged a consensus that some degree of economic interdependence with China is unavoidable but that overdependence is risky.

Beijing’s strategy of giving Taiwanese economic benefits so that Taiwanese will become more inclined toward unification has not been successful ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13/world/asia

○

● Washington Post, 1-5-2018 : China is Taiwan’s largest trading partner and China is Taiwan’s main destination for outbound investment; 40 percent of Taiwan’s exports flow to China and a fifth of Taiwan’s gross domestic product derives from its economic ties to the mainland.

○

● Credit Suisse, Oct. 18, 2018 :

country	Wealth per adult(USD)	GDP per adult	Total wealth (bn)	Share of world wealth	quality
United States	403,974	81,425	98,154	31.0%	Good
Singapore	283,118	75,242	1,289	0.4 %	Satisfactory
France	280,580	55,668	13,883	4.4%	Good
United Kingdom	279,048	54,621	14,209	4.5%	Good
Japan	227,235	47,980	23,884	7.5%	Good
Germany	214,893	57,955	14,499	4.6%	Good
Taiwan	212,375	31,146	4,065	1.3 %	Satisfactory
China	47,810	12,147	51,874	16.4%	Good

Global Wealth Rpt.,
http://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/index.cfm?fileid=77A4E912-A32D-8E84-CC8C21144CEE52E2

Global Weaalth Databook,
http://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/index.cfm?fileid=777FDF0E-E060-F608-52DAF97E062CC35B

○

● Washington Post, 1-2-2017 : the Taiwanese are not willing to pursue independence at all costs. Many are concerned with the economy. When asked to choose between formal independence or maintaining economic ties with China, 83 percent chose bread over romance... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/01/02/yes-taiwan-wants-one-china-but-which-china-does-it-want/?utm_term=.8d999292eabd

○

● Wikipedia Economy of Taiwan

Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. (Taiwan has a developed capitalist economy that ranks as the 22th-largest in the world by purchasing power parity (PPP) ) It is ranked highly in terms of ... economic freedom, and human development...These SMEs usually produce products on an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or original design manufacturer (ODM) basis, resulting in less resources spent on research and development. Due to the emphasis of the OEM/ODM model, companies are usually unable to make in-depth assessments for investment, production, and marketing of new products, instead relying upon importation of key components and advanced technology from the United States and Japan. / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan

○

● BBC, UK, 6-14-2017: Taiwan has become one of Asia's big traders. It is considered to have achieved an economic miracle, becoming one of the world's top producers of computer technology. / Taiwan country profile http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16164639

○

● Credit Suisse, Nov. 15, 2017 :

Global Wealth report 2017, Country summary
Country	Mean wealth per Adult (USD)	Median wealth per Adult (USD)
Taiwan	188,081	87,257
Japan	225,057	123,724
Singapore	268,776	108,850
France	263,399	119,720
UK	278,038	102,641
Compared to the world as a whole, Taiwan has high average wealth and only moderate wealth inequality. http://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/index.cfm?fileid=A6E9E182-E39B-0353-6751EB076EF35159

Credit Suisse, Dec. 2016 :
Taiwan, Asia Tiger - Taiwan's average level of wealth, at USD 172,847, is well above that of most countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and similar to that of Western Europe.( Taiwan's mean wealth per adult, at USD 172,847, is about same as that of France USD244,400 or Germany USD185,175, Taiwan's median wealth per adult USD 63,134, is about in the same level with France USD 99,923, Canada 96,664.)

http://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/index.cfm?fileid=AD783798-ED07-E8C2-4405996B5B02A32E

○

● United Daily, Opinion, 12-5-2017 : The average monthly salary of Taipei employee (in the amount of NT 43500) is behind that of Beijing's (rmb 9900, equal NT46000 ), Shanghai is at the third (about NT 43000). / 智聯招聘survey.

● Academia Sinica of Taiwan, 10-5-2017 : Taiwan Economic Competition and Growth Strategy Policy Proposal (中央研究院《臺灣經濟競爭與成長策略政策建議書》)
The country will fall into “middle-income” limbo in the next decade if it fails to deal with “three evil hands” that are stalling the economy ...

the law, environmental assessments, and Taiwan-China relations—that could leave Taiwan stuck in the so-called “middle-income trap” and see at least 15 (-30) countries catch up with it in the next 10 years.

Its economic growth rate has reduced rapidly. In the past ten years, its average economic growth rate has dropped to 3.82%, which is lower than other Asian countries such as South Korea and Singapore.

https://financialtribune.com/articles/world-economy/73782/rigid-systems-holding-back-taiwan-development

https://www.sinica.edu.tw/ch/news/4880
○

● Washington Post, 10-10-2017

Taiwan would step up economic relations with the 10 Southeast Asian countries and another eight Asian-Pacific nations that her government considers prime economic development partners. Taiwan calls that mission its “New Southbound Policy.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/taiwan-leader-protect-regional-stability-amid-china-tension/2017/10/10/38c37640-ad70-11e7-9b93-b97043e57a22_story.html?utm_term=.68374f587f7f

○

● Forbes 4-23-2017, "Taiwan's Once Mighty High-Tech Sector Is Falling Behind Because Of Low Pay" : Taiwan used to be an indispensable part of the world high-tech supply chain. Now the island that derives a fifth of its economy from the likes of PCs, tablets and smart phones for export is unsure how long all that can sustain. The most often cited reason: Taiwan isn’t keeping up in software, which in today’s terms means mobile apps and artificial intelligence as well as the stuff Microsoft does for PCs....Pay for university professors is too low to attract world-class people from overseas to teach... https://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphjennings/2017/04/23/taiwans-once-mighty-high-tech-sector-is-falling-behind-because-of-low-pay/#204190537b43/Asia /#BigBusiness

○○

● The China Times, opinion, 11-7-2017, The United Daily, opinion, 11-10-2017: Taiwan's industries are short of 5 core elements : electricity and water supply, labor, land and talented persons.

○

● Le Monde of France, Mai '16, reported the economies of both sides were complementary, now compete each other. Taiwanese are gradually being excluded from the Chinese chain of production and supply. (Mais les économies des deux rives, qui étaient complémentaires, entrent désormais en concurrence. Les entreprises taïwanaises sont progressivement exclues de la mise en place d’une chaîne de production et d’approvisionnement chinoise ... )

○

● National Policy Foundation , 7-16-2009
One problem of Taiwan's high tech industry is lacking of key technology ... http://www.npf.org.tw/2/6142

○

● People's Daily of China (international edition), 11-12-2017 : China's GDP in 2016 is about 23 times the number of Taiwan's, five Chinese provinces' (GuanDong, JiangSu, ShanDong, ZheJiang, HeNan ) GDPs topped Taiwan's GDP already, in 3-5 years, 10 provinces might top Taiwan. (brief , UDN, 11-13-2017)

○

● wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Taiwan)
　

Taiwan's GDP
GDP	$600.9 billion (Nominal; 2018) $1.177 trillion (PPP; 2017)
GDP growth	2.7% (2018 est.)
GDP per capita	Nominal: $24,557 (2017) Nominal rank: 36th; PPP: $49,827 (2017) PPP rank: 19th

○

Taiwan's exports and imports
	Exports	Imports
amounts	$318 billion (2014 est.)	$277.5 billion (2014 est.)
goods	Electronics, flat panels, ships, petrochemicals, machinery; metals; textiles, plastics and chemicals (2014)	Electronics, machinery, crude petroleum, computers, coal, organic chemicals, metals (2014)
Main export partners	China 26.3% Hong Kong 13.7% United States 12% Japan 7% EU 8.8% (2016 est.)	China 19.1% Japan 17.6% United States 12.5% EU 10.6% South Korea 6.3% (2016 est.)

