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News brief: ◆ N.Y. Times, 8-30-2020:  Taiwan has moved to revamp Taiwan’s military doctrine and strengthen its reserves...Taiwan cannot count on US as a matter of strategy.  ◆ Economist, 8-30-2020:  The island cannot rely on American help, but armed conflict remains unlikely ◆ Forbes, 8-30-2020: Taiwan simply does not have enough firepower to  defeat a Chinese invasion without the help of the U.S. military ◆ National Interest, 8-28-2020: Could China Successfully Blockade Taiwan?  China hopes direct action will yield clean and swift results, letting it present Asia, America, and the world a fait accompli — a done deal  ◆  Wall Street Journal 8-30-2020: Fearing Hong Kong’s Fate, Taiwan Moves to Bolster Its Military Against China.    N.Y. Times, 8-17-2020:  U.S. Tries to Bolster Taiwan’s Status, Short of Recognizing Sovereignty.  US Naval Institute, Proceedings, Aug. 2020: 2021 U.S. political transition would be an even more vulnerable time than usual for U.S. decision-making...  such an opportunity would only appear every few decades...for achievement of a long-held goal — to bring Taiwan back into China.  NY Times, 8-15-2020: Beijing continues to take a tough stance on Taiwan, but is dialing down its belligerence to avoid provocative moves that might give President Trump more opportunities to attack.   CNN, 8-14-2020: What Taiwan needs form the US is a strong stable marriage not a hot passionate romance ...  a long-term antagonistic relationship between the US and China wasn't sustainable after November... Taiwan needs to think about it.   Daily Express, 8-13-2020:  World War 3: China 'ready' for conflict with US over Taiwan row ... Peking University Bo: there could be parties with the US military aiming to create a small-scale and “controllable” conflict with their Chinese counterparts.  MirageNews (Australia), 8-11-2020:  Q:  red line for the U.S. in terms of us going in and defending Taiwan?   Pompeo: We thoroughly intend to uphold our obligations and commitments with respect to the historical understandings between the United States and China on Taiwan.   CNN, 8-11-2020 : Beijing's warplanes have only crossed Taiwan Strait "median line" ( "the de facto cease-fire line") intentionally three times since 1999 (ps: Newsweek, 8-12-2020: since 1949) -- once in March 2019, in February of this year, and again on Monday (Azar met with Taiwan President Tsai).   aljazeera, 8-11-2020: Taiwan's top diplomat tells visiting US health secretary that Chinese pressure is making 'life increasingly difficult' .   NewsWeek, 7-21-2020:  Once military conflict breaks out -   A slight plurality of 31 percent assigned blame to Chinese President Xi Jinping, while 30 percent of respondents said they believed both Xi and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen were responsible and 24 percent blamed Tsai.   Daily Mail, 7-22-2020: China has made several 'simulated' military attacks on Taiwan.    Daily Express (UK)  7-21-2020:  WAR will break out between China and the US in the South China Sea if Beijing violates the alliance agreement between America and Taiwan.   Bloomberg 7-20-2020:  Beijing is no doubt waiting to see the outcome of the U.S. presidential election before taking any more significant actions.     National Interest 7-18-2020:  This will be much more difficult and costly than Hong Kong has been, but make no mistake: for these (CCP) people, that cost is deemed as necessary and they will gladly pay it. Unless the United States binds itself to protect the independence of Taiwan on pain of war, Taiwan is next.   Asia Times, 7-20-2020:  US tech giants exposed if China takes Taiwan ... Even an unsuccessful invasion of Taiwan would cause a supply chain disruption.   Fox News 7-16-2020: US appears to change policy on Beijing’s ‘unlawful’ actions in the South China Sea and thus opens the legal floodgates to a potential military response.  ecns.cn 7-17-2020: China: Two sides of Taiwan Strait should jointly safeguard China's sovereignty over the islands and reefs in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters,  Foreign Affairs, 7-8-2020: Given how little Beijing’s crackdown in Hong Kong has cost it to date, we are concerned that Beijing will draw the wrong conclusions about the costs of future coercion against Taiwan.   FoxNews  7-8-2020: The passage of a national security law on Hong Kong has put Taiwan on edge, with pro-democracy activists fearing that Beijing will soon have the self-ruled island in its crosshairs.  Washington Post 7-7-2020:  The Hong Kong security law could be China’s blueprint to deal with the ‘Taiwan problem'...China has arguably moved a step closer to preparing for war with the island democracy .  National Interest 7-6-2020:  China and Taiwan Could Be Headed Towards a Showdown...   New York Times, 7-2-2020:  The possibility of a military conflict between China and Taiwan remains remote, experts say, because the costs for Beijing would be extraordinary, including significant casualties and damage to its international standing. Yet the two sides are moving farther and farther apart, with little appetite for compromise.  USA Today 7-5-2020: Taiwan has never been more important to American interests.   LOWY institute 7-9-2020:  Xi isn’t such a realist when it comes to Taiwan. Beijing views Taiwan in largely political terms – preoccupied with “the great trend of history” towards unification.  NewsWeek 6-5-2020: If Washington does not act comprehensively and urgently, it could be Hong Kong today and Taiwan next.  The diplomat 6-3-2020:  the 3 flashpoints (Taiwan, HK, S. China Sea) that could turn a US-China cold war hot ... dangerously close to a tipping point where even a small action would serve as a catalyst  that lets slip the dogs of war.  Express (UK), 6-3-2020: South China Sea warning: All-out war fears erupt as Beijing rejects Taiwan peace plan.   Financial Times  6-3-2020 :   shrill rhetoric would make many believe that an assault on Taiwan could be imminent...  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.   DailyMail UK,  France 24 , 4-20-2020:  CoronaVirus: WHO chief hits back (by "Taiwan didn't report any human-to-human transmission," , "Taiwan's email was only seeking further information.") at Trump's claims (White House 4-15-2020: WHO kept Taiwan's lead from the public).   FOXnews 4-9-2020, CNBC 4-8-20:  WHO chief addresses death threats, racist insults from Taiwan.  The China Times, 4-10-2020 editorial : Taiwanese Cyber bullying notorious worldwide.  Guardian UK, 3-28-2020: U.S. increases support for Taiwan internationally by a new law Taipei Act, China threatens to strike back.  Reuters 2-26-2020:  Taiwan should continue to show goodwill to China during coronavirus outbreak and not give Beijing an excuse to attack the island as a way of relieving “internal pressure” ... Chinese public opinion believes people in Taiwan lack sympathy about China’s virus outbreak...L.A. Times 1-10-2020 ~ 1-11-2020:  Taiwan's president sweeps to reelection, setting the stage for chilly relations with China .  Bloomberg 1-9-2020: Slow income growth and aging society post challenge ahead, Taiwanese income-per-person, income per capita, lowest of Four Tigers.   Washington Post, 9-25-2019:  China’s growing dominance in the South Pacific is a defeat for an America in retreat.   WSJ (Wall Street Journal) 9-20-2019: It’s clearly a big win for China having the two largest allies of Taiwan in the Pacific drop so quickly...  New York Times 9-20-2019:  As Taiwan Loses Influence, China Gains Ground in Race With U.S. ;  WEF <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> of 2019 shows Taiwan had the sub-region's largest decline in competitiveness,  Taiwan ranks 10th in Asia.   L. A. Times, 8-1-2019: The indefinite suspension (Chinese individual tourists to TW) is likely to prove a major economic hit to Taiwan, as well as a blow to cultural interplay.    Daily Mail (UK)  4-1-2019: Taiwan blasts China for "reckless and provocative" incursion by 2 fighter jets across a largely respected line dividing the 2 sides in the Taiwan Straits.      Japan Times, 4-1-2019: China's move also comes less than a week after the U.S. sent ships through the strait ( mission was unusual) — the third time in as many months...those sailings have likely been interpreted by China as implicit support for self-ruled Taiwan.     Reuters 2-25-2019: US Navy ships ... riling China.   ABC.net Australia: Chinese fighter jets cross Taiwan Strait after Tsai urges Pacific pushback against Beijing.
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★  pic: This websites-group was ranked No.1 by keyword 
"review Taiwan"  on US Google, 3-8-2019, 1-1-2019

　

　

    Brief -

 political status among Taiwan, China, USA

　

Washington Post (7-22-2020) reports:  In a major speech in January 2019, Xi (Chinese president) offered an ultimatum to Taiwan

 to come to the table for unification talks or face annexation by force.   However, Taiwan's government was tight-lipped about this ultimatum, so that even famous commentator and analyst  know nothing about it, otherwise pro-Independence Tsai I. W. may not continue in presidential office in Jan. 2020, because, according to National Interest (6-16-2020): more than 60.3 percent of the respondents opposed Taiwan's independence if it is followed by China’s military invasion...   

　

　

● CNN 6-17-2019: mass protests (in Hong Kong) emboldened anti-China elements in Taiwan.  

　

● New York Times 4-1-2019: Taiwan protests China jets crossing center of Taiwan Strait, a provocation that seeks to alter the status quo ...  an intentional act.    Japan Times, 4-1-2019: China's move also comes less than a week after the U.S. sent ships through the strait ( mission was unusual) — the third time in as many months...those sailings have likely been interpreted by China as implicit support for self-ruled Taiwan.     Reuters 2-25-2019: US Navy ships ... riling China.    

　

　

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

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...

　

　

●  Washington Post,  1-5-2018 :  Xi commanded China’s military to become “battle ready.”  ...... Taiwan will turn “grave” because Taiwan’s government refuses to acknowledge that the island is part of China. .Taiwan needs to increase its defense spending considerably...“the outcome of the game [between China and Taiwan] is undecided".

　

　

●  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.

