comment Taiwan, review Taiwan

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

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● Brookings at 1-22-2018 commented that Increasing “soft power” is a low-cost, high-return strategy for Taiwan. ● Dr. Joseph Nye said hard & soft power enables Taiwan to deal with China and expand its international space. (Dec. 8, 2010)	world issues : ◆ US / US cartoons US Designs; ◆ China / Shanghai EXPO , GuangZhou World Games , China Creativity - Beijing Olympics ; ◆ Japan / Japan Comics - comment most popular books (Chinese version)
● Taiwanese government's strategy : Taipei must increase its "soft power" if it is to stand on the international stage. (BBC, Oct. 2010)

However, How is Taiwan's "Soft Power" and "hard power" in today ?? Taiwan's culture & creativity, and politics (human rights) are not really good...
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● UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage / https://ich.unesco.org/en/lists

ranks
Asian country heritage items selected

1 China 40

2 Korea 24

3 Japan 20

4 Mongolia 15

5 India 13

6 Indonesia 10

7 Saudi Arabia 8

8 Cambodia 5

9 Philippines 4

10 Qatar 3

10 Malaysia 3

10 Pakistan 3

13 Thai 2

14 Singapore 1

14 Sri Lanka 1

14 Vietnam 1

14 UAE 1

18~3X
Myanmar, Laos, Nepal 0

Taiwan 0

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

★ pic: No.1 "comment Taiwan" on US google, 11-7-2019, 1-17-2020, 2-5-2020, 7-1-2020

★ pic: No.1 "comment Taiwan" on Yandex of Russia, 8-5-2020, 11-7-2019, 1-15-2020

★ pic: No.1 "comment Taiwan" on US google, 9-19-2019

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

Till 2020, Taiwan has not been included in Portland or USC 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

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

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

Taiwan's travel & tourism - 10th in Asia

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

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

World's Best Restaurants 2019, 2020 (www.foodandwine.com/travel/restaurants/worlds-best-restaurants)
Australia (Attica), Singapore (Burnt Ends), Japan (Funnji, Sushi Yoshitake), India (Masque, Shree Thaker Bhojanalay), Thailand (Nang Loeng Market) China HK (VEA), Korea (Samcheongdong Sujebi), were selected to be winners	no any Taiwan's restaurants was included

In World's Best Restaurants, Asia area list, Australia, Singapore, Japan, India, Thailand, China and S. Korea are winners, Taiwan was not included.

pic.: In Asia's 50 Best Restaurants, Singapore, China, Japan, Thailand are big winners

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

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

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

《Economist》UK , EIU 「The Safe Cities Index 2019 」 https://safecities.economist.com/safe-cities-index-2019/ Taiwan is worse than its neighbors Singapore, Japan, China, Korea, Australia, NZ ... Taiwan's "personal security" dropped 14 places compared with the previous report
● personal security :	No.1 Singapore 3 HK 4 Tokyo 5 Wellington 7 Osaka 10 Sydney 12 Dubai 15 Seoul 16 Melbourne 20 Taipei
● Infrastructure security :	No.1 Singapore 2 Osaka 4 Tokyo 7 Sydney 7 Melbourne 9 Wellington 14 Seoul 18 HK 24 Taipei
● Digital security:	No.1 Tokyo 2 Singapore 11 Osaka 11 Sydney 11 Melbourne 17 Seoul 22 HK 23 Taipei
● Health security:	No.1 Osaka 2 Tokyo 3 Seoul 8 Singapore 10 Taipei
★ World Economic Forum (WEF) <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> released at 9-4-2019 shows Taiwan's "safety & security" got an Eastern Asia-pacific average score 6.0, and is worse than Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Singapore. ★ 《 China Times 》, 11-11-2020 , editorial: Malaysian newspaper thinks Taiwan apparently an extremely unsafe place because two Malaysian ladies were murdered (one was cut-to-pieces) in Taiwan within one year. A poll by KMT shows 48.9% Taiwanese thinks social security is worse than before. ★ 《Liberty Times 》, 11-12-2020: Crimes of violence kept worsening ― in recent 5 years, the number of four major crimes（恐嚇取財、傷害、妨害自由、刀械槍枝）gradually increases from 20732 in 2015 to 24638 in 2019 in all six major cities, according to statistics.

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


Taiwan's hard power : 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/ ◆ Taiwan's active force down to under 200,000 (the exact number is classified). The nearly two million reservists exist in name only... / New York times, 5-18-2017 ◆ The ROC (Taiwan) Armed Forces number approximately 300,000, and reserves reportedly total 3,870,000. / Wikipedia, May 2020 ◆ Taiwan began to phase out mandatory conscription for all young men, which was deeply unpopular, in favor of an all-volunteer force; 4 months of compulsory service ... training is "insufficient to meet the challenges posed by the increasing threat (RAND, '17) / New York times, 8-30-2020 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/30/world/asia/taiwan-china-military.html ◆ Only 310 thousands out of 770 thousands of qualified reservists were called up for short-term military training, from 2015 to 2017, 61 thousands of those escaped the duty / Formosa TV news, 8-3-2018, storm.mg 10-15-2019 ◆ only 84,000 are demobilised volunteer force soldiers, the best-trained and most motivated group / Financial Times, 7-12-2020 ◆ Taiwan’s military is also not in the most optimal state. For instance, Taiwanese males serve only four months of conscripted military service, in comparison to over 20 months for Singaporean men and at least 18 months for South Korean men. / Hong Kong Free Press 7-15-2020 ◆ Reserve force is short of both officers and sergeants, their speciality far match the position / United Daily, 10-2-2020
strategy	◆ To against the threats of cyber warfare, cognitive warfare, and ‘unrestricted’ warfare from China , 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	◆ China could wipe out Taiwan’s navy and air force ... Many insiders are accordingly pessimistic about its ability to hold out. / Economist,10-9-2020 ◆ the PLA could, without invading, destroy Taiwanese military, power and telecom facilities, embargo oil imports, cut cyber connectivity, then take advantage of the psychological impact on Taiwan to press for negotiations / Politico,10-8-2020 ◆ France forced Taiwan to withdraw its request to upgrade 20-year-old Mirage fighters ... F-16 A/B and F-CK-1 fighters are growing tired; 60 or 70 new fighters and a few missiles won’t really change the balance of power. And heavy tanks – especially if they lack trained crews – won’t do much to stop a Chinese invasion / Forbes, 8-30-2020 ◆ A whole lot of Taiwan’s weapons don’t work. / Forbes, 9-4-2020 forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2020/09/04/which-of-taiwans-old-weapons-still-work/#340d2ee156a2 ◆ Three Taiwanese presidents Lee (李登輝後期)、Chen(陳水扁)、Tsai(蔡英文) squandering those "bonus for peace" military budget and underestimating the demand of national defense, lead to shortage of arms-deal budget. / United Daily , editorial, 6-6-2020 ◆ Today China has more and better conventional forces than Taiwan. / Forbes, 6-3-2020 China has ｎｕｃｌｅａｒ　ｂｏｍｂ，Neutron bomb， hydrogen bomb, Taiwan has none of those. / Next TV news, 5-8-2020 ◆ A major obstacle is that countries that might sell it the most sophisticated weaponry are increasingly reluctant to do so for fear of provoking China, ... / New York times, 11-4-2017 ◆ Taiwan military strength is ranked No. 26 , China PLA No. 3 / Global FirePower, 2020
military logistics system	◆ The logistics inside the military remain so abysmal ... The army likely has no clue how many tanks or guns actually mission-capable ... / Foreign Policy, 8-20-2020 ◆ only 30% of Taiwan's tanks are in running condition with functional weapons. The outdated hardware stands in stark contrast to China's massive and increasingly modern force / Business Insider, 10-9-2020 ◆ Taiwan lacks enough supplement of all items of military equipments / United Daily (聯合報社評), opinion, 5- 7- 2020
morale	◆ NY Times, 11-24-2020: Taiwan's famous politician screams: “Taiwan can’t face the might of China alone, We can’t fight China on our own". ◆ “Their underlying thinking is that PLA has grown to be too strong for us to fight militarily anyway... Taiwan should just focus on putting up a good show of being tough, buy enough U.S. weapons for display, and pray that Americans come to our rescue / Foreign Policy, 8-20-2020 https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/20/taiwan-military-flashy-american-weapons-no-ammo/ ◆ Taiwan’s preparedness and its will to fight both look shaky / Economist,10-9-2020 ◆ Policies put forward by the Kuomintang and the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party have left the military understaffed and in a state of low morale... / New York times, 5-18-2017 ◆ Taiwan fears uptick in military threat from China in wake of coronavirus epidemic ... / Financial Times 5-19-2020
discipline	◆ Taiwan’s army has trouble with training across the board. / Economist, 10-9-2020 ◆ 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

Horrible legal systems in Taiwan
Taiwan presidents should be ashamed ...

