Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Recent amendments expanding the scope of Beijing’s counterespionage law have raised concerns about the possible dangers of living and conducting business in China. The changes extend the reach of the law, which has long been used to suppress internal dissent, to foreign citizens and companies, with an eye on Taiwan in particular.

The amendments, which are to take effect on July 1, involve 71 articles defining the targets of espionage, from state secrets and intelligence to any “documents, data, materials, and articles related to national security and interests.” Any “network attacks, intrusions, obstructions, control, or disruptions targeting state organs, units involved with secrets, or critical information infrastructure” would also be considered spying.

In his denial to the Legislative Yuan to legalize euthanasia (“Government cannot take lead in law on euthanasia: Hsueh,” April 27, page 2), I suggest Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) should come clean and admit that his ministry, through selective neglect of national health insurance, is responsible for countless assisted deaths. Denying insurance coverage for serious cancer patients is the same as pulling feeding tubes for assisted suicide.

I am referring to advanced-care cancer patients who are deprived of critically needed medicines due to the National Health Insurance policy to cut funding to counter high costs, with the excuse that the NHI “can’t cover everybody.”