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Taiwan on world media  (台灣躍上國際新聞) ;         News about China-Taiwan-US war to click  English version Chinese version    

L.A. Times,  2022-7-31: As tensions flare between the two superpowers — risking the worst crisis in the region in a quarter of a century — people in Taiwan appear by and large to be responding with a collective shrug...The threat of Chinese military action has loomed for so long that few seem to raise an eyebrow when Beijing lashes outca.news.yahoo.com/possible-pelosi-visit-elicits-shrugs-170042930.html
 

New York Times,  2021-11-18 ("What makes people happy" ): Most people in a Pew Research Center survey said that family made them the happiest.  The Australian(56%), New Zealander(55%), American(49%), English(46%), Swedish, Italian, Canadian etc surveyed ranked family first, their percentage is about 3-4 times of that (15%) in Taiwan, the % of Singapore and Japan is about 2 times of that in Taiwan.  Taiwanese ranked Material well-being above family.

 

Pew Research Center , 2021-11-18
   Where People find Meaning in Life

country Family Material well-being occupation
Australia 56% 22% 29%
NZ 55 19 29
Greece 54 13 25
US 49 18 17
UK 46 12 20
Sweden 45 22 37
Canada 42 22 26
Singapore 29 22 25
Japan 26 16 15
S. Korea 16 19 6
Taiwan 15% 19% 9%

 

       NY Times, 2022-5-24: the US is trying to walk a fine line between deterrence and provocation... risk pushing President Xi Jinping of China to order an attack on Taiwan NY Times, 2022-5-24: Former presidents have hinted that the United States would fight for Taiwan but have otherwise remained studiedly vague...Taiwan's defense budget... remains scandalously low  click military for details

 

 

 

  Intro. to Taiwan

 

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

      means you should eat & drink nothing for 29.68 years
 to buy a house
in Taipei
  area population data , 2023 Ratio of house price to income
UK 7 Taiwan 3 Taiwan Taipei (Taiwan) 29.68
Japan 10 Taiwan 5 Taiwan Tokyo (Japan) 12.65
Australia 207 Taiwan same Singapore 15.73

  

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

The People's Republic of China (PRC) has identified that Taiwan as part of its territory and its most important core interest, since the Kuomintang (Nationalists or KMT) government retreated to the island in 1949 following defeat in the Chinese civil war.  Beijing regards reunification of the mainland and Taiwan is priceless  and a   "sacred mission” ,  'do or die' prestige issue,  and has traditionally used a double strategy  of “carrot and stick”  towards Taiwan, on one hand, it has vowed to reunite this "breakaway province" by force if necessary, and has been ramping up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan since president Tsai I.W. (2016 ~) refused to recognise the "1992 consensus" a 'pseudo'-agreement made by Taiwan's KMT party and the Chinese Communist Party, that proclaimed "the existence of only one China ”, but “ with different interpretations ” (being free to decide which side was legitimate.).  In early 2019,  CCP Xi openly equates One Country Two Systems with the 1992 Consensus to eliminate other interpretations.   Under China's political development and strengthening its trade ties to our allies, Taiwan is diplomatically isolated, has only 14 formal diplomatic relation allies till Jan., 2023, most of them are little, unknown countries

 

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

 

President Tsai (ruling party DPP) in her inauguration speech at 5-20-2020 reiterated that Taiwan calls for stability in China relations but would reject being ruled by China in the same way Hong Kong is.  Washington Post (7-22-2020) reports: In a major speech in January 2019, Xi offered an ultimatum to Taiwan to come to the table for unification talks or face annexation by force.  Then, in Mar., the PLA warplane crossed the Taiwan Strait "median line" that has served as a "de facto border" (Newsweek, 8-11-2020) or "the de facto cease-fire line" ( Japan's asia nikkei review, 8-13-2020) for the first time since the end of Chinese civil war in 1949 (Newsweek, 8-12-2020). However, Taiwan's government was tight-lipped about this ultimatum, a everyone's life-and-death issue,  according to National Interest (6-16-2020): more than 60.3 percent of the respondents opposed Taiwan's independence if it is followed by China's military invasion...