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

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

● pic.: This website was ranked No.1 by keyword "Taiwan cultural creativity" on Yahoo search engine, Oct. 1, 2018

● pic.: This website was ranked No.1 by keyword "Taiwan cultural creativity" and "Taiwan creativity",
on US Bing, Oct. 1, 2018
　

● pic.: This website was ranked No.2 by keyword "Taiwan cultural and creative industry",
on US Google, Oct. 1, 2018
　

● pic.: This website was ranked No.2 by keyword "Taiwan cultural and creative industries",
on Yahoo search engine, Oct. 1, 2018
　

1. Taiwan Soft Power

Taiwan failed to enter UK based Monocle's Soft Power Survey ranking lists of 2010 till 2019, Taiwan's soft power is behind Asian's "world top 20" nations , including Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, China, India, UAE, all of them entered top 20 list at least once. The Monocle's Soft Power Survey ranks nations according to their culture, politics, business, diplomacy and education rather than their financial or military power. Japan ranks No.3 in 2019's survey.
Taiwan failed to be included in UK based Monocle's Soft Power list 2010 ~ 2019 and Soft Power 30 by USC Center on Public Diplomacy, 2017 ~ 2019/2020, compiled by PR company Portand Communication and University of Southern California.

2019/2020 THE SOFT POWER by Portland
1	France	16	Austria
2	UK	17	New Zealand
3	Germany	18	Belgium
4	Sweden	19	Korea
5	USA	20	Ireland
6	Swiss	21	Singapore
7	Canada	22	Portugal
8	Japan	23	Poland
9	Australia	24	Czech
10	Nederland	25	Greece
11	Italia	26 Brazil
12	Norway	27 China
13	Spain	28 Hungary
14	Denmark	29 Turkey
15	Finland	30 Russia

Asian countries in 2019, 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 rankings 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. ( China's scores of 2018: digital 30, enterprise 22, education13, culture 9, engagement 9, gov. 30, polling 28)

★ "understand Taiwan in one minute" ! ★ TAIWAN in all aspects ★ Review Taiwan Top rankings on internet !!

★ Taiwan's cultural creativity : artists―shortage of creativity & vivid imagination ! government―lacking of forward thinking ...

        ☉ 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. / The China Times, 8-15-2017
        ☉ The United Daily (1-10-2016): 3 major political parties' presidential candidates all ignore cultural policy and direction in their election debates.
       ☉ The Liberty Times 4-6-2016: The Liberty Times of Taiwan, 4-6-2016: The government took the lead to ignore copy-rights, Taiwan became "an island of Plagiarism".

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pic: This websites-group was ranked No.1 by keyword
"Understand Taiwan " on Google,
3-8-2019, 4-11-2018, 1-6-2017, 11-1-2017, 1-12-2018

No.1 on US Bing, Yahoo search engine, 6-18-2018
　

pic: This websites-group was ranked No.1 by keyword
"comment Taiwan" on Google
at 3-8-2019,1-1-2019, 12-4-2016, 1-1-2017 , 11-1-2017,
1-12-2018 , 4-11-2018,
No.1 on US Bing, Yahoo search engine, 3-8-2019, 6-18-2018
● Facebook suppression of free expression in Taiwan
top 2 on most world best search engines
like US Bing, Yahoo, MetaGer, Google, etc

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pic: This websites-group was ranked No.1 by keyword
"comment Taiwan" on Yandex of Russia,
4-11-2018, 1-30-2018
　

　

　

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pic: This websites-group was ranked No.1 by the keyword of
"comment Taiwan" in English, 4-11-2018, 6-18-2018
No.1 in Chinese on Baidu of China, 2-20-2018, 6-18-2018
　

survey to find political persecutions

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◆ Taiwan's soft power & cultural creativity .... see below:

Tourism Full analysis pls. click Taiwan Tour&Travel

"Formosa" means "a beautiful island", however, some media of both Taiwan and China (新週刊New Weekly) comment top point of interest in Taiwan is Taiwanese people itself. (an ambassador from S. America said so too)

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. In the overall ranking list, Asian country Japan got No.4, China No.13, Hong Kong No.14, Korea No.16, Singapore No.17, Malaysia No.29, Thailand No.31, UAE No.33, India No. 34,...
　

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

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

Nikkei Asia Review 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. The United Daily 10-6-2018 editorial opinion: Taiwan's 'heresy' policy of tourism (subsidies, visa-free) led to 800+ billion dollars decrease of earnings, because of lower consuming ability of South Eastern Asian tourists and smaller number of Chinese tourists. Apple Daily, head-page, 12-31-2018: The amount of tourists spending per day and the number of days tourists staying decreased.

◎ World Economic Forum (WEF) 2017 <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). Taiwan has excellent scores on "Mobile Network coverage", "ATM", etc, but those least likely are main attractiveness to international sightseers that Taiwan needs most. Taiwan is not be included in top 30 countries in <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> from 2011 till 2015, In 2015's report, Japan No.9, Singapore 11th, HK 13th, China No.17 ; 2011 ranking - No.10 Singapore, no.12 HK, no. 13 Australia, no. 19 New Zealand, no.22 Japan, no.32 Korea, no.35 Malaysia.

United Daily, opinion, 12-30-2017 : Taiwan's foreign exchange earnings from tourism decreased 300 billion dollars. To promote tourism just in number of tourists, Taiwan's new mission “New Southbound Policy” gave up the national principle of mutual benefit and equity, led to illegal drug trafficking and neighbor countries' anger, and illegal collectivized-workings by foreign "visitors". Taiwan's advertisements only focus on "cheat eats" by using some widely-known stars. All these remind us a Chinese tourists slang "you will regret for your entire life if coming to Taiwan".

◎ <the China Times> 5-26-2015: "We should pay attention to a poll on the net in Hong Kong, it says Taiwan is the most disappointed place for the tour, because Taiwan's night market is the only place worth to visit." (<media commentary> scholar's view "掉漆的文創")

◎ UK's Economist Intelligence Unit ― ● "Liveability Cities" report (Aug. 2015) ranks Taipei world No.60 (Taipei's Tourism leader 簡余晏 8-20-2015 expressed the ranking will go up in next year, hopefully), ● Mercer's "Quality of Living" ranks Taipei world No. 83, and gives another city Tai-Chung world No.99, ● Monocle's "Quality of Life" top list includes no Taipei. ● According to 2009 ECA int'l "the Best Place to Reside"，Taipei ranks No.57, Asia top 3 are Singapore 、HK、Tokyo( both world No.15)。● 2010 rank : Taipei No.55、 Singapore is still global No. 1.

◆ Taiwan tourism got trouble since 2014~2015 till present, what's gov. solutions to save it ?

觀光外匯年減267億

● Taiwan government's 2 solutions to save tourism

(1) "in depth" tour - just a slogan, equals to give up the "patient" / UDN, opinion, 10-3-2017

(2) “New Southbound Policy” - equals no borders, cheap prostitutes and frauds from South-Eastern Asia countries invaded and occupied sex market. / CTN, headline, 10-17-2017.

● UDN 10-20-2017: scholars advised:
(1) new image and positioning, street food/night markets is no longer good enough.
(2) demassification & niche marketing, specific strategy for eco-tourism. cheap-price or duty-free probably can't save TW tourism.