○

Taiwan's industries
Main industries	Electronics, communications and information technology products, petroleum refining, armaments, chemicals, textiles, iron and steel, machinery, cement, food processing, vehicles, consumer products, pharmaceuticals
Agricultural:	Rice, corn, vegetables, fruit, tea; pigs, poultry, beef, milk; fish
Natural:	Small deposits of coal, natural gas, limestone, marble, and asbestos

●

Taiwan

Taiwan diplomatic isolation

○

● Daily Mail (UK) 4-1-2019: Taiwan blasts China for "reckless and provocative" incursion by 2 fighter jets across a largely respected line dividing the 2 sides in the Taiwan Straits. Japan Times, 4-1-2019: China's move also comes less than a week after the U.S. sent ships through the strait ( mission was unusual) — the third time in as many months...those sailings have likely been interpreted by China as implicit support for self-ruled Taiwan. Reuters 2-25-2019: US Navy ships ... riling China. ABC.net Australia: Chinese fighter jets cross Taiwan Strait after Tsai urges Pacific pushback against Beijing.

● <Taiwan Travel Act> (Trump signed at 3-16-2018):

◆ NHK Japan, 3-17-2018

The legislation aims to encourage mutual visits between US and Taiwanese officials at all levels. (https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20180317_08/)

◆ The Diplomat, 3-3-2018
US Paves Way for High-Level Exchanges With Taiwan (https://thediplomat.com/2018/03/us-paves-way-for-high-level-exchanges-with-taiwan/)

◆ New York Times, 3-17-2018

China’s Foreign Ministry said it had lodged “stern representations” with the United States, saying the law sent a “seriously wrong signal” to the forces of Taiwan independence.
(https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/03/17/world/asia/17reuters-usa-taiwan-china.html ; https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-taiwan-china/china-says-resolutely-opposed-to-new-u-s-law-on-ties-with-taiwan-idUSKCN1GT0I9)

◆ Deutsche Welle, 3-17-2018 :

China has reacted angrily ... "severely violate the one-China principle, the political foundation of the China-US relationship."

Taiwan ... calling it a "friendly move"

◆ Global Times of China, 2018: <Taiwan Travel Act> is a bill to destroy Taiwan. ◆ People's Daily online (China 人民日報海外版) 3-17-2018: "annoy China, fool Taiwan !"("戲耍台灣挑臖大陸") ◆ UDN Taiwan (台灣聯合報) 3-18-2018: KMT Legislator : The US uses Taiwan as pawn to annoy China ... ( 台恐成夾心餅干); Joseph Bosco (former defense official): China won't win a general confrontation against the US (translation).

○

● Washington Post, 1-5-2018: For years, most analysts in the United States generally accepted the idea that Taiwan’s status as a de facto independent democracy was unsustainable as China’s economy and military rose to dominate Asia. Statesmen such as the late Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew and Henry Kissinger both predicted that Taiwan’s unification with China — under Chinese terms — was inevitable.

○○

● Washington Post, 1-2-2017:

The United States “acknowledges” that there is one China and that Taiwan is part of China. But the United States has never officially “recognized” Taiwan as part of China. This strategic ambiguity leaves the United States room for a de facto relationship with Taiwan and leaves the Taiwan-China relation an open-ended question. / https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/01/02/yes-taiwan-wants-one-china-but-which-china-does-it-want/?utm_term=.8d999292eabd

○

● Washington Post, 11-9-2017: “Many have debated here in Taiwan whether President Trump will trade Taiwan in exchange for China’s position in North Korea,” ...... “But ... even if President Trump makes such an offer, President Xi would say no: ‘Taiwan is not in your hands. It’s in mine.’”

The China Times, opinion, 11-11-2017: President Xi thinks the advantage of Taiwan issue is in Beijing's side, it's not necessary to trade anything for Taiwan with Washington.

○

● New York times, 12-13-2016: In Presidential inaugural speech, Tsai referred to the Constitution of the Republic of China and the legislation governing cross-strait relations, both imply the acceptance of a “one China” framework.

● Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan, Opinion, 5-22-2016 (読売新聞) : 「台湾独立」志向の強い民進党の蔡英文主席が総統に就任した。台湾蔡新総統対中「現状維持」の意思示した http://editorial.x-winz.net/ed-13620 (Tsia I. W. with strong tendency toward "Taiwan Independence" expressed "maintain status quo" in her Presidential inaugural speech )

○ ○

○

● Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan, Opinion, 6-22-2017 (読売新聞「社説」) : 中国が台湾を孤立させる動きを強め、波風を立てている。軍事、経済両面での優位を背景にした圧力は、中台間の緊張を高めるだけだ。...中国の一連の外交攻勢は、台湾を自国の一部とする「一つの中国」原則を、台湾の蔡英文政権に認めさせる狙いだろう。...台湾の住民の間では、中国に政治的、経済的にのみ込まれることへの警戒感が強く、「中国離れ」が加速しているためだ。...米国は台湾の防衛力強化を担っており、台湾海峡の平和と安定のカギを握る。(The US is the key to keep the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait)

○

● Le Monde diplomatique, France, mai 2016: "politiL’Amérique centrale lâche Taipei" / Les deux rivaux du détroit de Formose ne luttent pas à armes égales et, pour Taipei, l’isolement diplomatique menace. (The two rivals of the Taiwan Straits do not fight on equal terms , the diplomatic isolation threatens Taiwan )

○○

● Singapore's The Straits Times, 11-9-2017 : Taiwan is the most important issue in Sino-US ties, Xi tells Trump

“The Taiwan issue is the most important, most sensitive core issue in China-US relations, and concerns the political basis of the China-US relationship,” ... China “hopes that the US side continues to scrupulously abide by the ‘one China’ principle, and prevents disturbances to the broader picture of China-US ties”, Xi added. Trump told Xi that the United States government upheld and stuck to the “one China” policy, China’s official Xinhua news agency reported.

http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/xi-tells-trump-that-taiwan-is-the-most-important-issue-in-sino-us-ties )

○

● United daily News, opinion 10-11-12017 : In Fact, President Tsai one-sided abandoned in 2016 "The 1992 Consensus" (「九二共識」), which violates her promise to "maintain the cross-strait status quo"
https://udn.com/news/story/7338/2749610?from=udn-catelistnews_ch2 UDN 10-11-2017 : China officially responded Tsai's speech at Taiwan's National Day that “Only by adhering to the one-China principle and opposing Taiwan independence can relations between the sides develop with peace and stability”. UDN opinion, 10-20-2017: Chinese leader Xi's "China dream" can't come true without retaking Taiwan.

○

● BBC - Taiwan country profile 6-14-2017:
China insists that nations cannot have official relations with both China and Taiwan, with the result that Taiwan has formal diplomatic ties with only a few countries. / http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-16164639

○

● Spiegel Germany, 1-9-2017, <Donald Trump: Chinesische Staatszeitung warnt USA wegen Umgang>

Die staatliche chinesische Zeitung "Global Times" hat den künftigen US-Präsidenten Donald Trump gewarnt, von der "Ein-China-Politik" abzurücken. "Das chinesische Volk würde die Regierung auffordern, sich zu rächen", hieß es im Leitartikel des Blattes, das zum Zentralorgan der Kommunistischen Partei "Renmin Ribao" gehört. "Es gibt keinen Raum für Verhandlungen" / if "US President Donald Trump to abandon the one-China policy." "The Chinese people would call on the government to take revenge," "There is no room for negotiations" ... (Global Times, China)

○

● US News, 10-9-2017:
Taiwan's relations with Beijing have deteriorated sharply since Tsai, ... took office last year, with China suspecting she wants to push for the island's formal independence, a red line for Beijing. China

has cut off a regular dialogue mechanism with Taiwan, ramped up military drills around the island and stepped up int'l pressure to limit Taiwan's diplomatic footprint.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-10-09/taiwan-president-tsai-pledges-to-defend-islands-freedoms

○

● The China Times, 10-15-2017, Wikipedia, 9-27-2017 :Taiwanese premier William Lai advocates "Taiwan independence in realistic way ("務實台獨")”, but "Taiwan was an independent country called the Republic of China, it had no need to declare independence." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan

○

● Mexican newspaper El Sol de Méxicoformer, 2008: (former) President Ma: the China-Taiwan relations are neither between two Chinas nor two states. It is a special relationship. the sovereignty issues between the two cannot be resolved at present, the "1992 Consensus", currently accepted as a temporary measure until a solution becomes available.

