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● 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

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

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● 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
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●  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

  ●  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

 ● 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.

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  ●  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

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  ●  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.

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  ● 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".

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  ●  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 ...

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  ●  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...

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  ●  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."

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  ●  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

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  ●  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 )

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  ●  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...
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  ●  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/

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

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  ●  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.

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  ●  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

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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.

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● 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

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  ●   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
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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)

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    ●   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")

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   ●  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

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 ●  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

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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

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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

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Taiwan

Taiwan travel & tour

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● According to  World Economic Forum (WEF)  <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> (released at 4-6-2017), Taiwan's most important indexes for promoting tourism, like "Attractiveness of Natural Assets" (parks, beaches, mountains, wildlife, etc) ranks world No.87, "Natural Resources" ranks No.55,   "Environmental Sustainability" ranks No.75 (No.69 in 2015), "Price Competitiveness" ranks No. 46, "Hotel Price Index" ranks No. 89 (82 in 2015), Taiwan got "n/a" on China's 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. 

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● 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' ...

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● 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"

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● 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... )

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● 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)

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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

　

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Taiwan

Taiwan food

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

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● 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.

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●  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...   

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● 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.

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●  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. 

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

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● 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.

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●  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

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Taiwan

Taiwan soft power

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

  However,

  ● 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.  

  ●  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

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  ● 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.

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  ● 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

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  ●  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

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   ●  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.

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

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  ● 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

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		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.

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Taiwanese women

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●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...

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● 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

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Taiwan universities

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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:

●  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. 

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●  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

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● 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

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Academic circle lacks ethics /  UDN  1-11-2017   http://udn.com/news/story/7338/2222591 Accomplice structure to fake scholarly papers / China Times 11-19-2016   http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20161119000399-260109 NTU should not be too snobby /  The Liberty Times  11-25-2016   http://talk.ltn.com.tw/article/paper/1055359 Scholar : Only heavy punishment stops fake papers / UDN 11-19-2016   https://udn.com/news/story/10586/2115844 Strange phenomenon in academic circle /11-19-2016 UDN  https://udn.com/news/story/10586/2115842 Faking papers is a long-time malpractice / UDN  11-21-2016 https://udn.com/news/story/6885/2118616

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●   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
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●  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

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●  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	National Taiwan University	113	175	118
2	253	National Chiao Tung University	184	359	383
3	264	National Cheng Kung University	262	534	319
4	294	National Tsing Hua University Taiwan	264	532	359
5	432	National Central University	575	340	508

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●  Taiwan's universities were not included in the following ranking lists, those universities in China, Japan, S. Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore were included.
　

World University Rankings 2018  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QS_World_University_Rankings QS World University Rankings is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS)
QS University Rankings: Asia — Top 10       2009-2016
1	SingaporeNational University of Singapore
2	Hong KongThe University of Hong Kong
3	SingaporeNanyang Technological University
4	Hong KongThe Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
5	ChinaTsinghua University
6	South Korea  Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
7	Hong KongThe City University of Hong Kong
8	Hong KongThe Chinese University of Hong Kong
9	ChinaPeking University
10	South KoreaSeoul National University
QS Graduate Employability Rankings 2018 — Top 10      2016-2018
United States	Stanford University
United States	University of California, Los Angeles
United States	Harvard University
Australia	The University of Sydney
United States	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
United Kingdom	University of Cambridge
Australia	University of Melbourne
United Kingdom	University of Oxford
United States	University of California, Berkeley
China	Tsinghua University

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Taiwan's medical services

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● Taiwan only ranks world 45th position in Lancet's Healthcare Access and Quality Index released in 2017 (based on mortality from causes amenable to personal health care in 195 countries and territories, 1990–2015: a novel analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study   2015),  some chronic disease items got very low or failure scores, e.g.,   Leukemia score 49,  Kidney disease 50, Gallbladder & biliary 57, Hypertensive Heart Disease 60,   diabetes mellitus 58, etc.  http://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)30818-8.pdf

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●  Apple Daily, 12-30-2017: Amending Taiwan's medical service law is criticized as "Decriminalization", patients in Taiwan will be difficult to put to the proof in their legal cases. 