PIC: Without Chinese tourists, Taiwan's foreign exchange earnings
decreased 267 billions (NT dollars) per yr. / The China Times, 10-4-2017

The number of tourists to Taipei attractions dropped sharply 2.7 million in upper yr.
/ UDN 10-20-2017

◆ 2015 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report

Taiwan's weakness :
Index	Taiwan's world rankings
Country Brand Strategy	No.125
Prioritization of Travel & Tourism	No.82
Hotel price index	No.82
Tourist service infrastructure	No.77
Environmental Sustainability	No.69
Natural Resource	No.62
Purchasing power parity	No.64
World heritage cultural sites	the last position, n/a (China No.5)
World heritage natural sites	the last position, n/a (China No.3)
major car rental companies	No.120
Travel and tourism industry development	No.53

http://reports.weforum.org/travel-and-tourism-competitiveness-report-2015

◆ Country Brands Index 2014/2015

Taiwan's score :

Taiwan's score location - "Countries" (left lower place)

Taiwan locates in "Countries" category, a lowest area ― having below average perceptions in both the Status and Experience dimensions.

Critera :
◎tourism / Value for money, Range of attractions, Resort & lodging options, Would like to visit for a vacation, Food ;
◎HERITAGE & CULTURE / Historical points of interest, Heritage, art & culture, Natural beauty;
etc.

◎“Country brands” – Countries that have above average perceptions across both the Status and Experience dimensions and have measurable competitive advantages over their peers as a result.
◎ “Experience countries” – Countries whose perception strength is biased towards dimensions relating to Heritage & Culture, Tourism and Made In.
◎ “Status countries” – Countries whose perception strength is biased towards attributes relating to Value System, Quality Of Life and Business Potential.

http://www.futurebrand.com/news/futurebrand-launches-the-country-brand-index-2014-15

◎ top 20 countries: Japan, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Norway, United States, Australia, Denmark, Austria, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Finland,Singapore, Iceland, Netherlands, France, Italy, United Arab Emirates, South Korea.

◎ top 20 most influential cities: NY, London, Beijing, Washington, Moscow, Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, Shanghai, Dubai, HK, Singapore, New Delhi, SaoPaulo, Rio De Janeiro, LA, Rome, Toronto, Seoul, Mumbai

◎★

Visual Communication

Taiwan government logo, UN for Taiwan logo, state-run enterprises logo, Taiwan's universities annual event logo ...... etc, suspiciously are cheap-copy works. Similar visual designs're everywhere in Taiwan. Taipei is going to hold a sort of "City of Design" international event soon ??

Some examples are listed as below:

(1)		(2)		(3)

logo of Taiwan's government	world logo appeared earlier	world logo appeared earlier	logo of Taiwan's government	Asian (Korea) metro's logo (appeared earlier)	design by Taiwan's best university

◎

(4) Taiwan's cultural landmark

Silk Cut prt ad knife as tree, lawn, mountain

left : Silk Cut ad. in UK, appeared earlier right: poster for Taiwan's cultural government and Eslite Bookstore (ps)

ps: Both use same ideas ― "sharp knife tree, dangerous gear-wheel lawn"
Pic. at right side is an ad. for <Creative Ideas Exhibition of Taiwan Cultural Industry, Taiwan>, Eslite bookstore ( Taiwan's pride, a cultural landmark of Taiwan)

(5)

pic. left above: logo and emblem of KMT
presidential election 2019/2020

pic. left blow: a design for FCCLA (USA)
(ps: appeared earlier)

KMT denied it's a cheap-copying work,
but ROC design association
(中華民國設計師協會榮譽理事)
expressed "UP" is an obvious Plagiarism !

besides, Taiwan's head was cut out

ref. to LTN, 11-15-2019

◎★

◎
Food - poisonous/ black hearted food in Taiwan for 20-30 years, click for details

"comment Taiwan restaurants" rank No.1 on US Google, 10-15-2018, 3-15-2018
◎

	weird Taiwan tourism advertisement : Dining X Taipei Cambridge dictionary: "X" represents (1) unknown / a number, or name or thing that is not known or stated (2) mistake / the answer is not correct (3) delete / to remove something (4) kisses ps: Taiwan suffered food safety problem for years : ref to The China Times, 5-21-2018, TVBS 9-12-2017, details
pic.: Travel advertisement in Taipei Taiwan, summer 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwyuCsmMqTM

● 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)

○

pic.: TVBS (Taiwan) 2-10-2018: experts expressed their concern or scares of eating Basa fish imported from Vietnam. Some international experts like Vancouver Aquarium's Ocean Wise doesn't recommend consumers buy Basa, some states of the US even banned Basa, for using illegal antibiotics, questioning polluted Mekong river and the practices used to farm Basa, those factors.
Some 5 star hotels in Taiwan seemed love to serve cheap-price Basa ― however, they used English name Bassa or Balsa ( not fish name ), instead of Basa, but, the Chinese name used is Basa for sure, 2 chefs answered me those were imported from Vietnam.
pic. left is a hot dish served by a Taipei's 5 star hotel buffet restaurant, "Thailand steamed Bassa fish" (photo at 4-24-2018); Pic. right is another top hotel Sheraton Taipei's buffet food - "Balsa" fish ( photo in Nov. 2017 ). Once their kitchen staff told me "balsa" is deep sea fish.

◎

◆ World famous 5 star hotel hides fish name on the sign-plate, we can't even know which is sea fish or fresh-water fish ?

quora (2015) had some discussions about "why don't westerners eat river fish?". Independent UK 1-11-2015: Chemicals in fresh water fish put health at risk - according to a new report, they may be putting their health at risk... Singapore's foodie TV program < Cook Eat China > likes to ask chef the fish name before they try. Medical book <you can conquer cancer> (target readers include patients and healthy people)advised to know what-about before eating fish or seafood ......

◆ pic. left: World famous hotel Shangri La's in Taipei at 5-18-2018: upon my question, the kitchen man answered it's Dory fish ("多利魚")，but had no idea about sea fish or fresh water fish (rivers, lakes, etc). Taiwan's CTS TV news (華視新聞) at 4-27-2017 reported (news.cts.com.tw/cts/life/201704/201704271863633.html#.Wv6-Rjoh2Uk): all Dory fishes in Taiwan were fake, foodie gourmets have been fooling for a long times ! Dory then were renamed as Basa ― a fresh-water fish farmed in Vietnam, S.E. Asia 。

Real John Dory is also named as Cat Fish, the author had many in Florida's buffet restaurant (even "none star" restaurant marked fish name ), however, in Taiwan's "5 star" hotel can only eat fake Dory ???

◆ pic. right: Another world famous 5 star hotel (Sheraton grand Taipei, headqtr in USA) in Taiwan also hide the fish name (5-17-2018)。

Westerners tourists may like to know they're eating sea fish or fresh-water fish ?　

◎

◆ pic. left: Weird !! the deep fried fish in world well-known Grand Hotel Taipei buffet restaurant has no any remarks (July 2018)，upon my question, the kitchen said it's snapper (鯛魚), then John Dory, eventually said Taiwan is very "good" at this, so he does not know what it exactly is.
◆ pic. right: CTS (華視新聞) 4-27-2017(news.cts.com.tw/cts/life/201704/201704271863633.html#.Wv6-Rjoh2Uk) reported Dory in Taiwan are fake! For details pls ref to the CTS website as above.

◆

◆ pic.: Famous 5 star hotel buffet's tofu (豆腐皮, July 23, 2018) did not have any sign, upon my req., they answered it's not GM-free soybean, therefore, some sign must be there
　

◎

pic.: United Daily (聯合報) 6-10-2017: Gov. urged eating raw fish as SOON as possible !! 12 minutes after those raw fish slices left cold-storage (7c), the number of Vibrio Parahaemolyticus (腸炎弧菌) keeps growing double every 20 minutes (倍數滋生) or so, in normal temperature (常溫 30c~), ... ref to https://udn.com/news/story/7186/2512857;TVBS,11-1-2016.
　

◆ Shangri La's Hotel in Taipei Taiwan (6F, 8-28-2018) expressed, their raw fish slices leaving cold-storage will display on serving plates for 45 minutes for customer's taking. All their raw seafood (Tuna, Swordfish, Great Amberjack(紅魽), etc) came from DonGun(東港), Taiwan.

