「漢光軍演」恢復實彈演練

2009 年以來，台灣馬英九政府一直謹慎處理軍事演習，減少實 彈對抗操演，以緩和兩岸緊張局勢。然而上週「漢光軍演」，馬英九首度全程檢閱，秀出各種新式武器

 4 月17 日，台灣軍方在漢光舉 行一年一度的軍事演習——「漢光 29 號軍演」，這是馬英九2008 年上 任以來，首度全程檢閱台軍年度最大 規模演習。雖然陣容龐大，但從實際 意義上講，此次軍演更多被看成是安 撫島內民眾的政治砝碼，同時也被看 成是在炫耀本土作戰實力的秀場。 為了緩和兩岸緊張局勢，改善與 中國大陸的關係，自2009 年，馬英 九政府決定減少漢光演習中實彈對抗 部分，而更多採用計算機模擬作戰對 部隊進行訓練。盡管馬政府對外大肆 宣稱，基於對環境問題的考量，部隊 已經停止進行實彈演習，但事實上漢 光演習實戰對抗部分從未徹底結束， 其他軍演，如「聯勇102-3 號三軍聯 合操演」、「聯興102-1 號兩棲登陸 作戰操演」，實彈操作也未停止，火 力對抗仍佔整個軍演的很大一部分。

My article on the Han Kuang 29 military exercises, published in this week's issue of iSun Affairs Weekly (陽光時務), is available at newsstands in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

China’s Shifting Cyber Focus on Taiwan

A communications officer during Han Kuang 29

A new report by Taiwan’s spy agency claims that the PLA has shifted its cyber warfare priorities to the civilian sector 

Hackers from the Chinese military appear to have shifted the focus of their attacks against Taiwan from government institutions to the civilian sector, including think tanks, telecommunications, Internet nodes, and traffic signal control systems, the island’s top civilian spy agency said in a new report. 

The report, submitted by the National Security Bureau (NSB) to the Legislative Yuan prior to a briefing on countermeasures on April 29, did not venture reasons why the PLA’s General Staff Department was now turning its sights on civilian infrastructure, nor did it indicate whether this alleged shift was part of a larger trend or was specific to Taiwan. 

Rather than focus on government facilities and diplomatic missions abroad, think tanks, firms in the information technology sector or outsourced factories and businesses, network nodes — primarily industrial computers that are not protected by firewalls or invasion detection systems — broadband routers, factory-grade microcomputer controllers, cloud storage and traffic signal switches, were identified as the probable principal targets of Chinese hackers. 

My article, published today in The Diplomat, continues here.

Huaguang and the dance of modernity

Modernity showed its face today, and it was to be found in the hearts of those who defied the authorities in the name of humanity 

What is modernity? What is progress? Is it the sprouting of multibillion-dollar glitzy hotels and shopping malls, or is it how human beings deal with one another, in a society that strives for non-zero-sum outcomes?

Judging from the latest round of forced evictions and the demolition of houses at the Huaguang Community (華光) in Taipei, one would conclude that the march of progress was all about rejuvenation through the removal of the old and the eventual emergence of the new.

A large police force was present

I woke up at 4:45 this morning and jumped in a cab to Huaguang, where student protesters, who had gathered at the site since early evening the previous day, were facing off with several hundred policemen (it could have been worse; the previous Wednesday, I’d had to get up at 3:15am to attend the Han Kuang 29 military exercises on Penghu). An entire row of houses and small businesses were scheduled for demolition by construction workers dispatched by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ).

To make a long story short, through some of the residents of Huaguang have lived there for more than half a century, the land reportedly belongs to the central government, which means that they have been occupying it illegally. Although previous administrations had chosen not to enforce the law, the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) government earlier this year decided it could no longer wait and moved in swiftly, presumably because of the tremendous pressure it must have been receiving from land developers. The government’s handling of the dispute has been awful at best, with the MOJ filing multimillion-NT-dollar lawsuits against the impoverished and elderly residents for illegally profiting from the land, seizing a portion of their bank accounts, and charging them for the demolition of their homes (it also allegedly charged the residents NT$500 per police officer that had to be deployed to the site during a pervious protest). Many of the residents are in their eighties and of ill health; some are not entitled to social assistance, and most cannot afford to pay the rent in the limited social housing made available, on a priority basis, to them. The community is broken, with old friends losing their homes and friends, as they are dispersed in places as far away as Nangang and Wanfang.