○○

The China Times, opinion, 11-11-2017: President Xi thinks the advantage of Taiwan issue is in Beijing's side, it's not necessary to trade anything for Taiwan with Washington.

○

● The United Daily of Taiwan, 11-12-2017, commented Trump Xi meeting ― one of 3 possibilities is the US may break the pattern "USA and China jointly control Taiwan"(「美中共管」), China may play (or most of) the role to control Taiwan.

● Le Monde diplomatique, France, "Taïwan en quête de souveraineté économique", mai 2016: selon laquelle il n’est pas nécessaire de proclamer l’indépendance car Taïwan est déjà un Etat indépendant et souverain. C’est certainement le sens qu’elle donne au « statu quo » ( 'it is not necessary to proclaim independence because Taiwan is already an independent and sovereign state. This is certainly the meaning it gives to <status quo>' )

○

●

Taiwan

Taiwan military power VS Chn

full text : Taiwan military

● Financial Times 5-19-2020 : Taiwan fears uptick in military threat from China in wake of coronavirus epidemic, with increasingly frequent incursions into airspace traditionally respected as a safety buffer zone. Taipei was at additional risk from the escalating dispute between the US and China.

Taiwan military vs. China military
Taiwan military	opinions
personnel ( soldiers, officials )	◆ Taiwan’s Military Is a Hollow Shell. US Defense Department officials have privately expressed dismal assessments regarding Taiwan's current force level and reserve system. ◆ armor, mechanized infantry, and artillery units are always in desperate shortage of enlisted soldiers ◆ few front-line units have more than 80 percent of their positions filled / Foreign Policy, 2-15-2020 ◆ Taiwan's active force down to under 200,000 (the exact number is classified). The nearly two million reservists exist in name only... / New York times, 5-18-2017 ◆ The ROC (Taiwan) Armed Forces number approximately 300,000, and reserves reportedly total 3,870,000. / Wikipedia, May 2020
strategy	◆ To against the threats of cyber warfare, cognitive warfare, and ‘unrestricted’ warfare from China , we ( Taiwan ) 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
firepower	◆ China has ｎｕｃｌｅａｒ　ｂｏｍｂ，Neutron bomb， hydrogen bomb, Taiwan has none of those. / Next TV news, 5-8-2020 ◆ 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
military logistics system	◆ Taiwan lacks enough supplement of all items of military equipments / United Daily (聯合報社評), opinion, 5- 7- 2020
morale	◆ 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

● CNN 2-19-2020 exclusive interview with Taiwanese president Tsai I. W. , CTN 5-2-2020: Tsai: "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" ... But chinausfocus.com at May 04 , 2018 reported Missouri State University professor D. Hickey's comment : the U.S. does not have an “iron-clad” commitment to defend Taiwan. Reuters 2-26-2020: Taiwan should continue to show goodwill to China during coronavirus outbreak and not give Beijing an excuse to attack the island as a way of relieving “internal pressure” ... Chinese public opinion believes people in Taiwan lack sympathy about China’s virus outbreak... Reuters 5-22-2020: In the annual meeting of China’s parliament, there was no mention of the word “peaceful” in front of “reunification”, departing from the standard expression Chinese leaders have used for at least four decades, an apparent policy shift that comes as ties with Taipei continue on a downward spiral. Foreign Policy 5-15-2020: Beijing were to interpret ... coronavirus as a uniquely advantageous moment, a Chinese military strike on Taiwan at this moment is unlikely ... but a low level of risk is not the same as zero risk. National Post (Canada), 5-15-2020: China and the U.S. ramp up military activity near Taiwan... ◦

● China's Military Power Report / annual Report to US Congress (2019), 5-2-2019

Military and Security Developments involving P.R.C. 2019

★

"China could use missile attacks and precision air raids against air defence systems, including air bases, radar sites, missiles, space assets, and communications facilities to degrade Taiwan's defences, neutralise Taiwan's leadership, or break the Taiwan people's resolve," ...

aljazeera news said at May 3, 2019 that much of China's military doctrine is focused on self-ruled Taiwan,

China might take if Beijing decides to use military force on Taiwan, including a comprehensive campaign "designed to force Taiwan to capitulate to unification, or unification dialogue.

The Liberty Times suggests Taiwan taking "asymmetric warfare". Apple Daily (headline news) 5-4-2019 said that the possibility of the blockade or a limited war by PLA is smaller than that of air raid, rockets, or amphibious landing. (see pic. right)

usni.org said at 2019/05/03 that Taiwan is the primary focus of amphibious assault and sea-based missile launch capability improvements made in 2018 by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the PLA Navy and PLA Marine Corps.

● The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence “Open Hearing on China’s Worldwide Military Expansion.”, 5-17-2018

(1) China's “infatuation with Taiwan” ?

a visceral nationalistic design ...“if Taiwan survives as a democracy [it] undermines the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party”

(2) USA curb China ?

the US could soon be completely driven out of the Asia-Pacific region if Beijing is allowed to continue on its current course unopposed.

(3) Congressional hearing recommended

deploying tactical nuclear weapons to Asia, showing strong support for Taiwan, and exposing human rights abuses in China as immediate steps that could curb Beijing

○

● CBS news 11-14-2018: U.S. military might "struggle to win, or perhaps lose" war with China or Russia
the National Defense Strategy Commission: "It might struggle to win, or perhaps lose, a war against China or Russia." ...

"If the United States had to fight Russia in a Baltic contingency or China in a war over Taiwan," the report warned. "Americans could face a decisive military defeat." ( https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-military-might-struggle-to-win-or-perhaps-lose-war-with-china-or-russia-report-says/)

○

● Annual Report to US Congress (8-17-2018):
Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China 2018
https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2018_China_Military_Power_Report.PDF

A new method was applied to make these tables below:

○

● 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—the deadline that [Chinese supreme leader] Xi Jinping has given the [People's Liberation Army] to be ready to invade Taiwan.

○

● Washington Post, 1-5-2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/01/05/can-china-really-take-over-taiwan/?utm_term=.e66214694331
Can China really take over Taiwan?

Xi commanded China’s military to become “battle ready.” ...... threatening that relations with Taiwan will turn “grave” because Taiwan’s government refuses to acknowledge that the island is part of China. A leading Chinese analyst predicts that China has accelerated its timetable to 2020 for taking over the island by military means......Taiwan needs to increase its defense spending considerably...“the outcome of the game [between China and Taiwan] is undecided".

○

● The US subcommittee hearing (4-17-2018) Rep. Ted Soho, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific: Seems likely Xi will force the issue (unification) in his life time.

● United States think tank the RAND Corporation, Taiwan News, 2-2-2018, Apple Daily 2-3-2018, https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3353460
Likelihood of successful Chinese attack against Taiwan rising: RAND Corp. China's jets and missiles can damage U.S. and Taiwan air bases

According to RAND, which specializes in military affairs, the balance in the Taiwan Strait has been moving in China’s favor as the communist country was continuing to make progress in its preparations and training ...

○

● BBC, 12-3-2016 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34729538
The pivotal role of the US was most clearly shown in 1996, when China conducted provocative missile tests to try and influence Taiwan's first direct presidential election. In response, US President Bill Clinton ordered the biggest display of US military power in Asia since the Vietnam War, sending ships to the Taiwan Strait, and a clear message to Beijing...

○

● New York times, 11-4-2017: “(Taiwan) needs to resist a Chinese military attack for two weeks and wait for help from the United States...” ......Taiwan’s armed forces, by contrast (Chn), have fallen way behind, struggling to recruit enough soldiers and sailors — and to equip those they have. 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,...... US latest (summer 2017) arms sales " short of the major systems that could give Taiwan a real edge."

