Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

The controversy over the expropriation of farmland for a science park in Miaoli County’s Dapu Borough (大埔) may have calmed down for the time being, but there are many other cases involving the compulsory takeover of privately owned land for industrial expansion, including the Chengnan (城南), Yilan City base of the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park, the third phase of the Central Taiwan Science Park at Houli (后里) and the fourth phase of the same park at Erlin (二林), all of which come under the authority of the National Science Council. These cases are likely to provoke a string of protests by farmers who want to keep tilling the land, and such demonstrations are part of an emerging new wave of civic consciousness.

A question-and-answer page on Google Hong Kong’s Web site became inaccessible to some Chinese users yesterday, underscoring Beijing’s sensitivity about the Internet.

The Chinese government, obsessed with maintaining social stability and controlling the flow of information, requires all search engines operating on the mainland to self-censor. It uses a “Great Firewall” to block overseas sites with content it considers subversive or dangerous.