tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post6335095596483277845..comments2023-10-22T18:25:39.688+08:00Comments on The View from Taiwan: Did something happen in Taiwan? It must be about China....Michael Turtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-9152498410524774322017-09-13T15:49:43.157+08:002017-09-13T15:49:43.157+08:00Thanks for the great comment on Tiffert, anonymous...Thanks for the great comment on Tiffert, anonymous.Michael Turtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-57042605115495130852017-09-11T23:03:04.693+08:002017-09-11T23:03:04.693+08:00I can't understand how you can teach English h...<br />I can't understand how you can teach English here, since you obviously can't read it.<br /><br />lol! just like most of the teachers here! it wasnt a requirement to get a job, aint taiwan great! <br /><br />peace, luv & formosaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-69419646351802237542017-09-11T21:30:05.554+08:002017-09-11T21:30:05.554+08:00Michael, a note in relation to the above comment (...Michael, a note in relation to the above comment (specifically the recent Hong Kong censorship versions) about China's active negative influence and direct & indirect censorship of Taiwan-related coverage in international media and academia: I don't know if you've read it already, or perhaps even linked to it previously somewhere, but the research of Glenn Tiffert is extremely worthwhile reading.<br /><br />Tiffert (at U. Michigan at the time, although he also shows up as a UC Berkeley post-doc) compiled an extremely readable and illuminating summary of his research on China's censorship of digital academic databases. Specifically of academic databases with historical content that is politically sensitive to Chinese censors. <br /><br />In essence, his research points to deliberate cleansing of the historical record by Chinese censors via academic databases ... and thereby indirectly censoring scholarship worldwide that relies on those databases.<br /><br />Of course, we see the active Chinese propaganda and censorship of current affairs and news online constantly; the maintenance of China's "Virtual Great Wall" of domestic online censorship; the 50-cent brigade of online trolls; and the deliberate intrusions on academic freedom most recently on display in the Chinese attempt to censor the Cambridge Press publishing house.<br /><br />But the potential to leverage digital, often automated techniques for censoring large academic databases and deliberately erasing sensitive texts - if not inserting new ones - highlights the need for the global community - and sensitive places like Taiwan in particular - to be vigilant to Chinese manipulation and censorship.<br /><br />It's ironic that Taiwan itself lived through this sort of thing during the authoritarian period - note the disappeared and destroyed copies of censored books like "Formosa Betrayed" and "Pail of Oysters" from US libraries during the 1960s - but China now has access to much more formidable digital weapons to facilitate the same style of authoritarian censorship and international media manipulation.<br /><br />The article noted is "Peering down the memory hole: history, censorship and the digital turn" by Glenn Tiffert, Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow in Residence at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, August 21 2017. It's free in pdf online.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-967771815336347202017-09-11T19:18:51.791+08:002017-09-11T19:18:51.791+08:00dazed and confuzed here. so its huge news, but the...<b>dazed and confuzed here. so its huge news, but the international media shouldn't talk about it cuz it happens all the time? is it huge news locally? my adult students dont seem to care</b><br /><br />I can't understand how you can teach English here, since you obviously can't read it. Michael Turtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-73858251586924479092017-09-11T13:05:28.592+08:002017-09-11T13:05:28.592+08:00dazed and confuzed here. so its huge news, but the...dazed and confuzed here. so its huge news, but the international media shouldn't talk about it cuz it happens all the time? is it huge news locally? my adult students dont seem to care<br />sz<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-42987406842953869052017-09-11T10:40:46.887+08:002017-09-11T10:40:46.887+08:00LOL. Locally it is huge news, because of what it s...LOL. Locally it is huge news, because of what it signals about Lai's future. Michael Turtonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17974403961870976346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-77737324996481100422017-09-10T17:00:09.737+08:002017-09-10T17:00:09.737+08:00So yer sayin premiers come and go like fashion mod...So yer sayin premiers come and go like fashion models on catwalks and there's no international ramifications. Sounds good. But 6 days ago u write HUGE lai from Tainan to ey like this is a major story. <br />Peace Stephen zimmer <br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-65905609963449150712017-09-09T11:11:08.001+08:002017-09-09T11:11:08.001+08:00Michael,