　

　

● Le Monde diplomatic of France, Mai 2016, depicted Taiwan as a trembling sweating rat (click for details), turning its back on an approaching huge cat (China), lifting high the banner "$O$"  .

  

　

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

　

　

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


　

　
China Slams the Door on Taiwanese Appeals for Independence.

　

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

　

　

　
　
　

　

　

　

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

　

　

Salmon is poking the bear ?  Taiwan suffers in danger !

　

★  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);

　

　

★  Bloomberg news 3-14-2018: In the future, Taiwan will suffer even more, as it

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

　

★ The Interpreter , The LOWY Institute ( Australia ), 6-16-2020 : treating Taiwan as a conduit to frustrate Beijing imperils Taiwan’s security.
 Already many in China’s party-state suspect that the US intends to promote Taiwan independence, ... The risk here is that
U.S. policy encourages an overreaction from China, upsetting the cross-straits status quo or whatever remains of it, and
then the United States abandons Taiwan to deal with the consequences.　https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/taiwan-s-wildcard

　

　

 ★  Bloomberg news 10-19-2018: Taipei mayor says
Taiwan is "just a product on a shelf" for Trump
　

　

◆ New York Times at  4-18-2018: Mr. Trump questioned why the US should be bound by the One China policy
if Beijing will not budge on trade ... The U.S. and Taiwan are seen as heading in a direction that is getting
perilously close to Chinese red lines...... (Taiwan president Tsai  stated) " Many  people say we are pawns of other people ......"   

　

　

◆  VOAnews, 3-23-2018 : John Bolton (Trump's new National Security Adviser) has long argued that Washington

can play a "Taiwan card" to compel Beijing's attention for its potentially destabilizing actions in East Asia
and the South China Sea.

　

　

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

But,  Taiwan is a card, or most likely, a leverage, a bargaining chip
between the US and China, not a card player in the game

　

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

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

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

　

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

◆ Global times, Mar. 2018: Chinese army can defeat Taiwan within 100 hours before the US and Japan reacting

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

 Taiwan's travel & tourism  - 10th in Asia

　

　

WEF <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> of 2019 shows Taiwan had the sub-region's largest decline in competitiveness,  Taiwan ranks 10th in Asia (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,...), Taiwan's prioritization of travel & tourism ranks world No.75

　

　

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).

　

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".  Taiwan travel and tourism,

　

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

　

　

   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

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

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

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

world best surveys Taiwan's rankings
in top 25~30 list		 comparison with
other Asia & Pacific countries
 2019/2020 
Top 30 SOFT POWER by Portland		  failed No. 8 Japan, No.9  Australia, No. 17 New Zealand,  No. 19  S Korea, No. 21 Singapore, No. 27 China
US News: 2020 Best Countries Overall
The Best Countries in the World		 n/c No.3 Japan, No.5  Australia, No. 11 New Zealand,
No. 15 China, No. 16 Singapore , No. 20  Korea,
No.22 UAE , No.25  India,  No. 26  Thailand,
No. 30  Qatar
2018/2019 Monocle's Soft Power survey  failed No. 3 Japan, No.8  Australia, No. 11 New Zealand, No.15 Korea, No. 19 China,  No. 21  Singapore,  No. 25 India
2018/2019 Soft Power 30 Study by USC Center on Public Diplomacy  failed No.5 Japan, No. 10 Australia, No. 18 NZ, No. 20 S. Korea, No. 21 Singapore, No. 27 China
2017/2018 Monocle's Soft Power survey  failed No. 4 Japan, No.9 Australia, No. 13 New Zealand, No.17 Korea, No. 19 China,  No. 22 Singapore, No. 24 India
2017/2018 Soft Power 30 Study by USC Center on Public Diplomacy  failed No.6. Japan,  No. 8. Australia,  18. NZ,  No. 20 Singapore, No. 21 S. Korea,  No. 25.  China
2016/2017 Monocle's
Soft Power survey		  failed No. 3 Japan, No.6 Australia, No. 13 New Zealand, No.17 Korea, No. 20 China,  No. 23 Singapore, No. 24 India
2015/2016 Monocle's
 Soft Power survey		  failed No. 4 Japan, No.6 Australia, No. 13 New Zealand, No.15 Korea, No. 21 China,  No. 23 Singapore
　

　
　

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

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


　

　


　


Taiwan's hard power : military  

Taiwanese military   vs.   Chinese military
  Taiwan military

opinions

New York times,  8-30-2020:  Lawmaker said Taiwan’s military needs to improve a lot

　
 personnel

 ( soldiers, officials )

 ◆  Taiwan’s Military Is a Hollow Shell.  US Defense Department officials have privately expressed dismal assessments regarding Taiwan's current force level and reserve system.
◆  armor, mechanized infantry, and artillery units are always in desperate shortage of enlisted soldiers
◆  few front-line units have more than 80 percent of their positions filled  /  Foreign Policy, 2-15-2020; https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/15/china-threat-invasion-conscription-taiwans-military-is-a-hollow-shell/
 ◆ Politicians in our country are afraid to discuss these issues with the public because they believe our people are not willing to sacrifice...  / Financial Times (UK), 7-12-2020  Full text:  www.ft.com/content/92029f49-3e9a-47b7-b967-2af823f185cd

◆  Taiwan began to phase out mandatory conscription for all young men, which was deeply unpopular, in favor of an all-volunteer force; 4 months of compulsory service ... training is "insufficient to meet the challenges posed by the increasing threat (RAND, '17)  /  New York times,  8-30-2020  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/30/world/asia/taiwan-china-military.html

◆ Taiwan's active force down to under 200,000 (the exact number is classified). The nearly two million reservists exist in name only... /  New York times,  5-18-2017
◆  The ROC (Taiwan) Armed Forces number approximately 300,000, and reserves reportedly total 3,870,000.   /  Wikipedia, May 2020
strategy ◆  To against the threats of cyber warfare, cognitive warfare, and ‘unrestricted’ warfare from China , we ( Taiwan ) work to bolster our defense capabilities, future combat capacity development will also emphasize mobility, countermeasures, and non-traditional, asymmetrical capabilities (unconventional arms)” /  Taiwan president inauguration speech, Voice of American, 5-20-2020
 ◆  so called asymmetrical capabilities in Taiwan is only skin-deep    /   United Daily , editorial,  6-6-2020
 ◆  Taiwan's weird strategy:  Facing PLA's attacks, Taiwan's warplanes stay inside tunnels, warships leave Taiwan, once the US military comes to rescue, they will return and join the war  / Apple Daily, 8-14-2020 tw.appledaily.com/headline/20200814/KDQ5JJAYQUR5JLE6EIIXK5VJM4/

firepower

 ◆ France forced Taiwan to withdraw its request to upgrade 20-year-old Mirage fighters ...  F-16 A/B and  F-CK-1 fighters are  growing tired; 60 or 70 new fighters and a few missiles won’t really change the balance of power. And heavy tanks – especially if they lack trained crews – won’t do much to stop a Chinese invasion / Forbes, 8-30-2020
 ◆  China has ｎｕｃｌｅａｒ　ｂｏｍｂ ，Neutron bomb， hydrogen bomb, Taiwan has none of those. / Next TV news, 5-8-2020
 ◆   Three Taiwanese presidents Lee (李登輝後期)、Chen(陳水扁)、Tsai(蔡英文)  squandering those "bonus for peace" and underestimating the demand of national defense, lead to shortage of arms-deal budget.  /   United Daily , editorial,  6-6-2020
◆  Taiwan military strength is ranked No. 26 ,  China PLA No. 3  /  Global FirePower, 2020
◆  A major obstacle is that countries that might sell it the most sophisticated weaponry are increasingly reluctant to do so for fear of provoking China, ... /  New York times,  11-4-2017

military logistics system

 ◆   The logistics inside the military remain so abysmal ... The army likely has no clue how many tanks or guns actually mission-capable ...      /  Foreign Policy, 8-20-2020 

◆  Taiwan  lacks enough supplement of all items of military equipments /   United Daily (聯合報 社評), opinion,   5- 7- 2020

 morale

 ◆  “Their underlying thinking is that PLA has grown to be too strong for us to fight militarily anyway... Taiwan should just focus on putting up a good show of being tough, buy enough U.S. weapons for display, and pray that Americans come to our rescue /  Foreign Policy, 8-20-2020  https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/08/20/taiwan-military-flashy-american-weapons-no-ammo/

◆  Policies put forward by the Kuomintang and the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party have left the military understaffed and in a state of low morale... /  New York times,  5-18-2017
 ◆ Taiwan fears uptick in military threat from China in wake of coronavirus epidemic ... / Financial Times  5-19-2020

　

discipline

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

budget

 ◆  High personnel expense pushes aside the logistics and maintenance budget,   the govt. needs to plan special budge to purchase arms. /  The China Times, 7-17-2020, editorial

◆ Taiwan would increase Taiwan’s defense budget by 10 percent, on top of a 5 percent increase the year before. That would raise military spending to more than 2 percent of gross domestic product   /  New York times,  8-30-2020
　

　

　

　

　

　

 
 world's most livable cities  ... 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

　
　


　

　

　

　

   

●  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

　

　

　

　

　

children & women trafficking in Taiwan 


US  state government - 2019 Trafficking in persons report, Jun. 2019:   in the last five years, human traffickers subject foreign
 men and women to forced labor and sex trafficking in Taiwan, and traffickers subject local men and women to forced labor and local women
 and children to sex trafficking. ... take advantage of Taiwan and foreign women’s and children’s drug addictions to subject them to sex
trafficking. Taiwan traffickers increasingly use the internet, smartphone apps, livestreaming, and other such online technologies to conduct recruitment activities, often targeting child victims, and to mask their identities from law enforcement.

