Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Countering CCP election meddling

Taipei Times Editorial

There are few certainties in life, but when the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs denies a report about some nefarious behavior conducted on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), there is almost certainly truth to the alleged behavior.

When ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) described reports of the arrest in March of a British parliamentary researcher for having spied for Beijing as “completely fabricated and nothing but malicious slander,” that justified the UK’s Conservative Party taking a closer look at how it engages with the CCP.

Inoculation against poll interference

Taipei Times Editorial

The WHO’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and the UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool on Aug. 29 announced a licensing agreement with Taiwan’s Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp to make the company’s COVID-19 vaccine accessible worldwide to people in need.

This is the first time a Taiwanese vaccine manufacturer has used the WHO patent access model to offer its know-how for a COVID-19 vaccine to the world. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed his gratitude to Medigen for sharing its patent to support countries in fighting the disease.

Expats crucial to countering China

Taipei Times Editorial

The battle for public opinion begins long before any shot is fired. Governments worldwide are well aware of this, and none more so than authoritarian regimes like China and Russia, who dwell in fear of a discontent populace. Having perfected their propaganda techniques internally, global ambitions have led them to launch influence campaigns against their rivals.

For those far away, the attempts seem laughable. US voters are likely familiar with stilted English and awkward memes vaulted their way by Russia in the past few election cycles, concerning in their number but easily spotted.

Construction laws need a revamp

Taipei Times Editorial

On Thursday evening, many people living near Lane 94, Dazhi Street in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) heard a loud thud from a nearby construction site. Then tiles in their homes began to fall, large cracks appeared on walls and iron bars on windows bent. while a few buildings seemed to be tilting. Police and firefighters quickly arrived and found that several adjoining buildings were leaning and had large cracks in their walls, while the road surface had crumbled and partly collapsed. They evacuated more than 100 people and cordoned off the surrounding area.

After about two hours, at 10:49pm, as Taipei City Government officials and Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川) were at the site assessing the situation and leading operations, another large rumbling sound was heard and one of the buildings suddenly sank, with the first floor crushed underground.

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