On both ends of the street, protesters were prevented from accessing the site by rows of police officers and temporary barriers. Only journalists had been able to penetrate the urban slaughterhouse, and police were checking their i.d. before they went in. The big question was whether they would allow a foreign reporter to enter as well. After minutes trying, and failing, to identify the commanding officer, I saw a small group of Taiwanese reporters glide through the row of police officers on their way back to the site. I immediately jumped in, expecting to be stopped at any moment. The night before, rumors had circulated on the Internet that police would not allow foreign reporters to come close to the area.

Police behind the lines

It worked. A couple of cops exclaimed out loud that there was a foreigner among them, but nobody intercepted me. The trick on such situations is to act as if one owns the place, to pretend that everything is perfectly normal. Furtive glances, rushed movements, or nervousness will inevitably attract the attention of the authorities. It also helped that I had made sure to keep all the tags I had been issued by Air Force officials during my trips with the military attached to my camera. I’d also brought a notepad. I looked legit, as in fact I was.

So I was in, and I realized that we had total freedom to walk around, chat with the few remaining local residents who were busily gathering their belongings before the demolitions, to enter houses selected for demolition, and to snap pictures at will. After an hour of doing so, I had become part of the scenery, and police no longer paid attention to me. Some even apologized (mostly in Taiwanese) whenever they bumped into me or asked me to make way for them.

Protesters and police clash

The situation turned ugly on two occasions, when protesters tried to break through the barricades. The previous night, fourteen young people had been taken away by police for trying to do so, and were now being arraigned. There was some serious pushing and shoving, with some youth sustaining minor injuries as they were hit and crushed by the police shields. A small girl in a yellow shirt, who could not have been older than in her early twenties, was pretty banged up and had a split lip. She and a friend managed to slip by the cops and briefly entered the site, but minutes later both were dragged outside by female officers. The injured girl sank to the ground in a daze. One protester seemed to have fainted and spent about one hour inside the zone lying on the ground and speaking incoherently to nobody in particular. He, too, was eventually taken away, along with a few others.

A protester is dragged away

Some police officers grumbled among themselves that the MOJ had mucked things up and that this was why they were in such a mess. The demolition trucks should have been brought in the night before, but this hadn’t occurred, they said. One elderly police who was facing the students directly observed that this was the “highest quality of protesters” he had seen since he’d entered the force — of course, as many of them were from National Taiwan University; hardly the betel nut-chewing type. Another one said the protesters were “just kids” and just stood there. He obviously didn’t want a violent confrontation with them.

Police officer, really?

Conversely, there were also among the ranks of the police officers men who didn’t wear uniforms and whose behavior and countenance made them look like gangsters. One of them, who wore a white T-shirt and gloves, and looked like he’d just chewed on betel nut, was among the roughest people pushing back the young protesters (he saw her push the injured little girl mentioned above). There was a handful of them, and it was impossible to know whether they indeed were police or were local thugs hired for the occasion.

The rude MOJ enforcer (center)

As some local residents gave tearful interviews to the media, the MOJ enforcer and her minions, carrying piles of documents, showed up and visited every single house. The enforcer had a record of showing great condescension towards the residents and protesters, and once again she didn’t disappoint, hollering at one of the elderly evictees who appeared to be struggling with the documents and was trying to contact someone on the phone. Only later, when the bulldozers were ripping buildings apart, did the MOJ woman appear to relax. She even smiled. An additional fine of NT$1.6 million (US$53,700) was announced against the owner of a noodle shop, on top of the NT$6 million lawsuit they were already facing.