　

　

Traffickers lure women from China and Southeast Asian countries to Taiwan through fraudulent marriages and deceptive employment
offers for purposes of sex trafficking.   Many trafficking victims are migrant workers from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam,
 and to a lesser extent, individuals from China, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka.

　

Traffickers reportedly take advantage of Taiwan’s “New Southbound Policy” visa-simplification program to lure Southeast
Asian students and tourists to Taiwan and subject them to forced labor and sex trafficking.

　

　

New !    illegal migrants 

　

 　
　

　

　

　

　

Taiwan, a porn country

　

Taiwan declared crackdown on prostitution, only to turn into a country with world No.1 percentage of
 sex-related business consumers of all the adults. (Apple Daily 12-25-'14 )

　

　

†

     

　

　

　

　

 　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Taiwan, A pirate boat ?

　

　

Taiwan illegal fishing

　

　

●  US  state government - 2019 Trafficking in persons report, Jun. 2019

Although Taiwan met the minimum standards, separation of purview between the Ministry of Labor (MOL) and the Fisheries Agency (FA), coupled with
 insufficient inspection protocols, continued to impede efforts to address forced labor on Taiwan-flagged and -owned fishing vessels in the highly
 vulnerable Distant Water Fleet (DWF).  Documented and undocumented Chinese, Indonesian, Filipino, and Vietnamese fishermen working on
Taiwan-flagged and -owned fishing vessels experience non- or under-payment of wages, long working hours, physical abuse, lack of food or
medical care, denial of sleep, and poor living conditions while indebted to complex, multinational brokerage networks. Migrant fishermen
 have reported senior crewmembers employ such coercive tactics as threats of physical violence, beatings, withholding of food and water,
and pay deductions to retain their labor.

　

　

　

exclusive info.

●  Green Peace, 5-2-2019:  It remains our view that Taiwanese fisheries still have many serious problems,
both environmental and social, and that the need for reform is clear and urgent.

　

　

●   <The Diplomat> (4-14-2016) :  Taiwan's illegal fishing is 'out of control' - 

 EU warned in 2015 Taiwan with a yellow card for illegal fishing till 6 '19. 

 GreenPeace criticized Taiwan gov. for knowing this issue but does little.

　

●  Washington Post 2-22-2018: Taiwan is No.2 fishing nation

as measured by Global fishing Watch's Automatic Identification Sys., 2016.

(wait & see how TW  nw law works)

　

●  Lowy Institute & <the interpreter>, 5-2-2019:
◆ Taiwan currently operates under an EU “yellow card,” or warning, for illegal, unreported and
unregulated (IUU) fishing; 

◆ Taiwan has so far refused to adopt the Work in Fishing Convention;
◆ Taiwanese authorities declined to prosecute the ship (Fuh Sheng ) for shark finning, although
the ship’s proprietor had earlier admitted to the Financial Times the vessel had caught and finned sharks;
◆ The Taiwan-flagged Wen Peng...allegedly killed one Filipino and one Indonesian. Six other foreign crew
 members were reportedly forced to jump into the sea and were never found.

　

●  US State Department’s Country Report on Human Rights Practices (2018):  Taiwan flagged the practices of
recruitment and brokerage agencies, which facilitate the hiring of fishermen and other migrant workers, as leaving workers “vulnerable to debt bondage.  Foreign workers are often charged excessive fees and subjected to poor working
conditions.  Fishermen on the high seas are left with no way of seeking help by using multilingual hotline
for migrant workers to report mistreatment. (brief)

　

　

     

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

 　

　

◆  <Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF, France) , 4-18-2019:  Taiwan’s journalists are suffering from a very

polarized media environment dominated by sensationalism and the pursuit of profit. Although President

Tsai Ing-wen has said she wants to continue developing press freedom in Taiwan, few concrete measures

have been taken to improve journalists’ editorial independence and encourage media to raise the quality of

the public debate. Beijing is exploiting this weakness by putting pressure on Taiwanese media owners, who

often have business interests on the mainland.

　

◆ pic. right: The China Times 3-29-2019 headline news: Defend 100% freedom of speech, democracy on the surface, anti-democracy to the bone is not allowed.  The media have freedom to choose sides, but no any side should limit the freedom, Taiwan government should not choose Orwellian administration. (www.chinatimes.com/opinion/?chdtv)

◆ pic. left: Apple Daily 3-29-2019 editorial opinion: Freedom of speech is the bottom line which should never be lost, the government should not create chilling effect by fishing in trouble water.  (https://tw.appledaily.com/headline/daily/20190329/38294369/)

　

　

　

　

　

　

  1.  reviews on Taiwan's soft power

★

◆◆

　

　

　

pic: This websites-group was ranked No.1
by keyword  "review Taiwan" 
on US Google, 5-13-2018, 1-12-2018, 9-27-2017, 12-2-2017 　

　

ps: This site was ranked No.1 on US Bing and search.yahoo.com

 at 5-17-2018

　

 

　

 　

　

　

pic: This websites-group was ranked No.1 by keyword  "review Taiwan"  on US Google,  5-13-2018, 9-19-2017

　

　

 

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

  ★

　

　

international & local reviews on Taiwan

 　
soft power ● According to UK based Monocle's Soft Power Survey 2010 ~ 2019, Taiwan has not been included in this global ranking list,  Taiwan's soft power is behind Asian's countries Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, China, India, UAE, all of them reached "world top 20" at least once.  

　

　

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


● Taiwan also failed to be listed in 2018's Soft Power 30 Study by USC Center on Public Diplomacy in July 2018 and  2017's Soft Power 30 Study, compiled by PR company Portand Communication and University of Southern California.   Asian countries,  Japan(No.5), S. Korea(20), Singapore(21), China(27) are top 30.

privacy

　

 ● New York Post  4-25-2020 : Taiwan fights with CovID with "a lot more authoritarian.", "almost everyone is tracked.", "Children have their temperature taken at school and are sent to the hospital if they have a fever." 
         Taiwan govt. responded at 4-28-2020: Taiwanese would like to cooperate with our policy.   ps: UDN 5-7-2020 editorial:  No Taiwanese were told being monitored until govt. started its int'l propaganda campaign.  UDN 5-9-2020 : Taiwan's infra-red thermograph (for CovID-19) in dept store, rapid transit station, made women almost naked, and triggered questions.

　

● The United Daily News (聯合報) , editorial, 3-31-2019 :  Taiwan is a backward country on personal-data protection.   Taiwan plans to sell general public's personal data and digital human rights (e.g., people's medical health data without giving any notice ), peep at whatever on the net , and even monitor all the citizens,  nothing people would normally notice ...   (brief https://udn.com/news/story/7338/3728815) 

　

　

● The Liberty Times, head-page, The China Times, head-page, 12-8-2018:   Taiwan P.M. (賴清德): "Secret Police event" (「東廠事件」) has seriously damaged public trust on the  government.

　

● EU General Data Protection Regulation - GDPR was given to effect at 5-25-2018, Taiwan is far behind, even is going in an opposite way  / Apple Daily 蘋果日報, 5-28-2018,  National Taiwan University Law School professor 林鈺雄

●  The United Daily News (聯合報)  editorial opinion (9-19-2018) : "secret police"(「東廠們」) have been active around us ...

　

● Apple Daily, 11-25-2018,  KMT's "Secret Police" sayings seriously damaged the image of ruling party (New York Times, 11-23-2018: Taiwan's ruling party was handed a major defeat in local elections).

★

● <Apple Daily (蘋果日報)> 11-7-2018 editorial opinion:  by whatever name ( "secret police" or "national security bureau") it is called, what "it" did secretly were always more than what it admitted.  ( 安全部門無論當時名稱是東廠、警總、或國安部門,「"他們"暗中做的 永遠超過公開承認的」)

　
freedom of expression ● RSF, <Reporters Sans Frontieres>, France, (Christophe Deloire, Secretary General ) , LTN, 5-16-2020,  Reporters Without Borders (RSF, Cedric Alviani ),  Taipei Times, 12-17-2019
  It is no secret that the Taiwanese media sector is plagued by sensationalism, undeclared advertising and an unhealthy “blue-green” political polarization that hinders journalism in its role as a balancing power, stirring public distrust. It is not that Taiwan lacks competent journalists, but most of them have to work under undue pressure and cannot count on legal protection against requests from their management that would go against journalistic ethics... Taiwanese government always took "press freedom" as an excuse to ignore them.
   Five measures to reinforce Taiwan’s media:
1) establish regulations that effectively protect the independence of editorial departments from their employers and boards of directors
2) create in law a “duty of care” that would oblige online platforms to protect both users’ freedom of speech, and safety in regards to hate speech and manipulation
3) upscale the amount of financial resources allocated to public media outlets
4) support the emergence of new media outlets that aim to uphold journalistic ethics, through economic and fiscal incentives following a similar model to start-up development
5) emphasize critical thinking and media literacy in academic curricula and public education actions (brief)

● USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,  3-11-2020:  Journalists said they faced pressure from management to submit news stories to complement or support the content of paid advertisements.

● < Reporters Sans Frontieres> (RSF, France) , 4-18-2019:  Taiwan’s journalists are suffering from a very polarized media environment dominated by sensationalism and the pursuit of profit. Although President Tsai Ing-wen has said she wants to continue developing press freedom in Taiwan, few concrete measures have been taken to improve journalists’ editorial independence and encourage media to raise the quality of the public debate. Beijing is exploiting this weakness by putting pressure on Taiwanese media owners, who often have business interests on the mainland. 