○

● US Dept of State, U.S. Relations With Taiwan 9-13-2017: The United States insists on the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait differences, opposes unilateral changes to the status quo by either side, and encourages both sides to continue their constructive dialogue on the basis of dignity and respect. / https://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35855.htm

○
● New York times, 5-18-2017: Beijing’s belligerence presents an existential threat to Taiwan, Chinese leaders have long vowed to take Taiwan by force if they deem necessary ... For years, the political establishment in Taipei has delegated responsibility for responding to Beijing to the United States. 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 put forward by the Kuomintang and the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party have left the military understaffed and in a state of low morale... Taiwan's active force down to under 200,000 (the exact number is classified). The nearly two million reservists exist in name only... Taiwan’s defense policies are largely a result of deep distrust between the military and politicians. The military has struggled with wide-range scandals/

/ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/opinion (ps: China's Baidu, 10-15-2017: Taiwanese reservists 3 million in total )

○

● Why China Can't Conquer Taiwan in a War , 11-17-2017 Zachary Keck http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/why-china-cant-conquer-taiwan-war-23254
A new study by Michael Beckley (Tufts University), published in the academic journal International Security argues that China’s neighbors could thwart Chinese military aggression through anti-access/area denial strategies with only minimal U.S. assistance. ... if China was far more successful than the United States had been in those conflicts, Beijing’s ability to execute an amphibious invasion is still far from certain. For instance, Beckley notes that only ten percent of Taiwan’s coastlines are suitable for an amphibious landing, which would allow Taipei to concentrate its forces on a few key areas. Chinese forces trying to land would likely be severely outnumbered...
○

○

● The Heritage Foundation, The Index of U.S. Military Strength, 2017

China’s provocative behavior has expanded to include militarization of islands that it has built in highly disputed international waters in the South China Sea. China has also adopted aggressive naval tactics to intimidate such neighboring countries as Japan and the Philippines... the 2017 Index concludes that the current U.S. military force ... certainly would be ill-equipped to handle two nearly simultaneous major regional contingencies ... / http://index.heritage.org/military/2017/assessments/

○

● <The Chinese Invasion Threat> by Ian Eastonct, Oct. 3, 2017 :

China has finalized a clandestine plan to invade Taiwan in 2020 by launching missile attacks, blocking the nation’s air and sea space, and carrying out amphibious landings, Washington-based think tank Project 2049 Institute research fellow Ian Easton said. ...China, would "almost certainly" fail in its full-scale invasion of Taiwan but its military appears driven to prepare and carry out such an attack.

○

● New York times, 10-19-2017: https://cn.nytimes.com/china/20171019/china-xi-jinping-party-congress/dual/

○    Chinese president Xi delivered the line that won the loudest applause of his marathon speech: “We will never allow anyone, any organization, or any political party, at any time or in any form, to separate any part of Chinese territory from China.”
        Apple Daily, 10-20-2017, "ShaoKang Zhao Fax" column:
        Only 800+ words (out of 32000+ words in total) in Xi's speech at the 19th Communist party congress mentioned Taiwan, Taiwan issue seems not so important to Xi JinPing.

○

● 国家政策研究基金会 NPF National Policy Foundation in Taipei, Taiwan; 10-7-2017 CTN

The peace of Taiwan Strait before 2025 depends US military forces (台海安全仍繫於美軍是否介入...最大的不確定性仍是「美軍是否介入」，且在2025年之前，美軍相對中共仍有明顯優勢，與其說押注與否，不如說是因「美軍不可測」的因子無法排除。) / http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20171007000342-260119

●

New York Times 4-1-2019: Taiwan protests China jets crossing center of Taiwan Strait, a provocation that seeks to alter the status quo ... an intentional act. Taiwan News, 6-28-2019: U.S. Senate passes pro-Taiwan defense bill calling for more patrols in Taiwan Strait. Reuters 6-27-2019:

Canadian navy ships sailed through Taian strait amid tension with China (Such passages upset China ... In April, Beijing condemned a French decision to send a frigate through the Strait as illegal)

Japan Times, 4-1-2019: the U.S. sent ships through the strait ( mission was unusual) ...

UDN 7-28-2017, 11-20-2017, Global times, 12-12-2017,

CTV 12-17-2017: China's military terrorized Taiwan by aircraft-fighters routinely
flying around ("patrol circling") Taiwan and passing
through 1st Island Chain...China fighters only
take 14 minutes to reach Taiwan from mainland

https://udn.com/news/story/10930/2610183

Apple Daily 1-18-2018: China's submarine

"patrol circling" at 1-11-2018

United Daily survey at 11-20-2017 found the percentage of Taiwanese having good perception on Chinese people and communist government increased to 49% and 40%

pic.: Taiwan ( the white color island on the map)

Population：23.54 million
Area：36,194 square kilometers
Peoples：Han Chinese (97%), Aborigines (2%)
Languages : mainly Mandarin, Taiwanese

● Economist (special edition 2017): "Taiwan will turn into a tiger again "
● Global Wealth Report & Global Wealth Databook
by credit-suisse Research Institute, Nov. 2016: "Taiwan, Asia Tiger"
　

● NY Times 5-22-2017: Taiwan leader continued to base defense planning
on the assumption that the United States would always come to the rescue...
Taiwan has reduced its active force (by half)

● NY Times 12-13-2016 In Taiwan president Tsai's inaugural speech,
Tsai referred to the Constitution of the Republic of China and the legislation
governing cross-strait relations, both of which imply the acceptance
of a “one China” framework.

pic. left: ROC (Taiwan) national flag can not be used in most places in the world,
since China's "one China" policy keeps suppressing Taiwan's international space;
pic. right: Chinese Taipei flag for participating in int'l events, e.g., Olympics Games.

●

● China has finalized a clandestine plan to invade Taiwan in 2020 by launching missile attacks, blocking the nation’s air and sea space, and carrying out amphibious landings, Washington-based think tank Project 2049 Institute research fellow Ian Easton said.

● Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) raised doubts over the time frame Easton asserted, saying that he did not think it is very precise.

●China, according to the book <The Chinese Invasion Threat>, would "almost certainly" fail in its full-scale invasion of Taiwan but its military appears driven to prepare and carry out such an attack.

pic.: Headline of Apple Daily, Oct. 6, 2017

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2017/10/05/2003679744; http://freebeacon.com/natiChina’s

●

● The US Defense Gov. Report of 2017

Annual Report to US Congress (2017):
Military and Security Developments Involving
the People’s Republic of China 2017
https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2017_China_Military_Power_Report.PDF

○

China VS Taiwan

○

○

ps: Apple daily, 11-28-2017: Chinese air crafts flying to first island chain include H-6K (轟 6K) bomber from Shaanxi, center of China. Taiwan's interpreting China's military capacity should no longer be limited to only their coastal (Taiwan Strait) military air force. (brief - author 林穎佑 faculty of int'l affairs graduate school, National ChungCheng University)

○● ○

● International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS,UK, www.iiss.org), the military balance 2018 press statement - The annual assessment of global military capability and defence economics, 2-14-2018

In 2017 Beijing showcased more advanced military systems ... are challenging the global predominance of the United States and its allies ... https://www.iiss.org/en/publications/military-s-balance

China's modernisation of its armed forces is processing faster than many experts expected ... (ref to Apple Daily, opinion, 2-21-2018, "共軍非必勝國軍非必敗")

○

★

● Apple Daily, 12-19-2017 head-page, focus ; data from Taiwan's national defense gov.

pic. left: China military capacity VS Taiwan; pic. right: Chinese air force did lots of "patrol circling" (flying around Taiwan and passing through 1st island chain ).