The district head and other local officials were also overheard taunting some of the residents. One woman who was helping an evictee, Mr Zhan (詹), commented afterwards about how they were treated. Here’s just one excerpt from her testimony:

這時突然一個地方人士現在鎮暴警察堆，看來是同一夥的 不屑的語氣用大嗓門的對詹伯伯說：『呦，這麼多人幫你搬家阿，真好命阿，不是一個月前早就告訴過你趕快搬走了嗎！站著茅坑不拉屎！你們這些垃圾！』

Then word got round that all the journalists on site were required to present themselves at a table and show their press passes, whereupon the Taipei Detention Center would issue them an official pass. Anyone who did not have the pass would be forced out.

I expected to be among those who would be asked to leave. After all, the night before, some reporters had been turned away when police pretended that they did not know the media organization they worked for, or that they were not on “the list.” I showed my Taipei Times card, which technically isn’t a press pass. The man looked at it briefly, wrote my name in Chinese and organization (misspelling it) down on a pad, and said I was OK, but that they had run out of badges. Me and another journalist immediately protested, saying that without a badge, cops who couldn’t know we’d been cleared were bound to take us away. Someone eventually found a bag full of badges, and we both received one. It was odd to be given a badge by a detention center. This was also a new practice, never used before. I wonder if this might not have been an attempt by the authorities to limit the ability of activists to spread images and video of the destruction on the Internet, which during past demolitions had served to embolden the opposition to the government’s actions at Huaguang.

Ghost money

At 9am, the protesters held their last stunt and threw ghost money in front of the police. Speeches followed, and then the protesters dispersed, most of them going heading for the prosecutor’s office, where the fate of their friends who’d been taken away the night before was being decided.

Police told reporters to stand behind a low-lying gate for their protection during the demolition. We waited for about half an hour, during which time one of the local residents being evicted, whom I had seen earlier marking boxes with addresses in the Philippines and Malaysia, brought us a crate of juice, crackers, and a handful of umbrellas. I had one of her drinks, a Vietnamese cocktail of some sort made with leaves. It was very green. Not bad, but after that I limited myself to taking water bottles from the police, though I stayed away from their sandwiches.

A home is destroyed

The demolition proceeded quickly, and the decrepit structures that had served as homes for more than half a century were no match for the gigantic steel monsters that were unleashed to tear them down. The huge claw tore sheet metal roofs and walls like some titan sent from above, while a man hosed the area to limit the dust emissions. We snapped out pictures. Most journalists looked on with sadness; some were laughing among themselves. A few residents sat on the sidelines, crying. Mr Zhan smoked one cigarette after another.

While this was going on, on the other side of the police line a few local residents were heckling the protesters and accusing them of being disruptive and selfish. One woman blamed the protesters for creating a scene and keeping her awake all night. Another one said it was a good thing that the neighborhood be razed, as its residents stood in the way of progress, and their houses were decrepit anyway. As she is not a journalist, Dr Ketty Chen, who had accompanied me to the protest, was unable to reach the site as I did, but her being out there with the protesters allowed her to listen to those conversations. As she pointed out to the churlish passer-by, today it was the poorest residents of the community who were being targeted by the rich and the powerful. After the glitzy Roppongi-style neighbor rises, it’ll be her forty-year-old house that looks decrepit. What will she do, then, when the government rules that her part of the neighborhood is too unsightly and decides to wipe it clean?

Another protester is taken away

I remember the first thing that British journalist Martin Jacques told me when I interviewed him in Taipei a few years ago, just after his book, When China Rules the World, had been released. This was his first visit to Taiwan in years, and he was shocked, on his way from the airport into the city, how little construction there was, and how quiet it was compared with the construction boom that was going on across China and other countries in the region. He was disappointed, Jacques said. It didn’t feel “modern.”