● Apple Daily 3-29-2019 editorial opinion: Democracy & Freedom of speech is the bottom line which should never be lost, the government should not create chilling effect by fishing in trouble water.    The China Times 3-29-2019 headline news:  Democracy on the surface, anti-democracy to the bone is not allowed. 

● US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 3-13-2019: the impact of the concentration of media ownership on freedom of the press, self-censorship continued.

　

● <United Daily (聯合報)> 11-2-2018, headline news : Taiwan's National Security Bureau confirmed their investigations of Facebook communities and others on the net, for monitoring, controlling and collecting "controversial information" including those "influence national security", "slander president", "disrupt social stability", "distort policy" and "disturb national mechanism", "fight governmental prestige", "influence public mind and morale"; UDN critiques pointed out it's a political propaganda to block red China's influences, but "Big Brother is watching you" almost for sure lead to "Chilling Effect".  
Taiwan's Intel. sys. suspectedly tried to affect free expression of some important websites not related to communist China. 

● <United Daily (聯合報)> 11-3-2018, KMT legislator : all internet platform service providers in Taiwan were requested to hand in all users' personal information/data (intel denied).  Taiwan's intelligence "National Security Bureau" has been doing overall monitors on all Taiwanese.
travel & tourism ● ABC Radio National, Australia, 2-27-2020:  What's most apparent when visiting Taiwan is how ordinary it is — ordinary in the sense of normal, everyday, functional.

　

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

　

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

　

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

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

● Taiwan got low score and is ranking world No.87 in the index of "Attractiveness of Natural Assets" (parks, beaches, mountains, wildlife, etc) , based on <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> 2017.

aesthetic country

　

 ● Forbes (3-5-2017) "3 Things Chinese Tourists Are Surprised To Find When They Travel Abroad To Taiwan" : "It’s not very modern !",  " the wealth wasn’t invested in architecture.   So the cities are full of decayed apartment blocks.... the housing isn’t as good.”. 

●The Liberty Times and the China Times (3-10-2017) /  local scholars : without overall urban renewal planning, Taiwan will never get rid of the bad name "ugly cities". 

●Taipei City mayor Dr. Ko pointed out during a trip to Japan that Taipei is short of aesthetic elements or sense of beauty (欠缺城市美學/美感). / The China Times 1-26-2016.
human rights

　

 ● USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,  3-11-2020:  Some political commentators and academics,  publicly questioned the impartiality of judges and prosecutors involved in high profile, politically sensitive cases. Judicial reform advocates pressed for greater public accountability, reforms of the personnel system, and other procedural improvements ;   The right to strike remained highly regulated. Teachers, civil servants, and defense industry employees do not have the right to strike. Workers in industries such as utilities, hospital services, and telecommunication service providers are allowed to strike only if they maintain basic services during the strike. Authorities may prohibit, limit, or break up a strike during a disaster. For all workers, the law divides labor disputes into “rights disputes” and “adjustment disputes.” Workers are allowed to strike only in adjustment disputes, which include issues such as compensation and working schedules.Labor laws do not cover domestic household workers, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation. Concerns about censorship were limited to efforts by the authorities in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to censor Taiwan media outlets based on the business interests of their parent companies in the PRC.

　

● USA Country Reports on Human Rights practices,   3-3-2017: Principal human rights problems are official corruption, exploitation of foreign workers,  domestic violence; Other concerns are  some media self-censorship with regard to China, vote buying; violations of legal working hours,  lacking of barrier-free spaces and accessible transportation systems for persons with disabilities, particularly outside Taipei;  a rise in child abuse and gender-biased sex selection.  (report in 4-20-2018 is about the same)

　

●  Apple Daily, headline, 12-9-2017:
     ◆  At end of 2017, a review found all conclusive advises by international review panel to against Taiwan's torture have not put into practice at all.  

      ◆  In 2013, an international review panel ( human rights experts and scholars) visited Taiwan and concluded :

          (1) "The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment" should be added to Taiwan Criminal Law, and should be put into force AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
          (2)  The best method to root out torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in Taiwan is that any person or officials who commits torture, those sort of crimes, should NOT have free liability of what they did.

　

● State violence and white terror (product of state violence) return in Taiwan (United Daily, opinion, 12-21-2017, 12-27-2017).     Taiwan's Facebook "Green terror" suppressed free expression...... (Wikipedia 2017, The China Times, public opinion, 11-18-2017)

● Taiwan administration's policy led to air pollution, toxic pollution in the land and sea ...   (The China Times, 1-7-2018 台灣海陸空污染毒害，山海變色 http://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20180107000465-260114。Daily Mail (UK) 7-14-2017 : Shocking underwater video from Taiwan shows ocean floor littered with plastic (bottles) garbage)

food & dining

● UDN, 2-17-2019: Gov. did not declared poison eggs until almost sold out...

●  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)   

●   The China Times (中國時報), 2-28-2019,  opinion (editorial) questions Taiwan officials are trying very hard to hide the epidemic state of Marek's virus in chicken eggs ...

●  UDN, 2-17-2019: Gov. did not declared poison eggs until almost sold out...　

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

● Chang Gung Mem. Hospital professor Yin 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>, 2016.

○

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

○

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

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

● 5 star hotel scandals - A book (江守山M.D.'s "食在安心" (10-2014)) said many 5 star hotel restaurants don't wash vegetables ...  some 5 star hotels made sashimi raw fish slices by using fresh-water fishes, this may increase the probability 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...   

● 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 sub-total, 5 Japanese , 4 Chinese, 3 Singapore, 2 Thailand, 1 Korean, 1 India restaurant(s) entered top 100.

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

●  <China Times> 2-26-2020, editorial: more and more uncontrolled admin. power and withered legislative power, freedom of speech was suppressed by admin. and judicial power at all levels, ...as for political culture, partisan, stand and ideology matter.  

● N.Y. Times  12-3-2019:  soft underbelly of Taiwanese politics: patronage networks.  they continue to allow community leaders, farmers’ associations and even organized-crime figures to buy votes.  New York Times, 1-11-2020: Taiwan’s young and vibrant, if messy at times, democratic society. 

　

● <UDN> editorial,12-6-2018: Taiwan's democracy exists in name only ...

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

● There's neither democracy on campus (colleges) nor university autonomy, / Apple Daily, opinion, 5-1-2018

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

● The United Daily - Opinion, 3-7-2017  :  Now it seems hard to keep Taiwan's democracy just skin-deep... the people's "livelihood" was sacrificed for politics ...
Social security ●《 United Daily, 聯合報》, Presidential election page,  1-6-2020:  The Police headquarter denied the state machine pressured them to inspect fake news, but the Nationalists Party showed police internal document to prove the police were push by performance merit, rewards or punishments to check fake message on internet, so police were lying    (pic. left)

　

●《 United Daily, 聯合報》, opinion,  1-6-2020: Taiwan police interviewed nationals everywhere for their reposting messages or pressing facial symbols on the net. 

　

● More than 10 Korean media, e.g., Yonhap News Agency (韓聯社),  Donga Ilbo (東亞日報), and largest web portal Naver, reported in Jan. 16, 2017 in large scale or great length to lash out Taiwan's bad social security. 

●《 BBC》UK,  3-29-2016   "The whole society's safety net has loopholes " . 

●《 The China Times》(6-9-2016 Opinion-editorial) : Taiwanese police do duty without dignity/honor. 

judiciary ● US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 3-13-2019 pointed out that justice ministry was insufficiently independent and conducted politically motivated investigations of politicians (in <Corruption and Lack of Transparency in Government> section), ...

●　The United Daily, Focus, 11-30-2019: 　The prosecutors  and Taiwan's 'FBI'　were questioned a lot for years for their political investigations and conducts ...in recent years, the judiciary giving services to DPP almost became a routine...:

●  UDN 10-20-2019: politics overrode justice

　

● The Liberty Times, head-page, The China Times, head-page, 12-8-2018:   Taiwan P.M. (賴清德):  Taiwan has not made significant progress on judicial reform, which is roiling with public discontent

● Apple Daily (12-7-2018) editorial :  Taiwan's corruption is off the charts by collusions between government officials and business owners,  furthermore, Taiwan's underworld going wild to assist government officials, business and some elected representatives (e.g., legislators) in corruption has been ahead of most corrupt countries, e.g., China, Indonesia, Brazil, Philippines, Vietnam, the stinky rotten food-chain crossing pan-Blue (Nationalist, KMT) and pan-Green (DPP) resurges after Taiwan's elections...

●Taiwan's Minister of Judiciary and secretary of Justice Ministry issued progress report of judicial reform ― Public trust in judges is always low, the protection mechanism of lawsuit right is still not good enough (UDN 2-13-2018).

● United Daily 2-27-2018: Taipei mayor Ko said that Taiwan's jail and prison are good only for those have no connections at all. ("監獄是關沒有辦法的人")  

● Apple Daily, opinion, 3-14-2018 : Survey <2017台灣社會信任調查> shows that Taiwan judicial official's / law enforcement officer's public trust is the second last. 

　

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

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

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

● The United Daily,  3-6-2017  :  Taiwan's judiciary still work as hatchet man for KMT.  (陳師孟)
transportation ● Lancet Planetary Health (April 10, '19): "The 4th worst for rate of kids getting Asthma from traffic air pollution"  ●《 China Times》, Taiwan,  4-12-2019 : the government was criticized that lacking intention to improve air pollution.

● BBC UK, The SUN (2-13-2017):  "Bus Crash Horror !" -  Taiwan's "safety standards need to be improved".   A few days later another fatal bus accident occurred. 

● Apple Daily, Opinion-Editorial (2-15-2017): Such a high casualty rate (bus crash) most likely ranks No.1 among all civilized states in the world, public opinions and official blames are useless at all, because they saw right through the government, called government's bluff ... ● The United Daily (2-15-2017, front-page): So many self-criticisms in the past never stop next  disaster !