Thanks for including the link to the Van...Michael,<br /><br />Thanks for including the link to the Vancouver TaiwanFest article about the personal story of Taiwanese identity vis a vis Taiwan, Japan, China, and Canada. <br /><br />The article is surprisingly well written and thoroughly researched considering the publication - the Georgia Straight - is a local city newspaper in Vancouver typically available back in the day for free in cafes and bus stops. The reports kicks ass compared to the majority of writing about Taiwan in Reuters, BBC, and far too many much larger media outlets. Go Canada!<br /><br />The personal stories are a touching reminder of the complex and sometimes traumatic history of Taiwan. In a way it is appropriate that a regional Canadian paper would highlight that each individual's search for his/her own Taiwanese identity is a complex mix of historical influences, where people came from, what society they grew up in, and what social values they hold. <br /><br />Taiwan's identity story resonates in particular in Canada with Canadians' own search for their unique identity. Canada, like Taiwan (whether most Taiwanese realize it or not) is a mixed immigrant society built up via colonization as fellow members of the "New World". <br /><br />Canadians are constantly attempting to define themselves and their values, usually in relation to the giant cousin next door - the US - with whom Canada shares much of its racial and immigration mix, much of its modern culture, and the vast majority of its trade. <br /><br />All of this has parallels with Taiwan and China ... with the exception that unlike China vs Taiwan, the US doesn't have missiles pointed at Canada and the US (nor UK) browbeat Canadians to subject their sovereignty based on ethnicity or racial identification. Those are pretty important exceptions.<br /><br />The Strait article has one debatable point about pre-Dutch Chinese numbers in Taiwan (e.g. Tonio Andrade estimated a transient population of fishermen and pirates of Chinese and Japanese descent of around 1500-2500 in 1624, 10x less than this article claims); but aside from that the report effectively covers the key history with remarkable clarity - far better than most of the major international media, note to Reuters, BBC, and others!. <br /><br />Finally, it captures vignettes from real people's and artists' lives and experiences as Taiwanese coming through transitions (or being killed during those transitions). In one instance, the story of ultimately immigrating to Canada and coming to peace with a Taiwanese Canadian identity there was touching. For me, speaking as a Canadian, that is how our country is supposed to work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-7137012070115227192017-09-07T14:15:29.427+08:002017-09-07T14:15:29.427+08:00Thank you Michael.
Again, you do a tremendous ser...Thank you Michael.<br /><br />Again, you do a tremendous service to everyone who is inquisitive about Taiwan affairs and searching for a balanced and informed perspective on Taiwan. <br /><br />It saves me, at least, a lot of time and frustration to see your assessments and links of international media coverage. Then I can be more quickly notice the built-in biases and China influence infiltrating media coverage on Taiwan subjects, and identify reports and authors who are more worthy of attention.<br /><br />The expanding direct and indirect influence of China coloring the representation of all matters Taiwan in international media and, now, even in international academia is very concerning.<br /><br />The same intentional international push of China's propaganda can be seen in news coverage of Hong Kong and the South China Sea, and beyond that to the Korean Peninsula. <br /><br />For the Hong Kong version, just look at the recent censorship and removals - just in the past few weeks - of Shirley Yam at SCMP and Anders Corr at Forbes. Yam wrote a remarkable expose on Xi's right-hand man's daughter laundering billions in Hong Kong via Singapore; and Corr exposed pro-China tycoon Ronnie Chan's bias in influencing the US Asia Society and Harvard. Both reports were removed after one day, and both authors subsequently lost their jobs. All in a remarkable 2 week span.<br /><br />Taiwan's situation is so important, on so many levels socially, politically, diplomatically, militarily, and socially, and the Chinese bias pushing into the media is potentially so existential in its implications for international support of Taiwan, that it is more important than ever for folks like you (and all of us) to be vigilant, active, and persistent in monitoring coverage, calling bullshit on misrepresentations, and identifying quality work worthy of support.<br /><br />Thank you and keep it up!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10698887.post-27636551991854647632017-09-07T12:33:34.421+08:002017-09-07T12:33:34.421+08:00I don't think Lai will challenge Tsai for the ...I don't think Lai will challenge Tsai for the presidency in 2020; the DPP is for all its flaws more disciplined than that. If Tsai is really so incompetent that she's trailing badly before the 2020 cycle, I hope she will be wise enough to voluntarily let someone else run for president instead. He should definitely be the shoo-in frontrunner in 2024, though.<br /><br />Maybe Eric Chu will become the William Jennings Bryan of Taiwanese KMT politics. He might lose to Tsai in 2016, 2020, and Lai in 2024.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com