Source: Apple Daily News, head-page and focus news, 12-19-2017

○●

○

● US Annual Report to Congress, 2016

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE Annual Report to Congress:
Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China

https://www.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/pubs/2016%20China%20Military%20Power%20Report.pdf
　

Taiwan Strait Military Balance in 2015, Naval Forces
	China	China	Taiwan
	Total	East and South Sea Fleets	Total
Aircraft Carriers	1	0	0
Destroyers	23	16	4
Frigates	52	40	22
Corvettes	23	14	1
Tank Landing Ships/ Amphibious Transport Dock	30	28	14
Medium Landing Ships	22	16	0
Diesel Attack Submarines	57	38	4
Nuclear Attack Submarines	5	2	0
Ballistic Missile Submarines	4	4	0
Coastal Patrol (Missile)	86	68	45

★

Taiwan Strait Military Balance in 2015, Air Forces
	China	China	Taiwan
	Total	Within range of Taiwan	Total
Fighters	1,700	130	384
Bombers/Attack	400	200	0
Transport	475	150	19
Special Mission Aircraft	115	75	25

★

Taiwan Strait Military Balance in 2015, Ground Forces

	China	China	Taiwan
	Total	Taiwan Strait Area	Total
Personnel (Active)	1.25 million	400,000	130,000
Group Armies/Army Corps	18	8	3
Infantry Divisions	12	4	0
Infantry Brigades	23	7	5
Mechanized Infantry Divisions	7	4	0
Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Divisions	2	2	0
Mechanized Infantry Brigades	25	8	3
Armor Divisions	1	0	0
Armor Brigades	17	7	4
Amphibious Armor Brigades	1	1	0
Army Aviation Brigades and Regiments	11	6	3
Artillery Brigades	22	9	5
Airborne Divisions	3	3	0
Marine Brigades	2	2	2
Tanks	7,000	2,800	1,100
Artillery Pieces	8,000	3,900	1,600

→Taiwan's military force vs Chinese military force

●

Taiwan

Taiwan travel & tour

●

外國觀光旅客來台日均消費 source from TW gov., Apple Daily, Aug., 2019

★ BBC, UK, 7-31-2019: the number of Chinese tourists (in time) in 2015 is about 4.18 million, dropped to 2.7 million on 2018 (https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese-news-49178224 7-31-2019)
★ Telegraph, UK, 7-31-2019: China remains the top source of tourists, with close to 2.5 million visiting last year

Chinese visitors and tourists to Taiwan (in millions) , Direct flights between Chn and TW began at 2008, DPP (Green) in power from 2016
source: Asia Nikkei 4-30-2019, Taiwanese government

data 2018/2019
area	population人口	number of tourists (person in time) 旅遊人次	times倍數
Hong Kong	7.3 million	65.1 million	1:9
Macau	0.65 million	35.9 million	1 : 55
Singapore	5.6 million	18.5 million	1 : 2.3
Taiwan	23 million	11.25 million	1 : 0.5

● New York Times, 7-31-2019, CNN 8-1-2019: China, an Eye on Elections, rising cross-strait tensions, bans solo tourists from heading to Taiwan. L.A. Times, 8-1-2019: The indefinite suspension is likely to prove a major economic hit to Taiwan, as well as a blow to cultural interplay. Independent UK 8-1-2019: It is a blow for Taiwan’s tourism industry.

● China remaining the top source of tourists to Taiwan is because, LA Times at 8-1-2019 said that (1) satisfying a curiosity, an important channel for knowing Taiwan (2) flights of no more than 2~3 hours (3) strong cultural and deep historic connection (4) religious, architectural and cultural similarities, the result of migration from China to Taiwan that began hundreds of years ago (5) take home new information from Taiwan’s newspapers, news websites and television channels, all free of censorship unlike on the mainland (6) stoking business.

● Asia Nikkei 4-30-2019: Since 2016, China has attempted to punish Tsai (DPP) by reducing tour groups to Taiwan, but inbound tourists have steadily set records surpassing 11 millions for the first time last year... ● The United Daily 3-7-2019: Taiwan's tourism output value is suffering wallet homicide ! the deficit of foreign exchange is NT1728 billions, the deficit of the number of tourists is 5570 thousands.

● Liberty Times 8-28-2019: Taiwan may loss 35,400 million dollars from the gross annual value of tourism in the second half of 2019. United Daily (8-17-2019, editorial) : Very most part of Taiwan's current tourism difficult situation is caused by cross-Taiwan-Strait policy. United Daily (8-22-2019, editorial) : Pension reform might be among key issues in Taiwan's tourism, because public servants, military and education field no longer support domestic travel as much as before. United Daily (8-28-2019, Focus) : Visa-free and allowance can save tourism? Lots of allowances were given to domestic tourists, but the number of Taiwanese traveling overseas hit new high again and again. United Daily (8-23-2019) : Taiwan president Tsai: tourism won't go old route, current policy is to balance tourists flow, stimulate domestic demand, increase consumption-amount, satisfy tourist's appetite by bubble tea and local cuisine. The United Daily, editorial opinion, 7-15-2019 : An American economist Tyler Cowen was surprised at that Taipei was spinning its wheels, remains 85% unchanged (making smallest differences among Asian cities), motorcycles, small lanes ... everywhere, in contrast, GuangZhou city (廣州) has changed 90%, HK, Seoul, Singapore made huge differences only within 10 years ...

● 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 strong indexes such as "World heritage natural sites" as well as "World heritage cultural sites" (world top 5). Taipei mayor Ko just mocked tourism of Hong Kong and Singapore, however, they are very ahead in "Business Environment" and "Ground & Port infrastructure" (world top 2), "Airport infrastructure" (world No.5 & 6 vs Taiwan no. 42 ), "Safety & security" ( No.5 and No.6 ) 。 Taiwan has excellent scores on "Mobile Network coverage", "ATM", etc, but those least likely are main attractiveness to international sightseers that Taiwan needs most. According to government statistics "visitor arrivals by purpose in 2016", only 7.61% foreigners came for business, conference, exhibition, most visitors are for pleasure, so we should not focus on WEF's overall score and ranking for Taiwan.

●

● Apple Daily, opinion, 2-12-2018: lacking of monument elements, mature cultural creativity, and inexpensive tour-site hotels ... shallow, careless, low-end quality led to an extremely low return visitor rate to Taiwan. Apple Daily, Headline news 1-15-2018: Taiwan tourism collapsed like a snow-slide, the number of tourists to Kenting National Park(墾丁貓鼻頭) dropped 59%, to Taroko National Gorge (太魯閣) dropped 43%, etc, because of the number of Chinese tourists declined a lot and local people don't like those sites - Apple Daily opinion 1-17-2018: expensive hotels, crowded traffic, getting ripped-off by greedy shops' ...

●

● BBC UK, The SUN (2-13-2017): "Bus Crash Horror !" - Taiwan's "safety standards need to be improved". A few days later another fatal tour-bus accident occurred. Apple Daily, Opinion (2-15-2017): Such a high casualty rate most likely was ranked No.1 among all civilized states in the world. Taiwan's aviation safety - MSN, Reuters, EuroNews, Mirro(UK), NewsWeek, CNN, etc (2-4-2015) :"Taiwan has had a poor aviation safety record in recent years"

●

● People's Daily, the major official newspaper of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, ( Opinion/editorial 8-4-2016): <Chinese tourists do not dare to visit Taiwan in the future without safety assurance> / Taiwan tour disasters are sort of man-made disasters , Taiwan tourism's major problems include loopholes in law and regulation 、careless mistakes in administration or not-good-enough system of organization, other malpractices are traveling load-bearing capacity 、road-traffic safety 、aviation safety 、road maintenance 、safety standard for tour bus 、Modified Automobiles/Fix-up tour bus、Low-end tour groups … tragic accidents happening again and again open Pandora's box, too many tourist victims reveal Taiwan tourism's problems, Taiwan authority tried to do something (亡羊補牢) each time a tragic accident occurred, but it seemed late and same kind of tragedies never cease. (《人民日報》8-4-2016 社論: 很多意外事故都存在著人禍的影子，或是法規漏洞、管理疏失、或是體制不足。旅遊承載能力、道路安全、飛行安全、道路養護、遊覽車安全標準、改裝車、低價團…一起起事故猶如打開了潘朵拉的盒子... )

●

● Business Insider (6-2015) introduced some places for tourists:

◎ Hehuan Mountain and Ali Mountain are two top-rated scenic spots on TripAdvisor. (阿里山等) ◎ Sun Moon Lake(日月潭)

◎ Kenting National Park(墾丁). 9 nationall. parks, which make up 8.6% of its land. Taroko National Gorge (太魯閣) alone is worth spending at least two days hiking its numerous scenic trails.