I thought to myself back then that Taiwan’s construction boom had occurred about a decade and a half prior to that in China. It had gone through that phase already. Therefore, modernity and progress had to mean something else, something more than skyscrapers MRT lines, which were still popping up all over the city. Maybe the new phase — call it Taiwan’s post-modern era — involves social justice, and the realization that the injustice visited upon the weakest today could very well be the fate in store for those who tomorrow find themselves in an equally disadvantageous position. Maybe modernity is the embracing of a non-zero-sum society, the coming together of a people in opposition to the wealthy vultures, as a prophylactic against future abuse.

The face of modernity?

While the rich seem to have President ma by the balls, I saw the face of modernity in Taiwan today. It wasn’t the bulldozers or the aloof MOJ officials who had the weight of the law to animate them. And it wasn’t the plans that are being drawn for this future neighborhood for the super rich. No. It was to be found in the eyes of the young protesters who set aside politics and ethnicity (most of the Huaguang residents are “mainlanders” who fled from communist China) and who defied the authorities, once again, for the sake of humanity, dignity, and justice. It’s their future, and what they make of modernity and progress is theirs to decide. (All photos by me.)

Generosity should start at home

A residence in Huaguang that will get razed eventually

There are plenty of extraordinarily rich people in Taiwan who could help, but who are not raising a finger

As you read this, 85-year-old Chiang Bei-bei’s (蔣伯伯) ramshackle house in Taipei’s Huaguang Community (華光社區) will have been pulverized by bulldozers sent by the central government. Like many other residents of the community, Chiang barely ekes out a living and the government’s decision to raze the community to erect a glitzy neighborhood condemns him to destitution. While business tycoons and the central government pour millions of dollars into China’s Sichuan Province following Saturday’s earthquake, the fate of Chiang and others is ignored.

No sooner had the magnitude 6.6 quake hit Yaan City than the Executive Yuan, along with tycoons like Hon Hai chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) and Want Want China Times Group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), announced they would make donations to help with relief efforts and reconstruction. Gou and Tsai alone donated more than US$10.5 million, with actors, singers and other business leaders also making contributions.

While this outpouring of generosity is commendable, it raises serious questions about those people’s priorities.

My unsigned editorial, published today in the Taipei Times, continues here.

The DF-21D or “Carrier Killer”: An Instrument of Deception?

DF-21 road-mobile launchers

Sun Tzu said the acme of skill is one’s ability to subdue the enemy without fighting. Could the DF-21D be an instrument of deception, anti-access on the cheap? 

There’s no doubt that China’s Dong Feng 21D (DF-21D) anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) is, in theory, a formidable anti-access weapon. Since its alleged deployment circa 2010, many defense analysts have argued that the so-called “carrier killer” would be a game changer in any armed conflict in Northeast Asia and prevent the participation of U.S. carrier groups in regional contingencies, such as war in the Taiwan Strait. But is the missile really that much of a threat, or is all the hype part of an asymmetrical campaign by China to defeat its enemies without a fight?

If last week’s statement before the Senate Armed Services Committee by Defense Intelligence Agency Director Michael T Flynn is any indication, the U.S. military is buying into the capabilities of the DF-21D. The unclassified version of Flynn’s annual threat assessment even states that China has augmented its 1,200 conventionally armed short-range ballistic missiles deployed opposite Taiwan with “a limited but growing number of conventionally armed, medium-range ballistic missiles, including the DF-21D.”

But ever since the People’s Liberation Army then chief of general staff General Chen Bingde gave the first official confirmation in July 2011 that the PLA was developing the DF-21D ASBM, specifics about the missile have been few and far between, with officials refraining from discussing the program in detail.

 My article, published today in The Diplomat, continues here.

Taiwan shows off RT-2000 MRL at first live-fire Han Kuang exercise since 2008

Ray Ting-2000 MRLs perform during HK29

Journalists foreign and domestic were treated to a pretty good show on Wednesday morning 

The Taiwanese military held its annual Han Kuang exercises (Han Kuang 29) on the outlying island of Penghu on 17 April with a show of firepower that was aimed more at a domestic audience than as a demonstration of new combat capabilities. 

My article, published today in Jane's Defence Weekly, continues here (subscription required).