● Fatal train accidents
    ref. to  <New York Times>: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/world/asia/taiwan-train-crash.html

   ● 2018 : Taiwan Train Accident in biggest curve in Taiwan Kills at Least 18 and Injures about 187 Others ( ps: CTV (中視新聞) 19:45pm, 10-22-2018, Prosecutor: over-speed might be the cause of accident,  other suspicious points under investigation include "Automatic Train Protection (ATP)" being turned off,  abnormal track, etc;  ps2: CTV 20:30pm, 10-22-2018 : speed 140km, should be 80km or 65 km)
   ● 2011:  at least six people were killed and more than 50 others injured after a tree collapsed into the path of a tourist train also serving Ali Mountain.
   ● 2003:  last crash of a similar scale taking place in 2003, when a train serving the mountain tourist destination of Ali Mountain derailed, killing 17 people and injuring 156 others.

    ● 1981:  a collision in Miaoli County, in the island’s northwest, killed 31 people

● Taiwan's aviation safety - MSN, Reuters, EuroNews, Mirro(UK), NewsWeek, CNN, etc (2-4-2015) :"Taiwan has had a poor aviation safety record in recent years" .
housing ● <CTS HD>, 5-23-2016 1:25pm, "華視新聞雜誌":  17 million Taiwanese people ( totally 23 million population) live in "potential danger" (潛在危險) houses, according to <遠見> study, Taiwanese people gave a "failure" score (53.5) on "living safety".

●《The Liberty Times》Taiwan, 2-24-2017 :  Keep eating nothing and drinking nothing for 33+ years to buy a new house in Taipei !    Taipei's  Ratio of House Price to Income  is 33.3 times, New Taipei city is 20.25.

● Lloyd's City Risk Index 2015-2025 analyses the potential impact on the economic output (GDP risk)  of world's major cities, Taipei was ranked world No.1 - within the next 10 years,

● Amnesty International (The London-based organization), 2-25-2015: The organization concerns Taiwan’s inhabitation (housing and land) rights issues.

creativity

 ● poor and weak - even some government's logos are similar to western's,  Taiwan very seldom won award in Cannes Ad. festival France.

●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 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 

● It's a big shame again that Taiwan government used the photo of Washington Dulles int'l airport (old Taiwan airport is a cheap-copy, very similar to Dulles) on Taiwan's new passport.

character/personality

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

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

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

happiness

● <The United Daily>, headline news, 12-7-2019
      Word of the year 2019 in Taiwan is "chaos", No.2 is "lie" (cheating) , No.3 is "worry".

★

● <The United Daily>, 8-26-2019:  <名人堂> 楊志良: "The gap between the poor and the rich became largest ever !"

★

●  <中國時報 The China Times>, editorial opinion, 10-4-2019:  The productivity of those consumer goods (lifestyle) industries (such as general business, wholesales, retail, food, logistics/distribution, cosmetology & hair salon, early childhood care, hotel, etc industries with low salary and dark future ) most Taiwanese people work on is pretty low in general； in contrast, the new rich in Computer and  electronics industries lead a great life，this leads to an unstable society。

　

● <United Daily news 聯合報>, head page, 12-10-2016:  The word of 2016 selected is "苦" ("hardship", "pain").

medical service

 ● Next TV news (5-25-2019, 20:44, 壹新聞  壹電視 ) reported that Taiwan government kept adjusting the price of more and more drugs to cover the deficit of medical insurance system, which resulted in more and more brand drugs withdrawing from Taiwan (e.g., TIENAM) , because cheap-price generic drugs made in Taiwan are not as curative effective as brand drugs, Physicians worry there's no good medicines for patients ....  Besides, Apple Daily (6-4-2017): Taiwan medical service's critical problem ―― Preventive Health-Care service is behind.   The China Times, (7-4-2017) : "patients centered" is nothing but a slogan.  

　

● 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 is dishonest and 'cruel' ― trying to hide, block, delay public-health news, e.g., poisoned eggs, PCV virus vaccine, and Bird-flu more than one time (1-2-2018 UDN udn.com/news/story/7266/2908720,  2012 BBC news :  www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese_news/2012/03/120304_taiwan_birdflu_investigate) ,  not to mention big issues.

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

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

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

shopping/commodity-price

● World Economic Forum (WEF)  <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> released at 9-4-2019 shows Taiwan's "price competitiveness" ranks world No. 78.

● (WEF)  <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> (released at 4-6-2017), Taiwan's "Price Competitiveness" ranks No. 46, "Hotel Price Index" ranks No. 89 (82 in 2015).

　

● In Swiss UBS's "most expensive cities" report, Taipei's commodity price was ranked No. 26, worse than the rank (No.42) in last time.    (9-18-2015)

● UK's Economist Intelligence Unit - Liveability Country Level Index (2015), evaluates "Cost of Living" of Taipei as "72" (scores 1~131, "1" means the cheapest, e.g., Mexico City is "73").

● According to 2015 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report, Taiwan's "hotel price index" ranks world No. 82, "Purchasing power parity" ranks world No. 64,  "price competitiveness" ranks No. 38. 

● Forbes (3-5-2017): Things are cheap !  Taiwan’s a good bargain, explaining the glut of self-guided tourists from China who voluntarily go shopping in Taipei. Some tourists also wonder if the prices reflect weakness in Taiwan’s overall economy.

● The China Times, 9-14-2015, shows the average price of 5 star hotels for Taiwanese tourists is NT dollars10494, price of 4 star hotels is NT5591

women

　

● US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices released at 3-11-2020 : In the new legislature, a record 38 percent of lawmakers were women.  ABC Radio National, Australia, 2- 27-2020: 42 per cent of Taiwan's legislators (law makers) are women;  it's the only Asian nation to have legislated same-sex marriage.

　

● <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 US Country Reports on Human Rights Practices , released at 3-3-2017, 4-20-2018:  Rape and Domestic Violence ( spousal rape, and domestic violence).  Many victims did not report the crime for fear of social stigmatization, and various nongovernmental organization (NGO) and academic studies estimated that the total number of sexual assaults was seven to 10 times the number reported to police.  Women were promoted less frequently, occupied fewer management positions, and worked for lower pay than men, earning on average 83 percent of their male counterparts’ income...

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

　

athletics

 ● In 2016 Rio Olympics medal tally statistics, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) got 1 gold, 2 bronze, ranks world No. 50,

int'l fraud

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

● Taiwan is notorious for its fraud crimes all over the world, damaging the image of Taiwan  / EBC TV 4-9-2017 6:54am

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

● Taiwan's legislators and judicial system don't have a sense of shame on releasing so many int'l telecomm scammers and fraud groups committing the crime across the world (United Daily, 8-24-2016 opinion-editorial ).

entertainment/circus

 ● Taiwan police declared crack down prostitution business, however, those Taiwanese male aged above 20 (2.33 million men per yr. ,ps1)  Prostitution business in Taiwan are, firstly, Thai massage parlors (「掛羊頭賣狗肉」的按摩店(或養生館)), second, call-girls controlled by agents, thirdly, individual working studio or so-called one-woman brothel (「一樓一鳳」).

　

●The United Daily (8-19-2015): The area with highest density of night clubs ("酒店") / specialized profession ("特種行業",a beautified term of sex related business including massage parlors  ) in Taipei city locates LinSen N. Rd. stretching from JinZhou street to ChangChun Rd.

 Liveability

●《 United Daily 聯合報》 4-12-2019 headline news -  Lancet Planetary Health (April 10, '19): "The 4th worst for rate of kids getting Asthma from traffic air pollution"  《中國時報 China Times》, Taiwan,  4-12-2019 : the government was criticized that lacking intention to improve air pollution.

　

●《 United Daily 聯合報》 9-6-2019:  "the root of all evil - high real estate price", Taiwanese politicians kept trying to earn sudden huge profits by their secret weapons - distorting tax rates, land-value assessing,    changing land category, and wrongly using political power (在稅率、估價上，行種種遷就現實的扭曲，成為炒作地價法寶，配合變更地目千倍差價，借助公權力圖謀暴利，乃成大小政客的聚寶盆 ... / 馬凱)

　

● 《Apple Daily 蘋果日報》, 9-28-2019:  "the root of all evil", the biggest injustice : land trades ( 台灣萬惡之源、台灣最大的不公不義: 土地交易... 很多避稅手段) , in the past decades, the richest Taiwanese earned huge fortune by land-trades.

　

 ● According to Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)'s Global Liveability Report of 2017, Taipei ranks No. 60 among 140 cities, based on 30 factors related to education resource, safety, health care, infrastructure, environment, etc.  Asia's Tokyo No. 13, Singapore 35, HK 45.

Political status

 ● 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...  Washington Post 9-25-2019: China’s growing dominance in the South Pacific is a defeat for an America in retreat.    New York Times 9-20-2019:  As Taiwan Loses Influence, China Gains Ground in Race With U.S.

●

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

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

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

    ● Wall Street Journal , 11 25 2018:

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

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

　

●The People's Republic of China (PRC) claims that the Republic of China (Taiwan) government is illegitimate, referring to it as the "Taiwan Authority".

The ROC, however, with its own constitution, independently elected president and armed forces... since Chiang Kai-shek (leader of the KMT, Taiwan's ruling party most of time) and his forces fled to the island at the end of Chinese civil war in 1949.

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

● Washington Post, 1-2-2017: The United States “acknowledges” that there is one China and that Taiwan is part of China. But the United States has never officially “recognized” Taiwan as part of China.