◎ hot springs Beitou outside of Taipei, and Jiaoxi in Yilan (北投宜蘭等溫泉)

◎◎

ps: [ Climate ] tropical and subtropical climate zones, Average temperature for northern Taiwan : 21.7°C; southern Taiwan: 24.1°C. Jan. ~ Mar : may downto 10°C. June ~ August, may up to 38°C

→ tour & travel

●●

Taiwan

Taiwan food

○

● Michelin GuideTaipei was released at 4-10-2019, Taiwanese cuisine was not valued very high, only 4 restaurants won 1 star each, 3 starred chefs are from Hong Kong (Canton) and Macau. The total number of stars and starred restaurants of Taiwan are much less than those of Shanghai, HK, Macao, and Singapore, in both 2019 and 2018. Furthermore, unlike those in Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Taiwan's night-market, street food failed to won any Michelin star.

● The China Times, 10-20-2018 opinion (editorial) https://opinion.chinatimes.com/20181019003889-262101 :

Why do high-ranking officials always fudge Taiwanese people's only, and humblest request ？? (brief)

○

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

○

● Chang Gung Mem. Hospital Toxicology expert & professor Yin M.D. (殷宗海, Doctor, Univ. of London ): Minimize the times of dining out to protect your health ! ref to book <食品不安全的年代如何自保>, 2016.

○

● MicroPlastics were found in 44% tap water samples, medical circle believes it's a very serious environmental pollution, since something bad, e.g., Dioxin, Bisphenol A (BPA), PAHs, heavy metal elements, may be brought into food chain, and then are/were accumulated in human body...... we better use purified water by RO machine for safety. Furthermore, mussels, oysters, clams (扇貝與蛤) were also found some microplastics...... brief - headlines of Apple Daily, United Daily, 9-26-2018.

○

● The China Times, 5-21-2018 : Taiwan food safety became nothing but a slogan for the government's relaxation of pesticide residue standards in these 2 years. TVBS, 9-12-2017 : Scholar (中興univ. professor 曾德賜) expressed the amount ( per hectare ) of application of pesticide in Taiwan was ranked world No.1, according to India's study.

● 5 star hotel restaurants scandals - A book (江守山M.D.'s "食在安心" (10-2014)) said many 5 star hotel restaurants don't wash vegetables ... some 5 star hotels made sashimi raw fish slices by using fresh-water fishes, this may increase the probability of getting cancer (for details 台灣餐廳 or 台灣美食Taiwan Night Markets ) ; Epoch Times (大紀元, 3-14-2017):Okura Prestige Tpe (大倉久和, a 5 star hotel) sold expired frozen shrimps, molded taro (vegetable 芋) etc; SETN news ( 三立新聞 5-16-2016): Some 5 star hotels in northern Taiwan sold black-hearted expired seafoods ; LTN (5-17-2016): 5 star hotels Ambassador and Howard (國賓、福華) clarified this news; Apple Daily (蘋果日報 6-7-2016): Sheraton (喜來登) 's white shrimps contained bleaching agent (漂白劑)，4 times higher than the legal standard，Ranina (Spanner crabs 旭蟹) contained heavy medal Cadmium poisoning (重金屬镉) 14% higher than the standard...; Apple Daily (蘋果日報 7-2-'13): Taiwan's tourist hotels' food ingredients expired 2 years, only 3 out of 21 hotels passed the security check and sanitary examination etc conducting by Taiwan Administration, e.g., Shangri-La's (tnn) did not separate their cutting tools for cooked foods and raw foods; FTV news, 5-18-2017: 13 ingredients / materials expired in a 5 star hotel in Taiwan; CTI TV news (5-17-2017, 19:33): What can we eat in Taiwan? people are uneasy for food here...

○

● A big gas-cylinder LPG-explosion in Fengjia (逢甲) night market (known as largest night-market business district in Taiwan) proved again man-made disasters never cease, the China Times (7-19-2017) lashed out all this sort of night-market districts across Taiwan have similar safety problem, enforcement officials even don't know which is more important - grass-roots' making money or public security.

○

● Apple Daily, 11-20-2017 : Almost all world countries are more and more strict with food safety, only Taiwan is more and more relaxed in legislating for food safety. In this way, how can Taiwan have a reputation on "fine food kingdom" ? (breif) / by 邱致穎, chair, and teacher of food science, TungHai University.

○

● Taiwan is not included in EIU's Global Food Security Index of 2017, China ranks No. 45 among 113 nations.

○

● According to The World's Best Restaurants (2017) , Taiwan is not included in the list, Thailand got No.7, Singapore No.14, Japan 18th, HK 24th, Shanghai 41th. In total, 5 Japanese , 4 Chinese, 3 Singapore, 2 Thailand, 1 Korean, 1 India restaurant(s) entered top 100.

○

● New York Times, 2-24-2017: Taipei ... has a street food scene as vibrant as that of Bangkok; restaurants that specialize in both Taiwanese and regional cuisines from around China; thousands of cheap and cheerful joints at which to drink cold beer with small plates and quick stir-fries; .... ref to https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/travel/taipei-taiwan-restaurants-local.html

→restaurants , →night markets

●●

Taiwan

Taiwan soft power

○

Dr. Joseph Nye advised that hard & soft power enable Taiwan to deal with China and expand its international space. (Dec. 8, 2010)

However,

● Till 2019, Taiwan has not been included in Monocle's Soft Power survey ranking list, so Taiwan's soft power is behind Asian's "world top 20" nations , including Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, China, India, UAE. Japan ranks No.3, Korea No.15, China No.19 in 2019. Korea ranks 19、14、11 in 2010, 2011, 2012, and No.17 in 2017/2018. China is No.19 , Japan No. 4, Singapore No.22, India 24, in 2017/2018. Taiwan keeps failing to enter top 25 ranking status in 2013~2019.

● The China Times, headline news at 12-24-2017: The total value of Taiwan's cultural & creative production was far behind of that of Korea, Korea's value in publication is about 6 times larger than Taiwan's, Film industry 6 times, TV 3.5 times, Advertising 3 times, Pop-music 6 times bigger than Taiwan's, Taiwan lacks of updated related laws and policy ― no focus, no direction, no institute, original creativity is not encouraged, the industry field is divided, without integrated marketing......

● The China Times, 8-15-2017 : The output value of Taiwan's cultural & creative production in '12 - '13 declined 9.28%, in contrast, Taiwan's neighbor countries increased, China 14.27%, Malaysia, Philippines 8+%, Korea 0.65% ... Taiwan's cultural & creative industry even failed to create a "bubble", the reason is lacking of original creativity.

● UK based Monocle's Soft Power Survey 2010 ~ 2017/2018: Taiwan has not been included in this global ranking list, Taiwan's soft power is behind Asian's countries Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, China, India, UAE, all of them reached "world top 20" at least once.

● Taiwan failed to be listed in 2018's Soft Power 30 Study by USC Center on Public Diplomacy in July 2018 and 2017's Soft Power 30 Study, compiled by PR company Portand Communication and University of Southern California. Asian countries, Japan(No.5), S. Korea(20), Singapore(21), China(27) are top 30.
The top 30 nations of 2018 are 1. UK, 2. France, 3. Germany, 4. US, 5. Japan, 6~30 are Canada, Swiss, Sweden, Nederlands, Australia, Denmark, Italy,
Norway, Spain, Finland, Belgium, Austria, NZ, Ireland, S Korea, Singapore, Portugal, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Czech, China, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, 2017's Soft Power 30 Study, compiled by PR company Portland Communication and University of Southern California: Taiwan also failed to be in the list. The top 30 nations are 1 France 2 UK 3 USA 4 Germany 5 Canada 6 Japan 7 Swiss 8 Australia 9 Sweden 10 Holland 11 Denmark 12 Norway 13 Italy 14 Austria 15 Spain 16 Belgium 17 Finland 18 NZ 19 Ireland 20 Singapore 21 S. Korea 22 Portugal 23 Greece 24 Poland 25 China 26 Russia 27 Czech 28 Hungary 29 Brazil 30 Turkey.

● Although Telegraph (Jan. 2017) mentioned Taipei's "pioneering creative scene", however, in fact ...... Taiwan's creativity is poor in film, advertising, architectures, graphic designs ... e.g., Taiwan usually lost in Cannes Ads Festivals, the logo of Taiwan's Economic government is quite similar to an old Canadian logo ... The Liberty Times at 4-6-2016 pointed out Taiwan's government took the lead to plagiarize, and ignored copy-rights, Taiwan becomes "an island of Plagiarism" .