◆ Sheraton (9-12-2018) said they don't set time limit to display raw fish slices because of a cold generator being installed below (used ices before). I have not check if the temperature is good enough.
◆ A Hong Kong media revealed some widely-known Japanese restaurant in Taiwan displayed raw fish and other sushi more than 30 minutes. A famous M.D. said (TVBS, 8-15-2018) displaying no more than 30 minutes suppose fine for sushi with a cover to keep it cold.

◆ Taiwanese gov. (食藥署) reminded eating raw fish slices without being kept in low temperature is easy to get stomach ache、diarrhea, etc
◆ A scholar in Liberty times (9-5-2018) suggested taking raw Cobia and Tuna, which are more expensive than raw Salmon. Sheraton chef said (9-12-2018) Cobia is more expensive than Tuna and Salmon. Most 5 star hotels' salmon were imported from N. Europe. A top M.D. of NTUH told me European raw fishes are better than those from Taiwan ocean (can't rule out pollution problem).

◎

◆ pic. left:

watermelon,

grape,

tuna
in Sheraton buffet (top~bottom)

◆ pic. middle:
tuna in
Shangri La's

Taipei
(8-9-2018)

◆ pic. right:
Tuna
and
Salmon

in S Hotel
(9-12-2018

◆ Raw Tuna fish slices - how do you choose for 100% safety ??
No too beautiful-color ones ! No dark brown (tan) ones !

◆ University studies (高雄海科大) found that 80% of raw fishes (Cobia, Tuna, Sword-Fish, Tilapia 鯛) in Taiwan market were stained ―― business men pump CO. (carbon monoxide) into those fishes in an enclosed space for beautiful or bright color look / CTS TV news, 2-20-'06
◆ Fishes adding CO is illegal in Europe, Korea, Singapore, etc, because of possible food-poisoning, or even causing Sepsis to die / Epoch Times, 2-20-'06

◆TVBS 8-15-2018: M.D.江守山 commented Taiwanese government ignoring pumping CO into fishes which is illegal in Taiwan (法律禁止政府未執法) , therefore Taiwanese have risk of eating slough and some unknown consequences. Some other business people used chemical addictives (e.g., 檸檬酸鈉) to keep raw-fish's color unchanged. Red meat fishes after being frozen are still "bright red" colour might be "processed" meat. (ref. to 《食在安心》book by 江守山)

◆ ETtoday News : Cutting red-meat fishes like Tuna to slices made its Myoglobin (「肌紅蛋白」)，iron having oxidized and its meat becoming tan or brown in color. Brownish-red colored meat can indicate spoilage. Taiwanese gov. advised that people should avoid eating those brown colored, or drying out, or no longer elastic fish meat, which were cut long time ago. Eating cooked fish is perfect safe. (health.ettoday.net/news/1017291)

◆ United Daily News (聯合報元氣網) , 9-23-2014: blackfin (blue-fin) tuna toro belly meat should be fresh and red, ruddy, rich oily (油脂豐富), Those darker or red with black tone in color are not fresh ones (暗紅色或偏黑), but carbon monoxide processed fish are beautiful red colored, and unchanged all the time.

◆ 三立新聞 (3-6-2018 , SET TV news): Fresh raw fish meat are red, ruddy or rosy in color (紅潤)、no fishy smell 、 elastic or bit chewy (彈性) (https://www.setn.com/News.aspx?NewsID=354695)

◆ Daily Mail, UK reported an American guy having raw Salmon almost every day had a 167 cm parasite in his stomach.

◆ 今周刊(1-19-2018): The best way to avoid parasites and bacteria, e.g., Listeria monocytogenes or Vibrio parahaemolyticus , is eating cooked fish. (www.businesstoday.com.tw/article/category/80731/post/201801190019)

○◎

◆ best restaurants
◎

1. Luc Besson's movie "Lucy" shooting in Taiwan particularly includes Din Tai Fung ― which is not only the most famous Taiwanese restaurant but also even a landmark of Taiwan, however,

● (1) Din Tai Fung admitted at 5-9-2012 having used Monosodium Glutamate / sodium glutamate (M.S.G.) as addictive in some foods there - and they won't change this policy so as to keep major cuisine (e.g., steamed bun/bao (小籠包), chicken soup) delicious (according to United Daily News 5.9.2013). According to National Health Research Institutes and United Daily News (8-15-2015) "Horrible foods for dining out": Taiwan's food (in restaurants, cafeteria, etc) problems include using MSG. Taiwan's 5 star restaurants like Sherwood Hotel announced any chefs using MSG will be fired. According to int'l medical studies, using Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is controversial. (ref to "The Dangers of MSG" : http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/food-nutrition/facts/the-dangers-of-monosodium-glutamate.htm) Some claimed it may causes asthma, headache, even brain damage. )
　

● (2) Din Tai Fung was suspicious of being involved in Taiwanese food scandal, Apple Daily (蘋果日報)10-10-2014 reported that one Taiwanese Dept. of Health found out Din Tai Fung imported some oil products from King's Cook which bought lard oil (mixing animal feed with cooking oil) from Ting Hsin Int'l. ( http://www.appledaily.com.tw/realtimenews/article/new/20141010/485241/ 台中市衛生局調查發現，鼎泰豐曾向購買頂新正義油品的台中金品調理(KingsCook) 公司進貨，恐中鏢。)
　

● (3) Din Tai Fung admitted having used G.M.(genetic modified) soy material(豆類) for a long time (until July 2015). The China Times, (3.29.2013) reported professor Kuo H. J. (National Taiwan University, Department of Agronomy) comments - Taiwan using G.M.(genetic modified) is "national scandal" (「國家級醜聞」), French scholar Seralini found G.M. foods may cause cancer with higher probability, BBC (6.6.2013)<Taiwan diet danger everywhere>: Taiwan is the only country eating cured products made by animal-feed, G.M.(genetic modified) soya beans. (主妇联盟说台湾是世界上唯一直接食用饲料级基改黄豆加工的豆制品国家。) But Din Tai Fung still used the "scandalous" G.M. stuff for 2+ years after the news being spread island-wide. Recently, CNN (7-24-2015) dropped Din Tai Fung down to No.20 position in Taiwanese foods list. 　

The Brand Personality ?

Din Tai Fung's Hong Kong branches were just eliminated their Michelin star
title at Oct. 31, 2014, (lost again in Dec. 2015)
Taiwan's Din Tai Fung never won any Michelin star title, but it is advertising itself a Michelin star restaurant by posters at front of largest Japanese mall, Mitsukoshi Dpt. Store in Taipei. (photo Aug. 22 2015)

Din Tai Fung USA website (http://DinTaiFungusa.com) has also been advertising a similar one in its front-page. (tests till present at 9-17-2015)

ps: the China Times analyzed losing Michelin most likely it's because of inconsistent quality problem. (http://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20141031001358-260405)

2. Michelin Guide Taipei 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.

3. According to "Asia's 50 Best Restaurants" (2018) , Thailand Bangkok's Gaggan consecutively got in the first place, the number of Japanese restaurants selected is 11, Hong Kong & Macao 10, Thailand 9、Singapore 7, Korea and Taiwan both are 3, but Korea won the 11th grade, the best ever position that Taiwan got in this year is the 15th (RAW, 18th MUME, 47th Shoun Ryugin), China got the 8th position. https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/asia-50-best-restaurants-2018/index.html

4. 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. http://www.theworlds50best.com/list/1-50-winners#t51-100.

5. Miele Guide (2012) : No any Taiwanese restaurant is included in top 20 Asian restaurants list.

◎
◆ Food - night markets

Best night-market-food in Taiwan : oyster omelet (introduced by Discovery channel of USA) ― it is most typical Taiwanese food( street snack everywhere in night markets), but not exquisite & elaborated food. a TV program expressed many oyster omelets use peanut (fatal aflatoxin was found in some cases) powder and some unknown ingredients/addictives. intro. to Taiwan cuisines

◆ Food - scandals

● 5 star hotel restaurants scandals - A book (Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Taiwan Veterans General Hospital's physician Jiang So-San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 to get 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...

