Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Democracy pioneer Peng Ming-min dies at age 98

Taipei Times

Taiwanese democracy pioneer Peng Ming-min is pictured in an undated photograph.
Photo: Lee Hsin-fang, Taipei Times

Taiwanese democracy pioneer Peng Ming-min (彭明敏), whose advocacy helped the nation transition from an authoritarian state, died yesterday morning at the age of 98.

In announcing his passing on Facebook, the Peng Foundation for Culture and Education said there would be no public funeral, and that Peng would be cremated and interred at the Yanguang Cemetery in Kaohsiung’s Daliao District (大寮).

The ‘great translation’ of the CCP

Taipei Times Editorial

If Russian President Vladimir Putin is looking for approval for his invasion of Ukraine, he need look no further than the Chinese Internet. While the world overwhelmingly condemns Russia’s assault, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been pushing for an alternative reality with pro-Russia, pro-Putin, pro-war propaganda on its social media platforms.

However, a group of Chinese dissidents is revealing to the world Beijing’s zealous support of Russia. Naming its social media campaign the Great Translation movement, the anonymous members created a Twitter account to collect messages containing pro-Russia sentiment from state-run China Central Television, Sina Weibo and WeChat, among others, and offer translations in languages including English, Japanese and Korean.

Bringing names in line with reality

Jerome Keating

How important are names? Well, that depends.

The old question of Taiwan’s name resurfaced again when Chen Zhen (陳蓁), a Chinese adjunct (part time) professor at the Polytechnic University of Milan, recently bullied a Taiwanese student into changing the name of his country of origin on his thesis.

Chen pressured him to change it from “Taipei, Taiwan,” to “Taipei, China.”

So, how important are names, especially the accuracy of one’s country of origin on an academic thesis?

Zelenskiy a role model for Taiwan

The Liberty Times Editorial

More than a month into the war, Ukrainian forces are fighting tenaciously under the leadership of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, while Russian forces have been suffering remarkable, unforeseen casualties and losses.

Since the beginning, the war has gone awry for Russia, the second-biggest military power in the world, and its indiscriminate attacks on civilians and other atrocities have been met with censure and condemnation.

So far, Taiwanese are waiting to see what the government can learn from this war, described as the most significant in Europe since 1945.

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