Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Government to crack down on ‘fake news’ sites

Taipei Times

A spate of “fake news” believed to be fabricated by Chinese netizens has prompted the Presidential Office and the Executive Yuan to call a meeting to discuss countermeasures, a government official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Presidential Office, the Cabinet and national security agencies held a meeting to discuss countermeasures after suspected intervention from China in many of the government’s policy proposals.

Radical wings evicted from ceremony

Taipei Times

A woman holds a banner promoting Taiwanese independence in front of people holding Republic of China national flags at a New Year’s Day flag-raising ceremony outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: CNA

Members of the pro-independence Taiwan Radical Wings party were evicted from a New Year’s Day ceremony in front of the Presidential Office Building for waving flags promoting Taiwanese independence yesterday, while the party accused the authorities of failing to protect free speech.

Cultural relativism morally corrupt

Herbert Hanreich

Public outcry erupted when it came out that students at a high school were allowed to perform at a cosplay event using Nazi uniforms and symbols for a parade that also impersonated Adolf Hitler with “his” salute as if that all were fun and entertaining. Obviously, there was no ironical or satirical element involved in that mock rally, such as, for instance, in Ernst Lubitsch’s opening scene of his 1942 movie To Be or Not To Be, in which Hitler, after being saluted with the obligatory “Heil Hitler,” replied with “Heil myself.”

Caution advised for year ahead

Taipei Times Editorial

Last year began with the election of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). Beijing refuses to recognize Taiwan as a nation, but considers it a core interest. While Tsai was certainly not Beijing’s preference for leader, it can at least content itself that she is a known quantity. The year ended with the election of Donald Trump as president of the US, a country core to China’s strategic, economic and hegemonic interests. While Trump might have been Beijing’s preference over former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton at the time, recent weeks have demonstrated that he is most certainly not a known quantity.

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