○ ● Chang Gung Mem. Hospital professor Yen M.D. (顏宗海, 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>("how to survive in this bad food-security time", April 2016))

● Dean of National Taiwan Normal University - graduate school of Chemistry, Dr. Gaston J. C. Wu (化學所長吳家誠教授)'s book <Those black-heart products toxin-experts never buy ("毒物專家絕不買的黑心商品")> (Nov. 2013): Most of the time I eat at home, and has never dined out in street-side shops / small-eat markets (路邊攤), because those small-eat shops usually/always do not meet the minimum standards of cleanliness.

● Taiwan's food safety scandals : poisonous, black hearted food in Taiwan for 20-30 years, click for details
Major world media like The New York Times and The Economist (11.29.2014) comment a series of food safety scandals is one of few main factors causing the KMT, Taiwan's ruling party, has suffered one of its worst electoral defeats since Chiang Kai-shek and his forces fled to the island at the end of Chinese civil war in 1949.

◎

Taiwan's Food safety scandals

◎ 2015 :
Since its worst ever electoral defeats, Taiwanese government never does some soul searching and corrects the wrong, "It's weirdo !!, Taiwanese government only focuses on 3 dried products - dried daylily, dried radish, and preserved fruits (snacks)", NTU professor Wu K.Y. stated "Completely evading the crucial point", "those 3 items are very low risky products".
● Apple Daily 8-28-2015: The incidence rate of Taiwanese people suffering colon/rectal cancer was ranked world No.1 (2nd is Korea, 3rd Slovakia) , Taipei Medical University Hospital's director of surgeons expressed Taiwan's food scandals constantly happened in recent years, many black-heart tainted foods containing Carcinogen (cancer producer) is a factor causing high incidence rate.

◎ 2014 Taiwan food scandals
        ● The New York times (9.8.2014): The authorities in Taiwan are scrambling to control a tainted-cooking-oil scandal that has affected hundreds of manufacturers and raised fears about health risks posed in many commonly consumed food items... the new scandal shows that there is still not enough being done to eliminate lawbreaking production lines,” The Taipei Times said ...
          ● TIME (9.8.2014): Gutter Oil' Scandal Raises Food-Safety Fears Once Again in Greater China. A Taiwanese food-safety scare has spread to Hong Kong...
          ● Bloomberg BusinessWeek (9.8.2014): Tainted Lard: China's Latest Food-Safety Scare Comes From Taiwan       The case is the second major food-safety scandal by a Taiwan-based company in the past year,...The new gutter-oil scandal has “shocked local consumers” in Taiwan who expect more from their government, ...“I hope the law could be revised to impose tougher punishment on those who breach food safety regulations,”...
       ● The China Times (9.5.2014, head-page headline news): Disgusting ... Even pigs don't eat those tainted oil we Taiwanese ate !    ps: For full text pls. ref. to Taiwan food scandals.

◎

Advertisement a long time loser

My article in <the United Daily News> (Oct. 2007) mentions Taiwan's ad. creativity has been lousy for a long time, In the past 10 years, Taiwan is about in the last place in Cannes Ad. festival, world best ad. contest (Even Vietnam, Philippines, red China are bit better than Taiwan). Till early of 2017, Taiwan still only has small number of winnings in int'l ads & creativity contests.

Taiwan's most important ad.

Take Taiwan's national ads : "UN for Taiwan" (Taiwan to join the UN ) , as an example :

who said ?

said what ?

This site's comment

2007Taiwan government :

UN for Taiwan ad. is "un-limited creativity"

(1) Those are quite old ideas.

(2) click to read details

National ChenChi University, ad. professor book

using puns in UN series is " very creative and witty idea"

◎

Taiwan's int'l winning ads.

As for Taiwan's business ads. or TV commercials obtaining winning records in int'l ad. festivals, are not all so original,..... or/and not very sharp-witty, e.g., making love with an insect symbolizes insecure sex, or stick out (very out) the tongue to make a funny face, ...... are student-level ideas.

◎

◎◎

Animation (comment Taiwan's best awards in world's best contests)

Taiwan's Top Institution(ps)	animation	World's top contest, prize & honors, and university's opinions	This site's comments
National Taiwan University of Science & Tech.	Cubic Tragedy	ACM SIGGRAPH People' Choice Award	Experts won't feel the idea, girl face-lifting resulting in Picasso's cubism a <weeping woman>, unexpected.
National Yuan-lin University of Science & Tech.	Cubic Tragedy	NYLU's graduate school paper concluded this animation as "Picasso-inspired idea ..... contrary to our expectation".	experts suppose won't feel this idea "un-expected"
National Taiwan Univ. of arts	A fish with a smile	Berlin international Film Festival, children's section, Special Prize of jury committee	(1) it's just a story for children. (2) elegant drawing style, but those pictures don't look like any city in Taiwan.
National Tainan Univ. of arts	After the rainy day	winning in UK	Just like most Taiwan's films, boring obscure-meaning codes, hence most people are hard to understand or may make over-interpretation.
National Palace Museum	Adventures of NPM	(1) grand prize, 2008 Tokyo International Anim. Fair. (2) anim. goal : " bridging the gap between ancient artworks and modern audiences.	(1) it's a story for children, not for modern adults. (2) the film is showing in children's center of National Palace Museum, Taipei Taiwan.

Tamkang Univ.'s paper concludes Taiwan animation's 1st problem is "short of creativity". Very few Taiwan's researches 're working on this subject - Creativity. (Taiwan animation currently is only expertise at drawing tech.)

◎ comment Taiwan's international winning animation films in 2011.

Picasso cartoon Picasso cartoon Cubism

2 examples (pic. above) let us learn Picasso-Cubism inspired cartoons already having existed long time ago (<The World encyclopedia Cartoons>，中國戲劇出版社)

More clever Picasso-inspired ideas have already been developed years ago, please click to see !

◎

◎★

Music/songs

An essay <China Tames Rebellious Side of Rock "n" Roll> in <New York Times>, likened today's Red Chinese pop music culture to the politically enforced conformity of the Cultural Revolution, the core of songs is "have fun", culture has become an empty vessel, there are few hints of angst, alienation , or any but the mildest expression of teenage rebellion.

Taiwan's pop music was tamed by political pressure in the past, the "opposition culture" in Taiwan's music field was almost eliminated.

Today's music is in a money-oriented environment.

Very few people notes an usual case : two most popular singers, Wu-bai and S.H.E. (hottest in China too) sing 2 same-name songs, namely all the same as Chinese translation of "Brave New World" - a classic literature regarding man-handled white-terror tyranny. S.H.E. seems so happy and exciting while singing this song.

In contrast, Apple Computer's famous commercial <1984> comes from another white-terror literature "1984" written by Orwellian. Ad. research papers mention one reason it succeeds ( the most remarkable US ad campaign, although aired only once ) is that people are curious about the mystery/puzzle - a tyranny in a free country.

Certainly, the <1984> despises human-controlled tyranny.

Apple <1984> TV commercial	<Brave New World>	<Brave New World> Chinese translation book

everybody in a blue-smog (mock IBM CIS color) "jail" are under control by big-brother in a big screen . try http://Youtube.com !	(1) A literature by A. Huxley (2) http://futuresteve.wordpress.com/2007/10/19/brave-new-world/	book cover

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Arts

United Daily 10-31-2019: Plagiarism again in Taiwanese design field !! an art-work in Tai-Nan art festival copied UK's, another art-work on train (government's project) copied Russian's ...... All Taiwanese designers should respect themselves and take these cases as a lesson.

Critiques in UDN (10-24-2019) : Design field thinks culture & arts are nothing but decorative, fine arts belittle commercial arts, etc ... the arts should take the lead for the fusion of tech. and culture ( for details pls. read https://udn.com/news/story/11321/4122342 ) .

Apple Daily, opinion, 7-20-2018 : Taiwan ( Taiwanese everywhere) lacks of aesthetics accomplishments, particularly those in power can allocate resources have "really turn me off" taste (倒盡胃口), Taiwan's public art works are too vulgar to be endured (俗不可耐), and some are sort of cheap-copy works (仿冒竊).