● Taiwan government logo

● Western (Canadian) logo appeared earlier

→Taiwan soft power

●●

Taiwan

Taiwanese human rights

　○

● 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 impact of the concentration of media ownership on freedom of the press, particularly among companies with People’s Republic of China (PRC) investment, self-censorship continued. Journalists said they faced pressure from management to submit news stories to complement or support the content of paid advertisements. Critics said product placement under the guise of news reporting undercut objective journalism, restricted journalists’ freedom, and undermined public trust in the media. 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. 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. 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.

● United States Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released in 2017, 2018:
Principal human rights problems reported during the year were exploitation of foreign workers, including foreign crewmembers on long-haul fishing vessels and household caregivers; domestic violence; and official corruption. Other human rights concerns during the year included vote buying; violations of legal working hours; lack of barrier-free spaces and accessible transportation systems for persons with disabilities, particularly outside Taipei; gender-biased sex selection; and a rise in child abuse. /
https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/265586.pdf

● <Transparency International>, Germany, 1-25-2017: Taiwan retreated in Corruption Perceptions Index, Taiwan received score 61, one point less than the previous year, on the Corruption Perceptions Index for 2016 published by Transparency International. Singapore got the highest score (84) and highest ranking (No.7) among Asian countries, Hong Kong at No.15 with 77 points and Japan at No.20 with 72 points.

○
● Reporter without Borders, France, https://rsf.org/en/taiwan

The main threat to media freedom comes from China, which has been exerting growing economic and political pressure on the Taiwanese media. The editorial line of some privately-owned media has changed radically and it is no longer rare to find media outlets taking a line similar to the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda. Journalistic independence has also been threatened by Taiwanese officials who have interfered directly in the editorial policies of the state-owned media.

○

→ human rights in Taiwan

●

Taiwan

Free expression in Taiwan

○

● <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. Beijing is also suspected of orchestrating online disinformation campaigns – a threat that could lead to questionable retaliatory measures by Taiwan such as refusing visas to Chinese journalists regarded as hostile. Taiwan ranks No. 42 in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index.

● 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, particularly among companies with People’s Republic of China (PRC) investment, self-censorship continued. Journalists said they faced pressure from management to submit news stories to complement or support the content of paid advertisements. Critics said product placement under the guise of news reporting undercut objective journalism, restricted journalists’ freedom, and undermined public trust in the media. 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.

● China Times 3-29-2019 headline news: Defend 100% freedom of speech! Democracy on the surface, anti-democracy to the bone is not allowed. 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.

● United States Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2016, released at March 3, 2017, 4-20-2018 :
Human rights concerns during the year included some media self-censorship with regard to China.

○

● <United Daily (聯合報)> 11-2-2018, headline news : National Security Bureau confirmed their investigation of Facebook and other communities on the net, for monitoring, controlling and collecting "controversial information" including those "influence national security", "blacken ("詆譭", a term of Martial Law period / UDN, 11-3-2018) president", "disrupt social stability", "distort policy" and "disturb national mechanism", "fight governmental prestige", "influence public mind and morale"; UDN 11-3-2018: all internet service providers in Taiwan were requested to hand in all users' personal information. UDN critiques pointed out "Big Brother is watching you" almost for sure lead to "Chilling Effect". ps: Intel. sys. suspectedly controls free expression of some websites not related to China.

台灣國安局監控

pic. left: KMT legislator : all internet service providers in Taiwan were invited by the government and requested to hand in all users' personal information.

Taiwan's intelligence "National Security Bureau"
has been doing overall monitors on all Taiwanese.

The head of NSB expressed that investigations
and monitoring will be used to those criticizing and blackening Taiwan president. KMT press conference criticized NSB was infringing
Taiwanese rights and interests.
Where is freedom of
expression ?

UDN 11-3-2018 headline news :
Top target media communities that
Taiwan's FBI has been monitoring are
(1) Facebook , (2) Youtube (3) LINE

pic. left: Taiwan president Tsai I. W.
clarified that democratic Taiwan
would no way go back to
Martial Law Period , my Facebook
is a best example, where is filled with encouragements, critiques, and free
discussions concerning public issues.....

● Reporter without Borders, France, https://rsf.org/en/taiwan

○

●   Wikipedia
       Wikipedia reference ('參考文獻') recorded that in the summer of 2017, a "Green Terror on Facebook" triggered concerns and public anger in Taiwan.    All Taiwanese mass media reported that politicians and online personalities said they had been denied access to their Facebook accounts after writing criticisms of Pan-Green coalition, the ruling political party (DPP).
         The China Times, opinion, at 11-18-2017 criticized that Taiwan president Tsai I. W. gave tacit permission to Facebook (Taiwan) to block content concerning anti Taiwan-independence (brief, http://opinion.chinatimes.com/20171118000516-262114).   Taiwan administration has not responded or denied this severely critiques till middle of Dec. 2017.

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 (威權式政治文化) 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、 Political power forms threats (penalty fine and suspending the license) to certain media。
2、 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).

This is an EVIL state apparatus (column, CTN, 5-9-2018) 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。http://udn.com/news/story/7338/2179800。

damaged web-pages of the site	dirty attacks ! free speech is worse ever in the past 20 years ! prime suspects are ... ?
Taiwan justice (e.g., page1, page2, page3, etc).	New form attacks happened at 11-20-2018 ... each char. being typed 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 ...
attacks last till present 2020

→ free speech in Taiwan

●

Taiwan

Taiwanese Identity

○

● Liberty Times, Apple Daily, China Times, 6-18-2018, FocusTaiwan 6-17-2018 (http://focustaiwan.tw/news/acs/201806170010.aspx) : China has higher favorable than unfavorable rating in Taiwan: poll / A survey conducted by the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation (台灣民意基金會) found China with a 48.8 percent favorability rating among respondents and a 43.9 percent unfavorability rating, the first time a majority of respondents in the annual poll saw China favorably.

○

● New York times, 12-13-2016: As Taiwanese identity has consolidated, with more than 90 percent of Taiwanese believing they are in some way “Taiwanese,” / https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/13

○

● brookings.edu, 9-12-2016 “Taiwan’s China Dilemma,” https://www.brookings.edu/events/taiwans-china-dilemma/
Shirley Lin’s new book, “Taiwan’s China Dilemma,” explores a conundrum: Despite a shared culture, and even as Taiwan’s economic interdependence with China deepened in the 1990s and 2000s, the island’s people felt an increasingly strong identity with Taiwan itself. These contradictory trends only continued during Ma Ying-jeou’s presidency, and will certainly shape the environment in which leaders in both Beijing and Taipei attempt to define and manage the cross-Strait relationship

○

● BBC, 12-3-2016 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34729538
Officially, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) still favours eventual independence for Taiwan, while the KMT favours eventual re-unification. Opinion polls show only a small minority of Taiwanese support pursuing one or the other at the moment, with most preferring to stick with the current middle ground.

○

● Apple Daily, opinion, 10-11-2017: Only 5- % Taiwanese favour independence or unification, about 70% in total are for conditional independence and conditional unification.