 

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"。).   The United States,  Taiwan's most important protector,  “acknowledges” there is one China and Taiwan is part of China, but has never officially “recognized” Taiwan as part of China.  The US Congress passed a law ("Taiwan Relations Act") to commit the US to defend Taiwan's sovereignty, and provide necessary 'defensive' services.   After Biden's 4th remark about defending Taiwan in Sept. 2022, it looks like the US has moved from strategic ambiguity to deterrence...  But CNN (2022-9-20) comments Biden's remarks don't necessarily equate to how he would behave in a real crisis.  In Dec. 2022,  the US Senate passed legislation authorizing $10 billion in security aid for Taiwan.

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Defending Taiwan by Taiwanese ??
some human factors ~

President Tsai I. W. youngsters the public
VICE, 2022-9-28: president's prescriptions have been piecemeal, and there is no national plan to overhaul the military. (developing asymmetric warfare capabilities as US experts advise)

Roll Call, 2022-9-28: ...overhaul its military reservist program — our general public, especially young parents, those people from 40 to 50 and their children, will fight against that policy... “It's hard for the ruling party to do it !" Younger voters are a critical base of support for president Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party.
 

New York Times, 2022-6-19: politicians have electoral considerations ( military conscription reform)

United Daily (Taiwan), 2022-10-6: Taiwan government still insists deciding lengthening Taiwan's mandatory military service later - by 2023-1-1, the reason suppose is electoral considerations.
 

Roll Call, 2022-9-28: Most people do not want to join the military... The March opinion poll : lower levels of support (56 percent) among the 20-24 age group for lengthening Taiwan's mandatory military service to one year.

 

China Times (Taiwan), 2022-9-28: 81.5% of Taiwanese youth oppose lengthening Taiwan's mandatory military service to one year.   World media wrongly report Taiwanese people are willing to be on the battlefield.   chinatimes.com/opinion/20220927005188-262101?chdtv


 

PS: By law, all able-bodied men in South Korea must serve 18-21 months in the military under a conscription system; In Israel - men 32 months and women 24 months, minimum.

axios,2022-9-27:  ...the common belief in Taiwan that if China were to invade, Taiwan would have no choice but to surrender immediately.

Economist, 2022-3-5:  Taiwanese seem too uninterested to fight to defend their land.  Taiwan's sloth in reforming its defence capabilities and strengthening its deterrence.
 

Washington Examiner, 2022-9-20: It's one thing to tell a pollster that you're willing to fight and die for your country. It's a different thing to take painstaking steps to prepare for that eventuality. And the hard truth is that far too few Taiwanese are currently taking those steps
 

Brookings, 2021-1-22: Only 23% thought that democracy was more important than economic development.  16% believed that protecting political freedom was more important than reducing economic inequality.

 

 

  CovID-19 flare-up in Taiwan    (新冠肺炎專題)

◆   Guardian (UK), May 9,2022: Once a zero-Covid poster child, Taiwan learns to live with the virusexperts predict... up to 16,000 dead.   Rules and regulations change almost daily and incrementally. The death of a two-year-old boy last month highlighted communication failures exacerbated by Taiwan’s entrenched bureaucracy.  hospital ...colleagues are understaffed and overworked, there is not enough protective equipment or backup to replace staff who go on leave because they caught the virus...and are still subject to a pandemic ban on health workers leaving the country. theguardian.com/world/2022/may/09/once-a-zero-covid-poster-child-taiwan-learns-to-live-with-the-virus 

◆   New York Times , May 9,2022now moving from zero Covid to the path of coexisting with the virus... (1) quarantine requirements for travelers were stifling economic activity (2) Political considerations are also at play...in contrast to the authoritarian Communist Party of China The shift could also be risky for Taiwan's older adults.   brief from  nytimes.com/2022/05/09/world/asia/taiwan-china-covid.html

◆  Reuters, 2022-5-1:  Taiwan calls China's COVID lockdowns 'cruel' ;  China said Taiwan's new model of handling the pandemic would lead to many deaths.  news.yahoo.com/taiwan-calls-chinas-covid-lockdowns-022237316.html