Dec. 8, 2012 : To everyone's surprise, 2 out of 3 artists in Taiwan government's selection for participating Italia Venice Biennale are foreigners ! This means Taiwan does not have talented artists??

Many Asian countries have great ambition to do city-marketing by arts expo., there're 8 arts biennales will be taken place in Sept. 2008.

Taiwan is one of them - <Asia Arts Biennale > was held till Feb. 2008.

Taiwan's largest news introduced (with a large-sized picture) an expo. artwork - world brand's logos are spread on human bodies, this work seems to symbolize "Globalizing" phenomenon.

However, the idea "logo body" already appeared a number of times in, i.e., <Your Logo Here, photos from S. Cal. 2004-2006>, and some logo tattoo works .......

More sharp-witty and more difficult ideas appeared in cartooning field at least 13 years ago, i.e., Japanese Yomiuri international cartoon contest.

logos body

pic. left: "number" logos on athletes, pic. right: similar idea intro. by Taiwan's major newspaper

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Architecture no aesthetical & creative astonishment

◆ Taipei Performing Arts Center was selected as one among "the transformative buildings set to shape the world" in 2021, in that the eye-catching building has a planet-like sphere protruding from one side - will undoubtedly serve as a contemporary landmark for the Taiwanese capital; however, some look-alike sphere buildings were already designed earlier ― all "plug" into a central cube.

Taipei Performing Arts Center

www.world-architects.com/en/architecture-news/insight/year-in-architecture-2020

slideshare.net/manishkhageeshrestha/desing-concept

ge.com/news/reports/sphere-of-turbulence-whats-hiding-inside-a

◆ Taiwanese architects were forced to be "construction supervisors" instead of "designers" by the government's policy, this finally rouse architects' angers after enduring 10 + years, most major public architecture projects went to international architects for "unjust treaties" made by the administration. / head-line news of The United Daily, 7-17-2017

below are Taiwan's "shop-front" or "Face-valued" buildings :

architecture	This site's comment
Taipei 101 building	Ugliest skyscraper in the world : NOT very exquisite & aesthetic appearance
Tao-yuan international airport	1st Hall : copied U.S. airport. 2nd Hall : shortage of spirit breadth and arts atmosphere. ★ new building : Taiwan can neither design, nor build the blue-print designed by UK team / fir further details pls. read UDN editorial, 10-19-2019

An article by VIP professor in Taiwan major newspaper (2002) asserted : " Copy is humanism spirits" 、 " How can we enjoy & bear those original designed architecture by Taiwanese !? "

ps1: Taiwan's Pavilion at Shanghai's World Expo. (China) ― an ordinary architecture, far worse than UK's Pavilion (based upon the same construction cost and land-space).

ps2: another contrast

Can you tell which is US Washington Dulles int'l airport, or Taiwan Taoyuan int'l airport ?

			ps: Taiwan eventually was ashamed of this stealing and modified its look recently ... already after many many years

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Film/movie

● Taiwan film industry lacks good scripts and talented directors (till present 2017) ― in details, 3 major troubles :

(1) Taiwan likes to 'create' some abstract/obscure symbols attracting very very few people. Using Eastern exotic flavor was another very useful strategy for attending world film contest. Shortage of witty & creative idea led to Taiwan film industry's death.

         ⊙ Taiwan's movies fail to create better humour like "Lost in Beijing" ( red Chinese film banned by CHN gov.) .
         ⊙   Taiwan's all-time grossing film, <Cape No.7>, is not a stylish witty comedy (some world best media positioned this film as comedy), but attracts lots of Taiwanese (particularly southern Taiwanese) by some simple ideas( i.e., sort of slapstick) and Taiwanese grass-roots culture elements.
         ⊙ Taiwan's <You are the Apple of My Eye> of 2011 is very popular in TW, HK and Chn, but most of it's boyish humors are not witty & stylish, this film attracts audiences by stoking collective memory of their youngsters age.
PS: In 2012, Taiwan's films only won 2 awards in Taiwan's Golden Horse film festival (China and HK won most awards), which is the worst in latest 20 years.   In 2014, Taiwan was bit better, won 3 out of 23 awards in total.

(2) Taiwan government used to do political propaganda/comm. by using movies, till now days Taiwan's government still thinks highly of things helpful to win political elections, besides, Taiwan government's movie policy already gave up to WTO, U.S., Hollywood.

(3) Taiwanese spent little on arts, and taste not too good - many people prefer real things, like money.

	per person per year (200X)
movie	NT470 (about US 15)
drama	NT91 (US 3)
dancing show	NT65 (US 2)

● TV soap opera series : Taiwan's TV opera series focus on "charming leading-actors/actress" (not giving importance to the content) to attract audiences, so Korean, Japanese, red Chinese TV series are better & more popular. United Daily (12-28-2014): Taiwan's TV opera are not original. UDN (critique C2, 6-21-2015): Taiwan's drama crisis/ lacking of budge, passion, actor/actress.
● Variety show/program of assorted entertainment: UDN 7-22-2018: Among all creative & cultural industries, Taiwan's audio & visual industry has closest relationship with China's, but Taiwan's entertainment shows are too 'slapstick" for Chinese people. This sort of shows were very popular and was the reason or excuse that Taiwanese people don't like going to theater watching movies, but till 2013, those stuffs were not fresh enough and already behind China's, some paper even questioned Taiwan's variety show/program of assorted entertainment : "Are they incurable?" (4/7/'13 UND). United Daily (12-26-2014): Taiwan needs creativity. Apple Daily (8-31-2015) : Taiwan's entertainment show from bad to worse, the gap between Taiwan and China becomes bigger, Taiwan's TV field in risk !

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Cartooning

<A Journey into Asian Cartoons> in FECOnews of 2019 (by Zola Zu) said that American Cartooning expert Dr. John A Lent was impressed that this relatively small country produces renowned cartoonists (e.g., Ron Chu) popular in other places besides Taiwan and the way Taiwanese cartoonists survive one way or another under the circumstances of a dwindling market ...

About 10 years ago, ROC on Taiwan government together with <The United News> system organized a Taiwanese team to participate in Euro's largest humour contest, ＜Kokke Heist Humour & Cartoon Festival ＞，only 3 artists (including Zola Zu) were selected.

Recently Taiwanese cartoon artists have shown little talents on Taiwan International Cartoon Contest sponsored by Taiwanese government,

Almost all juries withdrawn from <Courage World Cartoon Contest> (ranking world No. 1 for some years) , due to "seems political" reasons .

Both animation and cartooning need creativity, but at present Taiwan doesn't have that environment.

Taiwan youngsters like "Kuso" stuffs, however, formula/routine mind is not good enough for cartoon creativity.

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Japanese winning art in Knokke Heist ( open the can ) 1st prize winner in contest held by MinSen Daily News

pic. left: Knokke Heist winner's artwork, appeared earlier (by Japanese artist).
pic. right: Taiwan's 1st prize cartoon was sent to Knokke Heist, and lost.

ps: Taiwan has (only a few) world class cartoonists.

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Product Design

(1 ) Taiwan's best-selling cultural creativity :

Recently, Taiwan's best-selling & widely known product , "Chinese Fortune(or Rich) God figure toy", is based on Taiwanese superstition (Apple Daily: 88%of college students believe ghost - ps2 ), and eagerness for money,

Taiwan's figure-toy design just simplified Chinese Gods' complicated appearance to little cute mascot, in contrast, int'l designs for gods are more witty, i.e.,


⊙ Europe, Belgium rug Co.	installed a special compass in each product, its needle points to Islam's holy land instead of pointing South/North － this created a lot of business.
⊙ Japan	made a watch converting 114 world major cities' time to Islam holy land's time, with time-alarm function for Muslims' prayer.

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( 2 ) best-selling cultural products for int'l tourists

A major design periodical comments: <National Palace Museum>'s rich treasures is the key to success of Taiwan's Cultural & Creative Industry.

However, <NPM> seems to look down upon the talent of Taiwanese designers.