●  The condition of Beijing's envoy (senior official) visiting Taiwan since the 1949 communist revolution is seeing no ROC national flag.  Taiwanese government agreed and confiscated some flags in a rally... / LTN 11-06-2015

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

         ◆  NHK  Japan, 3-17-2018 

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

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

         ◆ New York Times,  3-17-2018

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

       ◆ Deutsche Welle,  3-17-2018 :

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

             Taiwan ... calling it a "friendly move"

       ◆ Global Times of China, 2018:  <Taiwan Travel Act> is a bill to destroy Taiwan. ◆ People's Daily online (China 人民日報 海外版) 3-17-2018: "annoy China, fool Taiwan !"("戲耍台灣 挑臖大陸")  ◆ UDN Taiwan (台灣聯合報) 3-18-2018: KMT Legislator : The US uses Taiwan as pawn to annoy China ... ( 台恐成夾心餅干)   ◆ The bill identifies (indirectly) Taiwan as a country - "visits to a country by United states cabinet members ...".

　

              

pic. left: ROC (Taiwan) national flag;      
pic. right: Chinese Taipei flag for participating in int'l events, e.g., Olympics Games.   

　

★

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

 survey to find political persecutions

★

　

● pic1:

 Ocean pollution in Taiwan coast

Daily Mail (UK)  7-14-2017 :
Shocking underwater video from Taiwan
shows ocean floor littered with plastic (bottles) garbage. 

●

●

　

●  Taiwan ignores environmental protection (ocean garbage clean-up) of 90% coast-line of Taiwan island for large garbage-distributions... / United Daily, 5-30-2017

●

●

　

　

●  Daily Mail  (newspaper UK),  7-14-2017
comments Taiwan coast garbage as  :
"selfish" human beings ,
"Taiwan was once called 'Garbage island'
and more conversation is needed" ...... ......

　


    


　

●

●

　

●  pic 4: Next Magazine (Apple Daily), front-page, 4-6-2017 -

ocean and river pollution by Taiwanese

　

　

●    Asian's biggest sewage treatment plant in Taiwan's New Taipei,  skipped the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and disposed dirty and disgusting water into the sea for probably 4-5 years, witnesses confirmed. / Next, front-page, 4-6-2017
    

    

●   NO justice !  The courthouse judged enterprise's disposing 5000 ton cancer-producer strong acid and waste water into the river-creek (color changed to dark yellow ) and endangering the natural environment  is no guilty !  / headline news of Apply Daily, 9-30-2015  http://www.appledaily.com.tw/appledaily/article/headline/20150930/36807420/


　

　

 　

●   pic. 2: "Taiwan is scandalous for drug exporting !!"  /  The China Times, headline news, 4-4-2017;  pic. 3: Taiwan was already reduced to be a kingdom of producing narcotic drugs, United Daily, 11-2-2017, headline news.

●

●

　

●  Taiwan administration's anti-drug is a phony show /  The China Times, 7-26-2017

●

●

● Taiwan's image  ―  notorious for being a major drug transit center & a major drug exporting country

UDN 4-7-2018 opinion : Taiwan delivered huge amount of drugs to Philippines, and taught terrorists how to fight the gov. by using drugs ...     

　

●  Police of Japan and Australia  already labeled Taiwan as "High Risk" illegal drug-exporting country

●

●

●  Taiwan got bad records in The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG)  for the law and law-enforcement problems / United Daily,  4-11-2017

　

●  Drug-abuse in Taiwan is too serious to stop / Apple Daily, Opinion, 5-15-2017

●

●

●  Based on Japan's statistics,  Taiwan is its No.3 drug resource country ......

●

●

●  Philippines President Duterte (9-26-2017) : Triad supplying illegal drugs to PH is based in Taiwan, not China / inquirer.net 

Philippines President: All illegal drugs came from Taiwan / UDN, opinion, 10-20-2017

　

● 50 packs (bags) of drugs were found in Taiwan's air force major base / United Daily News 4-7-2017

　

　

　

　

　

ps: Dioxin & Fipronil in Taiwan


     ●  Taiwan administration's Dioxin
 ("poison of the century") control system crashed completely / FTV news, 4-22-2017

●

●

●  "Wanna murder people?"  Official certification CAS for food  includes not , but Dioxin was already inside many people's body, probably was over the limit ,  TW government has never done source-control, never stop contaminants (pollutant, e.g., plastic, inks from industry, fly-ash from incinerator, etc) going to our environment.   Pollution has exited 12 yrs, and never end  / Apple Daily, head-page, 4-22-2017 

●

●

  ● United Daily, opinion, 8-26-2017 : Taiwanese are mad at the administration was so careless that too many loopholes for business to  illegally use chemical... TW gov. randomly inspected some farms and found  Fipronil in sample chicken-eggs exceeding 30 times Euro. standard     ●   CT  8-23-2017 : Taiwan's pesticide control on foods only half-done.

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pic.3

　

　


　

　 　 　
　 　

　

　

　

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PS :

　

 (1) Monocle's soft power survey:

　

2018/2019 Monocle's Soft Power survey

1  France 16 Nederland
2 Germany 17 Finland
3 Japan 18 Norway
4 Canada 19 China
5 Swiss 20 Belgium
6 UK 21  Singapore
7 Sweden 22 Ireland
8 Australia 23 Austria 
9 USA 24 India
10 Portugal 25 Brasil
11 New Zealand ps: Asia & Pacific countries marked
12 Italia
13 Spain
14 Denmark
15 Korea

　

2017/2018 Monocle's Soft Power survey

1 Canada 16 Nederland
2 Germany 17 Korea
3 France 18 Finland
4 Japan 19 China
5 UK 20 Belgium
6 Swiss 21 Austria
7 USA 22  Singapore
8 Sweden 23 Ireland
9 Australia 24 India
10 Italia 25 Brasil
11 Denmark ps: Asia & Pacific countries marked
12 Portugal
13 New Zealand
14 Spain
15 Norway

　

　

2016/2017 Monocle's Soft Power survey

1 USA 16 Norway
2 Germany 17 Korea
3 Japan 18 Finland
4 UK 19 Brasil
5 France 20 China
6 Australia 21 Austria
7 Canada 22 Belgium
8 Sweden 23 Singapore
9 Swiss 24 India
10 Danmark 25 Poland
11 Italy ps: Asia & Pacific countries marked
12 Spain
13 New Zealand
14 Holland
15 Portugal

★

2015/2016 Monocle's Soft Power survey
1 Germany 16 Norway
2 USA 17 Austria
3 UK 18 Finland
4 Japan 19 Portugal
5 France 20 Belgium
6 Australia 21 China
7 Sweden 22 Brazil
8 Swiss 23 Singapore
9 Danish 24 Poland
10 Canada 25 Turkey
11 Spain 　

　

　

(2) Taiwan failed to be listed in 2017's Soft Power 30 Study, compiled by PR company Portland Communication and University of Southern California.   The top 30 nations are 1  France  2 UK  3 USA  4 Germany  5  Canada   6 Japan  7  Swiss  8 Australia   9 Sweden  10  Holland  11 Denmark  12 Norway  13  Italy  14  Austria  15  Spain   16  Belgium  17 Finland  18 NZ   19 Ireland  20  Singapore   21 S. Korea   22  Portugal  23  Greece   24  Poland   25  China  26  Russia  27 Czech  28  Hungary   29  Brazil  30  Turkey.

★

★

★

★

  2.  reviews on Taiwan's military 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.

　

　

 

★

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

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

○

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

             A new method was applied to make these tables below:

　

○

　

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

○

A ◆ The New York times,  11-4-2017:  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."

★

     ◆  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,  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 )

 ○

        

      ◆  The US Defense Gov. Report of 2017

　 　


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

　
　 ○

China VS Taiwan

○
　 Taiwan Strait military balance

○
　 China VS Taiwan

　

　

★

　

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

 

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

China military VS Taiwan military Chinese air force "patrol circling" around Taiwan
　 　

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

○●


           ◆  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◆ US Annual Report to Congress, 2016

　

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

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

　

　

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

★

Taiwan Strait Military Balance in 2015, Air Forces
China China Taiwan
Total Within range of Taiwan Total

　
Fighters 1,700 130 384
Bombers/Attack 400 200 0
Transport 475 150 19
Special Mission Aircraft 115 75 25

★

Taiwan Strait Military Balance in 2015, Ground Forces
China China Taiwan
Total Taiwan Strait Area Total
Personnel (Active) 1.25 million 400,000 130,000
Group Armies/Army Corps 18 8 3
Infantry Divisions 12 4 0
Infantry Brigades 23 7 5
Mechanized Infantry Divisions 7 4 0
Amphibious Mechanized Infantry Divisions 2 2 0
Mechanized Infantry Brigades 25 8 3
Armor Divisions 1 0 0
Armor Brigades 17 7 4
Amphibious Armor Brigades 1 1 0
Army Aviation Brigades and Regiments 11 6 3
Artillery Brigades 22 9 5
Airborne Divisions 3 3 0
Marine Brigades 2 2 2
Tanks 7,000 2,800 1,100
Artillery Pieces 8,000 3,900 1,600

○●     ○

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

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

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

○

         ◆   New York Times, 5-18-2017    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/18/opinion

                      ● Taiwan's military is understaffed and in a state of low morale.

                  ● Taiwan's active force was cut 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 Chinese Invasion Threat> by Ian Eastonct., Oct. 3, 2017

               Secret Military Plan: Invade Taiwan by 2020

　

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

　

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

　

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

　

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

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

                      

     

     ◆  Apple Daily, 4-20-2018, headline news : a survey poll by 台灣民主基金會

        

　

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

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

　

　

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

　

     

　

     ◆  Taiwan's muscle show

news brief

　

　

 ● Apple Daily,  5-30-2016: Taiwan declared no other air forces are allowed to show their muscle in Taiwan air space ... But,    CTV evening news(11-27-2016), 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, stop them. 
   ps: Chinese troops repeated doing this again and again in 2016 ~ 2017.