　

●  <Transparency International> ( July 9, 2013) study : "Have you or anyone in your household paid a bribe to one of these 8 services in the last 12 months?"  Taiwanese people think the institution needed to be paid bribery most is judiciary system, second is Taiwan's medical and health services, the number of Taiwanese paying a bribe is higher than global average. ( Apple Daily 7-10-2013,http://www.appledaily.com.tw/appledaily/article/headline/20130710/35139300/ )
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●  The United Daily News (聯合新聞) 1-3-2017 <Where's Taiwan's medical ethics ?  Leaking patients' medical records is a normal social protocol in Taiwan>  : In Taiwan, journalists are not used to respect patients' privacy... our hospitals' members do not know very clearly the principle of protecting patients' privacy...(黃達夫)

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●  Taipei City mayor Ko : Taiwan has not established a culture of honesty, each time being in National Taiwan University Hospital's meeting, the 1st thing cross mind always is "who performed the operation (surgery) ?", M.D.s always take it personally ... ( '無法真正做到對事不對人')  /  buzzorange.com/2015/05/29 " The phony culture in Taipei City Hall - 整個社會都在說謊？！柯文哲揭露市府假面文化" http://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20170611002397-260407

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●Taiwan's medical & health performance is so successful (e.g. life expectancy, infant mortality and maternal mortality, are better than U.S., although we spent only one-quarter of USD (PPP) in health expenditure.) that former leader of health government, Dr. Ye Ching-chuan, was invited to testify at an US senate committee hearing on this issue
→Taiwan's medical service

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Taiwan

Taiwanese personality

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● The Liberty Times, 1-4-2016/  Taipei City mayor Dr. Ko: Taiwanese have been patient sufferance of so many politically bullies and toying (and killings), hence lost confidence and passion, Taiwan only has obedient, docile citizens who surrendered to their "lord",  those some of Taiwanese revolted, resisted or rebelled were all killed by their rulers, the rest of Taiwanese are docile citizens, their children or descendants are even more docile.

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●  The China Times, 3-24-2018, public opinion: Li Ao (李敖) in 1999 wrote that Taiwan already became a shadow, very realistic ( profit oriented, snobbish ), short-sight society (淺碟, 現實, 短視).

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● Forbes (3-5-2017) : Taiwanese "People are ominously courteous".

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●  UDN 4-7-2018 opinion : Taiwan delivered huge amount of drugs to Philippines, and taught terrorists how to fight the gov. by using drugs ...    Taiwan was already reduced to be a 'kingdom' of producing narcotic drugs.  (United Daily, headline news, 11-2-2017) 

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→Taiwanese haracter/personality

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Taiwan

Taiwan judiciary

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 ● The United Daily,  06-18-2016  head page: Taiwan's prosecutors admitted they usually follow their commanding officer's order to access legal cases ... " He is bigger than I am, what can I say??" ( 檢察一體長官常指導辦案，無法發揮，「他比我大 我能說甚麼」...)

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● National Chung Cheng university's survey (head-page of the Liberty Times, 2-23-2016) found: more than 84% Taiwanese people don't believe judges, nearly 80% Taiwanese don't believe the impartiality of Taiwan's prosecutors, and public trust on Taiwan judiciary system keeps falling down in the past 8 years.  

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● USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices, March 3, 2017, 4-20-2018: the justice ministry was insufficiently independent and conducted politically motivated investigations of politicians.

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● Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen declared that no such injustice (The rich get off scot-free, the poor get the death sentence ) should be repeated, and blasted (5-20-2016) Taiwan justice earning no Taiwanese people trust.  

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● China Post, Dec. 5, 2016;  Apple Daily, The Liberty Times, Nov. 30, 2016:

     The Judges Association of Republic of China expressed Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen pronounced a death penalty on Taiwan's justice system, in that Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen declared at a preparatory meeting for her National Affairs Conference on Judicial Reform that no such injustice (One popular satiric quip about dispensing justice in Taiwan: The rich get off scot-free, the poor get the death sentence (有錢判生,無錢判死). It's a succinct way to say that the rich defendant in court is always acquitted, while the poor man or woman who is indicted is sentenced to death.  ) should be repeated, and blasted (5-20-2016) Taiwan justice earning no Taiwanese people trust.  