<NPM> product	short comments
Alessi "the Chin Family"	(1) <NPM> cooperates with Japan, Italy, hence, NPM's products are not purely Taiwanese or Chinese flavor. (2) Mr. Chin got slant eye (or "raising eyebrows"), it's western view-point, the Oriental usually don't draw that way.	Taiwan's tourists guidebook (pic. above) calls 5000 yrs treasures "Chinese Creativity" . How about "Chinese Creativity" in today's Taiwan ??
"Jadeite Cabbage" tray-pillow for chop-sticks to rest on	(1) most products directly use antique-art shape. (2) At least 20 years ago, various assorted dedicated vegetables and fruits glass chopsticks tray-pillow already were made-in-Japan (best-sellers too) .
Don Dynasty ladies picture slippers	just directly applied antique pictures on products.

<NPM> should designs Chinese treasures, and makes witty, humorous artworks to represent Taiwan's modern arts. Western tourists suppose like to buy souvenir with Chinese culture & flavor created by ourselves. "Mercenaries" cannot represent Taiwan to Olympics.

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<NPM>merchandises： slippers, mugs, etc with Don Dynasty Ladies Picture	Zola Zu's design ： (1) expo. in Europe like Holland, Turkey, and was printed in best-collection albums. (2) printed in <the China Times>.
directly use antique pictures（or simplify a little bit）	I choose the theme : When the East encounters the West, Fine arts meets Cartooning, to integrate 2 major cultures.

ps: "tech. oriented" product design like <idea> contest, <if> contest is not discussed in here

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Medical

● New York Post 4-25-2020 : Taiwan deals with CovID-19 with "a lot more authoritarian.", "almost everyone is tracked.". Taiwanese govt. responded at 4-28-2020 that Taiwanese would like to cooperate with our policy. But the truth is Taiwan's "Big Brother" already sneaked into numerous families in the name of Epidemic Prevention, by an injunction violating Tort Law and domineering over Constitution (凌駕憲法的侵權禁令) , without having noticed all nationals, in accordance with United Daily, editorial at 5-7-2020. The ironic thing is after lifting Coronavirus Lockdown, Japan doesn't trust Taiwan's Epidemic Prevention, and has not put "democratic" Taiwan on their welcome list, many other countries did same thing to Taiwan. The China Times, editorial (6-6-2020, 6-25-2020) analyzed one main reason is Taiwan rejects mass testing, even small-scale testing, the number of test per million people is 3000+, ranked world No. 138, about same level as that of African countries, even African Luanda tested double number of Taiwan's. A famous National Taiwan University M.D. expert endorsed for Taiwan's policy : there's no any CovID-19 in Taiwan, 3 weeks later, a Japanese girl staying Taiwan for 4 months was detected positive in Japan's airport. Therefore, those free flow of information can be suspicious and may endanger the world people. According to Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, USA, "somewhere between 25% and 50%" of people infected with the new coronavirus may never show symptoms or fall ill — but can still transmit the illness to others (4-15-2020, Business Insider). Bill Gates in the New England Journal of Medicine: The prevalence of asymptomatic transmission doesn't bode well for global containment efforts. All studies (CNBC 5-7-2020, Singapore's Blackbox Research and Toluna, Forbes 6-5-2020, 4-16-2020: The Deep Knowledge Group) concluded China is better than Taiwan on CovID-19 safety countries rankings. The China Times 6-25-2020 editorial: Taiwan has no same capacity and experience as Beijing does to face something serious, it will be horrible in case CovID-19 epidemic break out. https://www.chinatimes.com/opinion/20200624003961-262101?chdtv

● Apple Daily (蘋果日報, 4-15-2019), United Daily (聯合報, 4-14-2019) ... : Going easy route, lacking of ethics, MDs advised using Da Vinci for even a minor operation, 38 hospitals were suspected of making false report about Da Vinci surgery to illegally obtain benefits from national insurance up to NTD 3.5 billion.

● Apple Daily 6-30-2018 pointed out Taiwan's medical service has no good preventive health care and health promotion, and will worsen within next 10 years for political factors.

● 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

Taiwan ranks world 45th in Lancet's Healthcare Access and Quality Index released in 2017

● United Daily News (5-30-2017): The biggest problem of Taiwan's medical care is too short diagnostic time, without a completed examination in most cases, usually, patients are already in serious condition when symptom became clear. / Dr. Huang D.F., president of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Cancer Center
● FTV (4-16-2017, 民視) comments medical Doctors' social status is lower than before. Taiwan's current social value system is rapidly changing the culture in medical circle. Dean of NTU medical school (張上淳) advised that physicians
always keep in mind a love-based, "patient-centered", and humanistic-care thinking
● The book "Exposing the truth of modern medical circle in Taiwan" ("誤診誤醫", published by the China Times, 2012; by Xu Da-Fu ) criticizes : Taiwan's hospitals focus on profit/benefit and ignore patients' rights , The whole medical circle already went the wrong route...

◎ Surgery / Taiwan's excellent surgeons perform many operations simultaneously - happened quite often in Taiwan...
◎ Medicines / the quality of prescription medicines in Taiwan is from bad to worse...
◎ Bribery / the institution needed to be paid bribery most is judiciary system, second is Taiwan's medical and health services ...
◎ full text pls. ref. to Taiwan's Hospitals and physicians (M.D.s)

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Women's rights

● 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 ! Taiwan passed (United Nations already passed 30+ years ago at 1979) the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) , valid from Jan. 1, 2012, but, Taiwan's women rights status is still similar according to the US report released in 2013 ~ 2018, In 2015, the number of reporting for rape or sexual assault is only 850 less than that in previous year. The Gov. study showed (3-2-2019) the number of Domestic Violence in 2018 is 138637, which increases about 1% compared to previous year.

● The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices , released at 4-20-2018

Rape and Domestic Violence: The law criminalizes rape, including spousal rape, and domestic violence. Many victims did not report the crime for fear of social stigmatization, and various NGO and academic studies estimated the total number of sexual assaults was seven to 10 times the number reported to police.

women work: 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 in 2015... a survey in 2016 showed 3.5 percent of women have been sexually harassed at work, yet 80 percent of these cases went unreported.

● <The United Daily 聯合報>, 3-16-2018 (prime news edition)

         Taiwan president Tsai I. W. : Taiwan still have a not short way to reach gender equality (台灣離性別平等還有一段路要走)
         <The United Daily 聯合報>, 3-16-2018 (林志潔, professor and member of national judicial reform committee)
          The judge made mistakes again and again, Taiwan's gender equality - A long long way to go !

● The China Times <中國時報> 3-8-2018: according to investigation/survey, 80% female physicians met sexual harassment, ... a female physician of Cathy Hospital had different views and said the percentage of harassment to nurse probably higher because they are young and in lower status (8成女醫曾遭性騷擾, 女醫反應兩極 ... brief)

● <Apple Daily>, 4-3-2018: According to a survey by Taiwanese government, 180 thousands of career women suffered sexual harassment, only 40-50 thousands reported to their company, others chose to keep silence... <蘋果日報> 4-7-2018: The number of sexual harassment on campus reported is up to 1400 per year.

● The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices , released at 3-3-2017: Violence & discrimination against women is one of Taiwanese principal human rights problems for years. In 2015, the number of reporting for rape or sexual assault is only 850 less than that in previous year. Apple Daily news (12. 25. '14) reported that the percentage of those Taiwanese male aged above 20 visiting porn business (2.33 million men per yr. ) ranked world No.1. The annual value of production of Taiwan's sex industry's is at least USD 200 million. Prostitution is violence against women / ref to <Prostitution : violence with no name>, "Prostitution et Societe", 2010, "Int'l Day for the Elimination of Violence against women", 11-25-2016 France. Taiwan government is the main criminal to harm women's rights in large scale.

● The US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices , released at 3-3-2017: 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,...