Exchange of SEF/ARATS offices could be a blessing

Radomes in Hualien

Semi-official ARATS offices in Taiwan would serve as spy magnets and could help counterintelligence track the bad guys 

Much has been said in recent days about plans between Taipei and Beijing to establish branches of the semi-official agencies in charge of cross-strait negotiations in their respective countries, with critics comparing the move to allowing an enemy into one’s house.

Building upon years of cross-strait dialogue on trade, culture and tourism, the agencies that have served as the platforms for negotiations since 2008 — the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) — are looking to build a permanent presence in each other’s country. This is not an unusual move and it makes sense in the context of the ongoing liberalization of cross-strait ties.

 However, as the Taiwan Solidarity Union warned on Monday, the presence of ARATS offices in Taiwan comports risks, and could certainly facilitate intelligence gathering and united front work in the country, much like the Xinhua news agency office in Hong Kong served as a base for Chinese spies in the years prior to the handover from Britain in 1997.

That said, there might also be advantages to having ARATS offices in Taiwan. My unsigned editorial, published today in the Taipei Times, continues here.

Taiwan’s new source for submarine tech — Japan?

A japanese sub takes part in an exercise

Japan is one of the world’s top manufacturers of diesel submarines, the type that Taiwan is seeking to acquire or build 

It has been more than a decade since U.S. President George W. Bush announced that Washington was willing to help Taiwan acquire eight diesel-electric submarines at a cost of about US$12 billion. As the U.S. stopped making submarines of that type a many years ago, the program has stalled, igniting speculation that Taiwan could instead attempt to build them on its own. And if recent reports are true, there could be a role for Japan. 

The official position of the island’s Ministry of National Defense is that it remains committed to procuring submarines from the U.S. However, it is now almost certain that if Taiwan is ever to succeed in modernizing its submarine fleet — which at present consists of two World War II-era Guppy-class boats used for training and two combat-capable Hai Lung-class boats obtained from the Netherlands in the 1980s — it will have to find alternatives to a direct sale from the U.S. 

Despite the contradiction with the official line, Taiwanese navy officials have privately told this writer more than once that teams from the defense ministry have visited European countries to evaluate the possibility of foreign acquisitions or cooperation on a domestic program. In late 2011, a U.S. defense expert with a long history of involvement with the submarine program said that Taiwan had “given up” on obtaining U.S. submarines and was now committed to a domestic program. 

My article, published today in The Diplomat, continues here.

China extremely concerned as Taiwan, Japan sign pact on fishing rights

Mitsuo Ahashi, left, and Liao Liou-yi shake hands

The agreement could help Tokyo draw a wedge between Taipei and Beijing, which has long called on Taiwan to create a united front against Japan 

China reacted with alarm on 10 April after Japan and Taiwan reached an agreement on fisheries that shelved the sovereignty dispute over the Diaoyutai/Senkaku islands and opened the door for substantial relaxations in fishing regulations between the two countries.

The pact, signed by Mitsuo Ohashi, chairman of the Interchange Association of Japan, and Liao Liou-yi, chairman of the Association of East Asian Relations, was reached after 17 rounds of dialogue dating back to August 1996. 

My article, published today in Jane's Defence Weekly, continues here (subscription required).

Obama must throw North Korea a curve ball – a helping US hand

Propaganda of North Korea in its glory days

The US can exploit Kim Jong-un's pride by shelving the nuclear issue for now, engaging in talks, and offering substantial aid and investments 

After nearly two decades of cyclical delinquency, it is high time that the international community stops playing North Korea’s game and explore alternatives to resolve its belligerence once and for all.

The current approach has failed, and the longer it is maintained, the closer it will take the region to the brink of war. The key to changing Pyongyang’s attitude isn’t more sanctions or the deployment of more US troops within the region. While such actions can act as a deterrent against North Korea, they only postpone – and in fact render less likely – the resolution of the conflict and its underlying causes. 

My op-ed, published today in the Christian Science Monitor, continues here.