○

● Washington Post, 1-2-2017, The Taiwanese see themselves as Taiwanese, not as Chinese :

the Taiwanese are not willing to pursue independence at all costs. Many are concerned with the economy. When asked to choose between formal independence or maintaining economic ties with China, 83 percent chose bread over romance. / https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/01/02/yes-taiwan-wants-one-china-but-which-china-does-it-want/?utm_term=.8d999292eabd

○

Some significant polls:

Percentage of Taiwanese residents who consider themselves ?
Survey	Taiwanese	Chinese	Both Taiwanese and Chinese
NCCU, Jan. 2015	60.6%	3.5%	32.5%
TVBS poll centre, Oct. 2012	75%	15%	not an option here
TVBS poll centre, Oct. 2012	55%	3%	37%
Common Wealth Magazine, Dec. 2009	62%	8%	22%
Executive Yuan, Taiwan Admin., April, 2008	67.1%	13.6%	15.2%
source : Wikipedia

(59%: TWese, 34%: both)
Washington Post, 1-2-2017, The Taiwanese see themselves as Taiwanese, not as Chinese

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/01/02/yes-taiwan-wants-one-china-but-which-china-does-it-want/?utm_term=.8d999292eabd

○

Some significant polls:

https://sites.duke.edu/austinwang/2015/11/06/monkey-cage-article-how-taiwanese-view-the-future-of-the-cross-strait/
Austin Horng-En Wang, Monkey Cage article: How Taiwanese view the future of the Cross-strait, PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science, Duke University

Washington Post, 1-2-2017, The Taiwanese see themselves as Taiwanese, not as Chinese

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/01/02/yes-taiwan-wants-one-china-but-which-china-does-it-want/?utm_term=.8d999292eabd

https://sites.duke.edu/austinwang/2015/11/06/monkey-cage-article-how-taiwanese-view-the-future-of-the-cross-strait/

Washington Post, 1-2-2017, The Taiwanese see themselves as Taiwanese, not as Chinese, source : Niou

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/01/02/yes-taiwan-wants-one-china-but-which-china-does-it-want/?utm_term=.8d999292eabd

●

pic. : United Daily News survey/poll at 11-20-2017 found "the table has turned" - The percentage of Taiwanese having good impression on Chinese people increased to 49%, good social perception on communist Chinese government increased to 40%.

United Daily News, opinion at 11-20-2017: The percentage of Taiwanese are willing to work in mainland China increased to 40%.

ps: at the same time, China terrorized Taiwan with military force (aircrafts etc) routinely flying around Taiwan in entire year of 2017 (UDN, 11-20-2017)

pic. Apple Daily, 4-20-2018, headline news : a Survey poll by 台灣民主基金會
☉ Taiwanese fight for independence - 55% yes, 35.9 % no, 9.1% others

☉ Taiwanese fight against Chinese military force for unification - 67.7% yes, 24.9 % no, 7.4 % others

China Times, 4-21-2018, Opinion: Taiwan National Security Survey conducted by Duke University and NCCU of Taiwan
at about the same time found that once China-Taiwan war happens ...
☉ more than 60% Taiwanese yield or give up & run away (逆來順受或投降逃跑)
☉ The highest percentage of giving up & escaping goes to youth group (age < 39), about 30+ %, aged 40+ is about 10%.
☉ 80% Taiwanese assumed the US army will come to rescue, otherwise the percentage of fighting people will drop, however, according to a seminar in Washington DC in 2017,
only 18% American people support US military force getting involved in the war.

PS: Apple Daily News, opinion, 3-22-2018: according to latest survey by <台灣民意基金會>, 38.3% Taiwanese people are for Taiwan independence, 20.1% for unification with mainland China, 24.1% for current status, 75% regard themselves as Taiwanese, 9.7% Chinese, 10.4% both. As for China's latest policy - 31 items to benefit Taiwanese ("惠(對)台31項措施"), 41.9% think it as a trick for unification, 30.1% China's nice move.

●

Taiwan

Taiwanese women

○

● US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 3-13-2019 pointed out that 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. <The United Daily >, 3-16-2018: Taiwan's gender equality - A long long way to go !

●The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices , released at 3-3-2017, 4-20-2018: Rape and Domestic Violence ( spousal rape, and domestic violence). Many victims did not report the crime for fear of social stigmatization, and 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. Women were promoted less frequently, occupied fewer management positions, and worked for lower pay than men, earning on average 83 percent of their male counterparts’ income...

○

● Amnesty International (The London-based organization), 2.25.2015: The organization concerns Taiwan's gender discrimination. Taiwan’s passage of the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the enactment of laws to implement the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by 2017 were important starts, but still have to be fully implemented.
→women in Taiwan

●

Taiwan

Taiwan universities

○

Wikipedia : It (Taiwan) is ranked highly in terms of ... public education, economic freedom, and human development. The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is among the most highly educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentages of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan

However, Taiwan's education system has serious problems as below:

● Apple Daily, 7-26-2018 : Taiwan University kept falling down 64 positions within 5 years.

TIMES Higher Education
major univ. of Taiwan	world univ rankings 2020	2018 rankings	2017 rankings	2016 rankings	2015	2014	2013
National Taiwan University (台灣大學)	120	198	195	167	155	142	134
National Tsing Hua University (清華大學)	351-400	301~350	251~300	251~300	251~275	251~275	226~250
National Chiao Tung University (交通大學)	501-600	401~500	401~500	301~350	276~300	251~275	251~275
National Cheng Kung University (成功大學)	601-800	501~600	401~500	401~500	351~400	301~350	301~350

●

● Taiwan government damages university autonomy - rejecting the president selected by NTU committee.
Apple Daily 4-29-2018 head page, United Daily news 4-29-2018 : Taipei mayor Ko : a dummy made this policy to seriously harm university autonomy, former president Ma: ridiculous ! is Taiwan a civilized and legal society ? president Tsai : respect the educational gov. decision. Hong Kong City University president: The gov. damaged university autonomy, is lower than the warlord 100 yrs ago, and is not qualified to have international recognition. Taiwan University : express regrets and strong objections.

● For recent years, Taiwan failed to solve its educational problems which are numerous and disorderly, even chaos (紛亂如麻), such as Taiwan University's world ranks were falling down, the brain drain ( the outflow of talent ), jobless college students, students graduated from technical and vocational education systems can not meet society demands, politics impeding lectures, learning activities, and textbook contents. / UDN opinion, 12-9-2017.

● Too many fake scholar papers produced. Lousy conducts and bad ethics in Taiwan's academic circle happened again and again, but never be handled seriously, some careless-done fake scholarly papers are either ignorant or extremely audacious, some are even fraud-crimes. Only legal punishments can stop all these, Taiwan government should take hard line now.

○

● The China Times 2-8-2018: UK's Times Higher Education showed Taiwan's National Taiwan University fell back 2 positions (24th in 2017, 26th now) in Asia's ranking list. Singapore's national univ. and China's Tsing Hua U., Beijing Univ are top 3.

● The United Daily 10-17-2017 : Taiwan University's world ranks were falling down year by year.

National Taiwan University's world ranks in recent yrs.
ranking sys	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012
National Chiao Tung University (交通大學) in Shanghai China	173	163	154	141	125	121
QS	76	68	70	76	82	80
TIMES Higher Education	198	195	167	155	142	134

○

● Apple Daily 10-17-2017: Taiwan University retreated 50 positions and lost a not-best-known university 蘭州大學 (LanZhou univ.) of China in <Nature Index 2017 Tables>. The annual budges of NTU and LU (蘭大) are about the same.

Nature Index 2017 Tables
ranks	country	university
1	USA	Harvard
2	USA	Stanford
3(+1)	USA	MIT
9(+2)	CHN	Beijing University
86(+20)	CHN	LanZhou univ. (蘭州大學)
148(-50)	Taiwan	National Taiwan University
199(-35)	Taiwan	National Tsing Hua University Taiwan
280(+37)	Taiwan	National Chiao Tung University
431(+24)	Taiwan	National Cheng Kung University
438(n/a)	Taiwan	National Central University
448(+35)	Taiwan	National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei

○

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

○

● The China Times, 7-20-2017: Lousy students with totally 38 score in entrance examination are good enough to be freshmen of Taiwan's university, it's an international joke !

● Forbes 4-23-2017, "Taiwan's Once Mighty High-Tech Sector Is Falling Behind Because Of Low Pay" : Pay for university professors is too low to attract world-class people from overseas to teach. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ralphjennings/2017/04/23/taiwans-once-mighty-high-tech-sector-is-falling-behind-because-of-low-pay/#204190537b43/Asia /#BigBusiness
○

● https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/national-taiwan-university
Taiwan rank	world rank	Taiwan's university
1	198	National Taiwan University
2	301–350	National Tsing Hua University Taiwan
3	401–500	National Chiao Tung University
4	401–500	National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (Taiwan Tech)
5	501–600	China Medical University, Taiwan

○
○

● http://www.webometrics.info/en/Asia/TAIWAN July 2017 Edition: 2017.2.1
Taiwan rank	world rank	Taiwan's university	impact rank	openness	excellence rank
1	86