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Sports/Athletics

● In 2016 Rio Olympics medal tally statistics, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) only got 1 gold, 2 bronze, ranks world No. 50, compare to previous years, 5 medals in 2000, 2004, 4 medals in 2008, 2 medals in 2012；Other Asian nations - China ranks No.3, Japan No.6, Korea No. 8, Australia No 10, N.Z. No.19, Iran 25, North Korea No. 34, Thailand No. 35, Indonesia No. 46, Vietnam No.48, Taiwan No. 50

● Taiwan just held 2 world scaled athletic events that have ever seen in Taiwan's history :

World Games Kaohsiung Taiwan & Deaflympics Taipei : comments & critiques click to see how they showed Taiwan's culture and creativity.

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Summary

(1) Not easy to upgrade "Made in Taiwan" to "Create in Taiwan", since Taiwan has very few experts in creativity. (government does not think highly of them)

(2) Most Taiwanese professors (PhD) do theoretical studies, don't have talent (some even are not interested ) on witty creativity/design.

(3) Ph.D usually is required for college teacher position, it's one criterion for Taiwan government to evaluate all schools. Un-talented teachers can't train students to be talented.

(4) Taiwan's society and people don't think important of arts, culture, creativity, etc.

(5) Taiwan government official in univ. paper said Taiwan doesn't have that kind of environment for creativity.
Creativity needs freedom, democracy, and people's independent personality, government officers don't like creativity, which means extra risk.

(6) Taiwan should fight "diamond cut diamond" with western nations in major fields , instead of going backdoor (or side-door) by exotic local culture, Eastern mysterious flavor, obscure codes, etc.

(7) Taiwan government used to give less budget to cultural field, and use e.g., movie as propaganda/comm. tool. Taiwan needs int'l friends, but uncreative films won't attract enough audiences.

(8) Taiwanese government kicks cultural creativity to the corner in most time, in that creativity seems no use for political election, but requires extra efforts on social controls/adm.

(9) Taiwan's government prefers to use his own men.

(10) Taiwanese youngsters love heavy slapstick 、silly "Kuso" stuffs ("young-designers" policy is wrong).
Taiwanese adults' imaginative power is bounded, thinking in a roundabout/evasive way, their tastes are lousy ....... pls. see 2 examples as below :

	artworks introduced by Taiwan's largest news:	western artwork earlier

	Merging Mao's photo & Tian-an-men Square of Beijing with "Miki mouse" (to symbolize Red China's westernization )	Morphing Mao with "Miki mouse" (to symbolize China's westernization )
		is Biro Mihaly: A haboru borzalmai ellen, Plakat Budapest, Europe, at 1912. http://www.hnm.hu/utils/Gallery.php?ItemID=213&PicNum=9
	fighter planes pass Tian-an-men Square, and drop human-beings as bombs ps: this painting price 10 times from 2005 to 2008	using youngsters as artillery bullets (appeared earlier)

to be continued, if necessary

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Taiwan needs medicine, not cosmetic

ps2: Other researches : finger-pointing moon results in that ear will be cut (28.3%) , chopstick knock bowl results in being a beggar (22.3%), swimming in July (Lunar) results in un-luck (64.7%), whistling after sunset will encounter ghost (37%), pregnant woman using scissors will give birth to an abnormal baby(32%) - reported by <Apple Daily>5.29.2005 (largest and best news evaluated by university)

2. Taiwan's hard power 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.

● 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... ◦
　

● 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

● 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.

● 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:

● 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/)

● 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.

● 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 ...

● 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.

● Eastern Taiwan's anti-aircraft military force needs to be improved soon, but in recent years, Taiwan has been limited to international reality and financial difficulties, therefore focused on main forces' (F16, IDF/F-CK-1, etc) functional improvement, instead of developing or purchasing new-generation jet fighters, Taiwan looks forward to having F35B, but it may take more than 10 years in the queue. / brief - The Liberty Times, 2-5-2017.

● 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 or the international community,” echoing a strategy that has been at the core of Taiwan’s defense doctrine for decades......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,...The Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 commits the United States to defend the island’s sovereignty, providing “such defense articles and defense services in such quantity as may be necessary” ... US latest arms sales " short of the major systems that could give Taiwan a real edge."

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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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● 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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China VS Taiwan

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● LTN 3-5-2017 / military power of China VS Taiwan

		China (troops facing Taiwan Strait)	Taiwan
army ground forces	ground troops (地面部隊)	400000	130000
	Field Army (集團軍)	8	3
	war chariot, tank (戰車)	2800	1100
	artillery; cannon (火砲)	3900	1600
Navy	destroyer warship (驅逐艦)	16	4
	guided missile frigate(飛彈巡防艦)	40	22
	Amphibious landing/assault ship(兩棲登陸艦)	28	14
	submarine (傳統動力潛艦)	38	4
Air Force	fighter (aircraft) (戰鬥機)	130	384
	bomber (轟炸機)	200	0
	military transport aircraft (運輸機)	150	19
	special mission aircraft (特輸任務機)	75	25

喵

●喵US Annual Report to Congress, 2016

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People 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

★

● Economist (special edition 2017): Taiwan will turn into a tiger again. ●Taiwan declared no other air forces are allowed to show their muscle in Taiwan air space/ Apple Daily, 5-30-2016,...
CTV evening news11-27-2016, United Daily News 11-30-2016: China's military aircraft-fighters (much stronger than TW air force) flied past around Taiwan and passed through 1st Island Chain, Taiwan air force did not intercept them.

● Taiwan lacks key-tech to make a large bus / the China Times, 3-29-2017

● Taiwan president beset by low approval rate because of weakness against foreign countries, even including Philippines, a backward country dared to hurt Taiwan, not to mention military strong ones, China, Japan, etc. ref. to Forbes, 5-21-2013.

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

★ "understand Taiwan in one minute" ! ★ TAIWAN in all aspects ★ Review Taiwan Top rankings on internet !!

★
◆★

3. comment Taiwan in all aspects

Other Soft Power
As for other items of Taiwan's soft power, according to Reporters without Borders (RSF), Taiwan's press freedom (speech freedom) ranks No. 45 (always behind No. 45 since 2008), Taiwan's human rights, judicial system, high-ranking officials' corruption, women's rights, abuses of international/foreign workers, death penalty ( capital punishment ) etc need to be improved.

Comment Taiwan

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News: ◆ NY 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... Taiwan remains sanguine despite Beijing sabre-rattling. 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. 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...Bloomberg 1-9-2020: Slow income growth and aging society post challenge ahead, Taiwanese income-per-person, income per capita, lowest of Four Tigers. L.A. Times 1-10-2020 ~ 1-11-2020: Taiwan election... a vote guided by anxiety about China ... Taiwan's president sweeps to reelection, setting the stage for chilly relations with China . Diplomat 1-3-2020: Taiwan anti-infiltration act targets at curbing Chinese influence but critics say it threatens the country's democracy. (brief) New York Times, 11-25-2019: The US is the largest source of military equipment for Taiwan, Taiwan is the largest beneficiary of "trade diversion" with $4.2 billion in additional exports to the US (1st half yr. '19). 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. ; 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. New York Times 4-10-2019: The US considers Taiwan's political status to be undetermined ... TW Relations Act. calls for Taiwan's status to be determined by peaceful means. 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? 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 news 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 11-4-2017, the Pentagon report, May 2017: China’s military modernization has “eroded or negated many of Taiwan’s historical advantages (geography and the US support) ” in deterring a potential attack. Washington Post at 10-18-2017: "Mr. Xi’s biggest applause line was a vow to 'never allow anyone. . . at any time or in any form, to separate any part of Chinese territory from China.' That would include...Taiwan." (in 19th CPC Speech). Spiegel Germany, 1-9-2017, Global Times of China: "There is no room for negotiations" ("Es gibt keinen Raum für Verhandlungen").

"We call ourselves the Republic of China, Taiwan", president Tsai has told BBC UK at Jan. 15, 2020, but later BBC changed it to "the Republic of China (Taiwan)". This self-governing island country lies roughly 100 miles off the coast of southeastern China ( Taiwan's small island, Kinmens, just one mile off China ) . Taiwan's current population around 24 million is roughly the same as Australia’s, close to New York's, but the area of Australia is 207 times larger than Taiwan's, that of NY is about 4 times Taiwan's. Taiwan's 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,