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● The United Daily,  3-6-2017  :  Taiwan's judiciary still work as hatchet man for KMT.  (陳師孟)

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● The China Times (中國時報), 10-15-2017, "Judiciary yielding to the power leads to collapse (司法屈從是崩壞之始)": Judicial reform meeting began lively but ended silently and 'head and face filthy with grime', made no progress at all / 中國文化大學法研所教授李復甸   The Taipei Times, 12-1-2017:  Taiwan gov. announced the bill for "citizen judges" system which is closer to the Japanese system of lay judges than the common law system of “trial by jury” in the UK or the US...  trying to save Taiwan's judicial systems.    The China Times (中國時報) at 12-1-2017 commented this system as "impromptu" (hurriedly written), "collage"(剪貼), "has many loopholes".

→Taiwan judiciary

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Taiwan

political persecution in Taiwan

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●  Taiwan is very behind to against torture and other cruel, etc.
     Apple Daily, headline, 12-9-2017:
     ◆ In 2009, Taiwan adopted ICCPR and ICESCR as an "execution method & law of application" ('施行法') to against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.      
      ◆  However,  in 2013, the international review panel ( human rights experts and scholars) came Taiwan and concluded, advised :

          (1) "The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment" should be added to Taiwan Criminal Law, and should be put into force as soon as possible.
          (2)  The best method to root out torture and other Cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in Taiwan is that any person who commits torture those sort of crimes should not be free liability of what they did.
     ◆  In 2017, a review found all conclusions and advises above have not put into practice at all.
     ps:  In 1984, The United Nations adopted the text of the convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.   Most major countries including USA and China are signatories and ratifications.
        PS2:The members of the review panel include 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. 
        ps3:  https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/daily/20171209/37869068

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●  wikipedia: The Chinese Civil War resumed, with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) led by Mao Zedong defeating the Nationalists and declaring the People's Republic of China in 1949. Chiang's government and army retreated to Taiwan, where Chiang imposed martial law and persecuted critics in a period known as the "White Terror".  

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● Taiwanese government involving political persecutions has been questioned.   French AFP (Dec. 1, 2011) , Thailand's Bangkok Post (Dec. 3, 2011), Yahoo UK & Ireland, and all local media reported ( Dec. 2011) that Taiwan's opposition party vice presidential candidate and NTU professor Lin Ruey-Shiung (PhD., Johns Hopkins University, USA, Ruprecht-Karls-Universitat Heidelberg Germany.) was subject to electromagnetic wave attacks.   Dr Lin thinks it's launched by a Taiwanese intelligence government, but that unit denied, some media reported these weapons most likely were imported from USA.   More similar or serious  reports/sayings concerning this sort of political persecutions're on the net. 

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●  FTV: 9-25-2013  20:01pm   To much monitoring in Taiwan, every body is risky  (監聽氾濫人人自危).   The Liberty Times, 9.25.2013, Apple Daily, 2006: Human rights in Taiwan is lousy!  1/4 Taiwanese were being listened by the government per year.

　

Stop Human Cruelty in Taiwan too !!!  make a law now !!
click links to view : ☉see animal cruelty, report it :  https://www.pinterest.com/pin/406098091375381067/?lp=true ☉Dogs Speak out: https://www.pinterest.com/margom14/stop-animal-cruelty/?lp=true ☉stop animal cruelty: https://prowlnewspaper.com/2017/08/20/sunday-is-the-day-of-rest-and-monday-is-the-day-for-protest/ ☉all animals have rights: https://ukhrb.wordpress.com/2009/11/19/court-rules-on-injunctions-against-animal-rights-protesters/

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ending

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 top 2 rankings on internet 

top 2 rankings on internet ●

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                                                                                                                                                                ☉ below each visual parody, cartoon on The dark side of Tw. are related or relevant reports or comments

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

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