◆

● Forbes, 5-21-2013: Taiwan president beset by low approval rate because of weakness against foreign countries, even including Philippines, a backward country dared to hurt Taiwan, ...

◆

● The China Times, 3-29-2017: Taiwan lacks key tech. to make a  coach (large bus).

★

      ◆   editorial cartoons by Zola Zu

　

      ★  

　

　

Taiwan air force★◆

　

 　

● 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,...

　

VS


 ●  Bloomberg 3-14-2018, CTV evening news11-27-2016, United Daily News 11-30-2016: China's launched regular "encirclement patrols" with military jets (much stronger than TW air force) around Taiwan's airspace and passed through 1st Island Chain, Taiwan air force did not intercept to drive them out.

● Taiwan has been watched by the super power for years......

　

†   Taiwan's sky, our air-space ? 

      

★

　

★  

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

　

★★

★

★

  3.  reviews on Taiwan's economy & GDP

 

◆◆ In Global Wealth Report of 2019 by Credit Suisse, Taiwan is alongside with Italia, Germany in terms of wealth per adult.

   ◆  Credit Suisse, Oct. 18,  2018 : 

　

country Wealth per adult(USD) GDP per adult Total wealth (bn)    Share of world wealth quality
United States 403,974 81,425 98,154 31.0% Good
Singapore 283,118  75,242  1,289 0.4 % Satisfactory
France 280,580 55,668 13,883  4.4% Good
United Kingdom 279,048 54,621 14,209 4.5% Good
Japan  227,235 47,980  23,884  7.5% Good
Germany 214,893 57,955  14,499 4.6% Good
Taiwan  212,375 31,146  4,065  1.3 % Satisfactory
China 47,810  12,147 51,874 16.4% Good
Global Wealth Rpt.,  
http://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/index.cfm?fileid=77A4E912-A32D-8E84-CC8C21144CEE52E2
Global Weaalth Databook,  
http://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/index.cfm?fileid=777FDF0E-E060-F608-52DAF97E062CC35B

○

　

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

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

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

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

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

○

○

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

   

◆

  ◆    Credit Suisse, Nov. 15,  2017 : 

Global Wealth report 2017,  Country summary

Country

Mean wealth per Adult (USD)

Median wealth per Adult (USD)
Taiwan 188,081 87,257
Japan 225,057  123,724
Singapore 268,776 108,850
France 263,399 119,720
UK 278,038 102,641

Compared to the world as a whole, Taiwan has high average
wealth and only moderate wealth inequality.
http://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/index.cfm?fileid=A6E9E182-E39B-0353-6751EB076EF35159

　

      Global Wealth Report 2016 by credit-suisse Research Institute, Nov. 2016

　

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

            Taiwan's average level of wealth, at USD 172,800, is similar to that of W. Europe.  Over the entire 2000 – 2016 period, wealth per adult grew by 59% in  USD terms.    Taiwan has a high saving rate and well-developed financial institutions,  so it is not surprising that the composition of household wealth is skewed towards financial assets. The latter now make up 64% of total assets.  Debt is relatively modest, equaling 13% of gross assets.
           Taiwan has comparatively high average wealth and only moderate wealth inequality.    20% of the adult population have wealth below USD 10,000, that is not high compared to 73% worldwide.    38% percent of adults in Taiwan have wealth over USD 100,000 which is almost five times greater than the worldwide average of 8%.
     

　

　

Taiwan
Country summary 2016

　 Population  23  million
　 Adult population  19  million
　 GDP   32,647  USD per adult
　 Mean wealth  172,847  USD per adult
　 Median wealth   63,134  USD per adult
　 Total wealth   3.0  trillion USD
　 US dollar millionaires  356  thousand
　 Top 10% of global wealth holders   8,727  thousand
　 Top 1% of global wealth holders   528  thousand

　

　

Taiwanese wealth

　

　

wealth per adult

Pic.:  Taiwan's wealth distribution relative to world in % 
 /  Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2016

　

Median wealth per adult by country :

● Taiwan  USD 63134,  ● Singapore USD 101386,  
● Japan USD 120493,    ●  Hong Kong  USD 34362
 ● USA  USD44977,  ● Australia  USD 162815, 
 ●  Canada USD 96664,   ●  Brasil USD 3811,
●  France USD99923, ●  Rusiia USD 991,
 ●  Swiss  USD244002, ●  China USD 4885,
 ●   UK  USD107865, ●  Indonesia USD 1966

　

 　

Pic.:   wealth per adult /  Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2016 :


Mean wealth per adult by country :
● Taiwan  USD172847,  ● Singapore USD276885,  
● Japan USD 230946,  ●  China USD 22900,
 ● Australia  USD 375573,  ● USA 344692, 
 ● Canada USD 270179 ●  France USD244400,
● Germany USD185175,  ●  UK  USD288800 ,
  ●  Spain USD116320 ,  ● Greece USD103569,
●  our world USD 52800
　

  

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

   
　

  ◆   Taiwan's economy and China

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

Economy

 ● Taiwan's economy is highly reliant on China,

     Forbes. 2015/11/26 <Top 10 China Dependent Countries>: Taiwan ranks world No. 2 ― Taiwan(EWT -9.56%),  has held up fairly well despite the fact that 26% of its exports are China bound.  A whopping 16% of its economic output is dependent on China.

● Taiwan's Economic growth rate(yoy) (%) is estimated (2017) as 1.92.  Economic growth rate (yoy) (%) is 2.88 (2016  4th QTR initial statistics by the government).

● For details pls. see section 3.  below.

 　

Economic freedom

 ● Heritage.Org 's  Economic freedom index 2017 gave Taiwan overall score 76.5,  Singapore and Hong Kong rank top 2.

● <United Daily news >,《The Liberty Times》Taiwan, 2-25-2017:  Taiwanese employee's real wages (average monthly) of last year is lower than that of 16 years ago.   The average amount of  the real ,monthly wages of about 70% employee is less than NT40000(USD1300), 36.72% is less than NT30000.  The youth's low salary is a serious problem, jobless rate is still high.

　

 　

　

　

　

○

　

　

　

 ◆  https://tradingeconomics.com/taiwan/gdp

　

Taiwan GDP Last Previous Highest Lowest Unit
GDP Growth Rate 0.15 0.94 5.64 -5.07 percent
GDP Annual Growth Rate 2.10 2.60 17.06 -8.12 percent
GDP 523.01 530.04 530.04 42.30 USD Billion
GDP Constant Prices 4034977.00 3997376.00 4034977.00 604229.00 TWD Million
Gross National Product 4310588.00 4594814.00 4594814.00 99800.00 TWD Million
Gross Fixed Capital Formation 870419.00 963504.00 964529.00 8907.00 TWD Million
GDP From Agriculture 46828.00 60392.00 72053.00 39800.00 TWD Million
GDP From Construction 94847.00 96112.00 121071.00 41088.00 TWD Million
GDP From Manufacturing 1206114.00 1138212.00 1275942.00 130647.00 TWD Million
GDP From Mining 3156.00 3744.00 15925.00 2701.00 TWD Million
GDP From Public Administration 271017.00 267595.00 280931.00 85791.00 TWD Million
GDP From Services 2559778.00 2686530.00 2686530.00 317742.00 TWD Million
GDP From Transport 116527.00 117446.00 119140.00 20691.00 TWD Million
GDP From Utilities 28535.00 29459.00 61237.00 5349.00 TWD Million

　

The gross domestic product (GDP) measures of national income and output for a given country's economy. The gross domestic product (GDP) is equal to the total expenditures for all final goods and services produced within the country in a stipulated period of time. This page provides - Taiwan GDP - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news. Taiwan GDP - actual data, historical chart and calendar of releases - was last updated on August of 2017.

　

Compare GDP by country :

　

Last
United States 18569.10 Dec/16　 　
Euro Area 11885.66 　
China 11199.15 　
Japan 4939.38 　
Germany 3466.76 　
United Kingdom 2618.89 　
France 2465.45 　
India 2263.52 　
Italy 1849.97 　
Brazil 1796.19 　
Canada 1529.76 　
South Korea 1411.25 　
Russia 1283.20 　
Spain 1232.09 　
Australia 1204.62 　
Mexico 1046.00 　
Indonesia 932.26 　
Turkey 857.75 　
Netherlands 770.85 　
Switzerland 659.83

◆

　

   ◆  The China Times system (June 2017), WHO: Taiwan ranks world No. 3 in the  case-number of being under anti-dumping investigation.

    

　

   ◆   http://www.focus-economics.com/countries/taiwan

　

Taiwan Economy Data
　 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Population (million) 23.2 23.3 23.4 23.4 23.5
GDP per capita (USD) 21,044 21,344 21,894 22,696 22,469
GDP (USD bn) 489 498 512 532 528
Economic Growth (GDP, annual variation in %) 3.8 2.1 2.2 3.9 0.8
Consumption (annual variation in %) 3.1 1.8 2.3 3.3 1.5

　

　

https://www.dgbas.gov.tw/point.asp?index=1

resource from Executive Yuan ROC Taiwan at 3-13-2017

經濟成長率Economic growth rate(yoy) (%) 2.88 [ 2016  4th QTR initial statistics ]
經濟成長率Economic growth rate(yoy) (%) 1.92 [ 2017 prediction/forecast ]
名目GDP (百萬元) 17,461,748 [2017 prediction/forecast ]
平均每人GDP pc (USD)   23,827 [2017 prediction/forecast ]
平均每人GNI  pc (USD)   24,607 [ 2017 prediction/forecast ]

★

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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. 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.  Daily Mail (UK)  4-1-2019: Taiwan blasts China for "reckless and provocative" incursion by 2 fighter jets across a largely respected line dividing the 2 sides in the Taiwan Straits.      Japan Times, 4-1-2019: China's move also comes less than a week after the U.S. sent ships through the strait ( mission was unusual) — the third time in as many months...those sailings have likely been interpreted by China as implicit support for self-ruled Taiwan.     Reuters 2-25-2019: US Navy ships ... riling China.   ABC.net Australia: Chinese fighter jets cross Taiwan Strait after Tsai urges Pacific pushback against Beijing.    New York Times 1-19-2019:  Most of Taiwan’s 23 million people are in favor of maintaining the island’s de facto independence without taking any formal moves that might bring a military response from China.   Le Monde France 1-2-2019:  Le président chinois « n’exclut pas » la force pour récupérer Taïwan.    BBC UK 1-2-2019:  The US is by far Taiwan's only ally...most other countries seem happy to accept the current ambiguity...   New York Times 11-28-2018: Will Taiwan Be the First Domino to Fall to China?   New York Times, 11-23-2018:  China said the results (Taiwan votes in elections) reflected a desire of Taiwanese for better relations with the mainland... Economic growth, employment and pension reforms were among key issues in the elections.   Le Monde (France), 11-24-2018: A Taïwan, des élections sous influence chinoise.  Washington Post, 8-20-2018:  Taiwan's precarious role in the China-US spat (Trump adm.'s Taiwan policy is unpredictable... situation is undeniably risky for Taiwan);   CBS News 11-14-2018:  If the United States had to fight China in a war over Taiwan, Americans could face a decisive military defeat. / National Defense Strategy Commission  ; Annual Report to US Congress ( Military and Security Developments Involving the PRC ), 8-17-2018:  Much of Beijing’s defense budget is focused on developing the capability to unify Taiwan by force; USA Today 5-18-2018: Xi JinPing has signaled that China will seek to reclaim its historical properties by 2049.   Freebeacon 5-17-2018 :   2020—the deadline that [Chinese supreme leader] Xi Jinping has given the [People's Liberation Army] to be ready to invade Taiwan.    The US subcommittee hearing (4-17-2018) Rep. Ted Soho,  Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific: Seems likely Xi will force the issue (unification) in his life time.   Bloomberg 3-14-2018: Trump's "Taiwan card" (to annoy China when needed) is China's real worry.   Deutsche Welle 3-17-2018: China has reacted angrily to the bill (Trump signed <Taiwan Travel Act> which paves way for official exchanges with Taiwan, and identifies indirectly (?) Taiwan as a country ― "visits to a country by United States cabinet members ...".)    Bloomberg news 3-14-2018:  Taiwan will suffer even more, as it gets caught  in the middle between a stronger China and a inward-looking US...   New York Times at 10-19-2017:  China's Xi (in 19th CP Congress Speech) "called for the return of Taiwan, a self-governing island, to mainland Chinese control", only “with patriots playing the principal role.”..."the line that won the loudest applause"  ――  "We will never allow anyone, any organization, or any political party, at any time or in any form, to separate any part of Chinese territory from China".   FreeBeacon at 10-19-2017 : "China’s Xi Jinping Slams the Door on Taiwanese Appeals for Independence.".    Spiegel Germany, 1-9-2017, Global Times of China: "There is no room for negotiations" ("Es gibt keinen Raum für Verhandlungen").   Le Monde Diplomatique of France, Mai 2016, depicted Taiwan (click for details ! ) as a trembling sweating rat , turning its back on an approaching huge cat (China), lifting high the banner "$O$"  .   New York Times at 11-4-2017:   Chinese aircraft routinely probe Taiwan’s airspace ... aircraft carrier traversed the Taiwan Strait.  

  Taiwan reviews

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"We call ourselves the Republic of China, Taiwan", president Tsai has told BBC UK at Jan. 15, 2020, but later BBC changed it to "the Republic of China (Taiwan)".  This self-governing island country lies roughly 100 miles off the coast of southeastern China, about 30% the size of New York. The current population around 23 million is roughly the same as Australia’s, its climate is subtropical.   

　

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

　

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

　

The People's Republic of China (PRC) has identified that Taiwan as part of its territory and its most important core interest, since the Kuomintang (Nationalists or KMT) government retreated to the island in 1949 following defeat in the Chinese civil war.  China has traditionally used a  double strategy  of “carrot and stick”  towards Taiwan, on one hand, it has vowed to reunite this "breakaway province" by force if necessary, and has been ramping up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan since president Tsai I.W. (2016 ~) refused to recognise the "1992 consensus" a 'pseudo'-agreement made by Taiwan's KMT party and the Chinese Communist Party, that proclaimed "the existence of only one China ”, but “ with different interpretations ” (being free to decide which side was legitimate.).  In early 2019,  CCP Xi openly equates One Country Two Systems with the 1992 Consensus to eliminate other interpretations.   Under China's political development and strengthening its trade ties to our allies, Taiwan is diplomatically isolated, has only 15 formal relation allies till middle of 2020 (Taiwan lost Salvador etc 3 allies within half yr. China rankled TW president's visit to NASA - LA Times 8-20-2018), most of them are little, unknown countries.  On the other hand, China took the strategy " Allowance of economic benefits to Taiwan"("讓利", such as ◆ charming Taiwan by offering preferential treatment in a soft power bid  /  le monde diplmatique  may 2019;  ◆  40% exports from Taiwan to China / CTN 5-30-2020;   ◆  mainland China remains the largest market outside Taiwan for Taiwanese workers and companies, with around 1 million Taiwanese working there /  German Institute for Int'l and security affairs, 2-7-2020   ◆  encouraging tourists to Taiwan. /  WEF <Travel and tourism competitiveness report> of 2019 shows Taiwan had the sub-region's largest decline in competitiveness,  Taiwan's overall score ranks 10th in Asia.   ◆  L.A. Times, 8-1-2019: The indefinite suspension of individual travel visa is likely to prove a major economic hit to Taiwan, as well as a blow to cultural interplay. ) so that Taiwanese people may have higher tendency toward unification with China,  Taiwanese understood this interdependence is unavoidable, but over-dependence is risky.  Modern Diplomacy (EU) at 6-9-2020: Roughly 26 percent of Taiwan’s trade is with China, which is its largest trading partner. China has replaced US as No 1 destination for Taiwanese export accounting for approximately 40% of total exports (Hong Kong included).  New York Times 12-3-2019: Trade between China and Taiwan exceeded $181 billion in 2017, up from about $35.5 billion in 1999. 

　

President Tsai (ruling party DPP) in her inauguration speech at 5-20-2020 reiterated that Taiwan calls for stability in China relations but would reject being ruled by China in the same way Hong Kong is now (semiautonomy), and announced TW will revise the constitution which may be interpreted by Beijing as a ploy to formalize Taiwan's independence.  In the annual meeting of China’s parliament, there was no mention of the word  "peaceful" in front of “reunification”, departing from the standard expression Chinese leaders have used for at least four decades,  an apparent policy shift that comes as ties with Taipei continue on a downward spiral (Reuters 5-22-2020).  Washington Post (7-22-2020) reports: In a major speech in January 2019, Xi (Chinese president) offered an ultimatum to Taiwan to come to the table for unification talks or face annexation by force.  Then, in Mar., the PLA warplane crossed the Taiwan Strait "median line" that has served as a "de facto border" (Newsweek, 8-11-2020) or "the de facto cease-fire line" ( Japan's asia nikkei review, 8-13-2020) for the first time since the end of Chinese civil war in 1949 (Newsweek, 8-12-2020). However, Taiwan's government was tight-lipped about this ultimatum, a everyone's life-and-death issue, otherwise pro-Independence DPP's candidate Tsai I. W. may not easily continue in presidential office in Jan. 2020, because, according to National Interest (6-16-2020): more than 60.3 percent of the respondents opposed Taiwan's independence if it is followed by China’s military invasion... Foreign Affairs (9-2-2020): fewer than ten percent support pursuing independence.

　

The United States,  Taiwan's most important protector,  “acknowledges” there is one China and Taiwan is part of China, but has never officially “recognized” Taiwan as part of China.  The US Congress passed a law ("Taiwan Relations Act") to commit the US to defend Taiwan's sovereignty, and provide necessary 'defensive' services.    Many countries seem welcome this ambiguity.   Yomiuri Shimbun, Opinion, 6-22-2017 stated the US is the key to keep the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait ("米国は台湾の防衛力強化を担っており、台湾海峡の平和と安定のカギを握る"。).  But the U.S. does not have an “iron-clad” commitment to defend Taiwan, despite Taiwan's leaders made an assumption that American will always come to protect this island, and made a core policy to resist Chinese PLA for about 2 weeks only, former president Ma was lashed out by many DPP politicians and pan-Green media for his opinion ― The US won't come to rescue in time.  The US Naval Institute's <Proceedings> (Aug. '20) and two authors (former CIA director and top official) were sort of put down for similar reason.

　

The US Dept. Defense report (9-1-2020) shows that China-Taiwan military balance has tilted in favor of the China's side,  Foreign Policy (2-15-2020) even names Taiwan’s military is a 'Hollow Shell', and comments (8-20-2020) Taiwan should just focus on putting up a good show of being tough, buy enough U.S. weapons for display, and pray that Americans come to our rescue.  Beijing regards reunification of the mainland and Taiwan is priceless  and  a "sacred mission” ,  'do or die' prestige issue