An apology to Chinese President Xi Jinping

President and CCP Chairman Xi Jinping in Beijing

Believe it or not, time is running out for President Ma, who will be unable to give China what it wants 

After years of rapprochement, agreements and high-level talks, one could hardly blame the Chinese public for thinking that the efforts initiated by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and then-Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) would eventually lead to a final, political resolution to the conflict in the Taiwan Strait. 

On the Chinese side, there were hopes during the early days of Ma’s first term in office that once the relatively easy negotiations on trade issues were done with, the two sides would quickly initiate political dialogue on Taiwan’s status and perhaps sign a peace accord of some sort. The more optimistic even hoped that the first steps could be taken while Hu was still chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and failing that, still in the office of the president. 

That time came and went, and Hu went home empty-handed. Ma was re-elected last year on a platform that promised more of the same — and more of the same is exactly what the Chinese got. Negotiations continued, but remained focused on economics, investment, trade, tourism and education. 

Now Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is in office and chairman of the CCP, and it would be reasonable to expect that he hopes to surpass the achievements of his predecessor on the Taiwan “question.” But that is unlikely to happen. 

My unsigned editorial continues here.

Red star over the Indian Ocean?

A Chinese submarine surfaces during an exercise

The growing frequency of extended patrols by Chinese submarines in recent years is alarming some people in India 

Attack submarines from the Chinese navy are becoming increasingly active in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and could pose a “grave threat” to Indian interests there, a report by the Indian defense ministry said last week. 

Using subsurface contact information reportedly shared by the U.S. military, the report, prepared by the Integrated Defence Staff, said that at least 22 contacts had been made in the IOR in the past year alone, with the latest incident occurring in February. As India is confident that only two navies in the region — the U.S. Navy and the Indian Navy — have the capabilities to engage in such activity, the Indian military concluded that the boats involved were very likely from the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). 

Indian media said the report proved that a fleet of Chinese nuclear submarines was making “frequent forays into the Indian Ocean.” 

My article, published today in The Diplomat, continues here.

Young Taiwanese taking increasing interest in activist Deng Nan-jung’s life and death

Deng, aka Nylon Cheng (left) at a rally in Taipei

Among the visitors at the memorial hall was a student from China, who bought paraphernalia and spoke briefly 

An increasing number of young Taiwanese are taking an interest in the life and tragic end of Deng Nan-jung (鄭南榕), the executive director of the foundation named after the late democracy activist said yesterday on the 24th anniversary of Deng’s death by self-immolation. 

The mood at the Deng Liberty Foundation, located on the recently renamed Freedom Lane in Taipei, was one of introspection as groups of people yesterday came to pay their respects to the former editor-in-chief of Freedom Era Weekly (自由時代週刊). Facing charges of sedition for his calls on the government to protect freedom of expression, Deng set himself ablaze in his office on April 7, 1989. 

Ten years later, the same office, which by then had been turned into a human rights memorial hall, was opened to the public, showcasing a collection of photographs of Deng and other activists who fought for freedom in Taiwan under martial law. Hauntingly, Deng’s office remains as it was found after he committed the ultimate sacrifice, a reminder of a not-so-distant past. 

My article, published today in the Taipei Times, continues here.

It’s time to stop dancing with North Korea

North Korean soldiers on parade in Pyongyang

The international community’s current approach of arm’s-length talks, sanctions and incentives has failed for a decade 

Once again, we are witnessing an escalation in the Korean Peninsula that we all know has the potential for disaster should things spin out of control. And yet, once again, the major actors in Pyongyang, Seoul, Washington, Tokyo and New York, remain wedded to old practices that are known to have failed, with the result that North Korea today remains the same threat to regional, if not global, security that it was a decade ago. 

It is said that only the insane repeat the same act over and over again with the expectation of different outcomes. In the present case, however, its seems the international community is intent on maintaining policies that have failed with the hope that the outcome will remain the same — that is, a period of escalation, the sting of the stick, followed by the offering of carrots and, finally, de-escalation. 

But given the instability of the regime in Pyongyang, we cannot assume that whoever is in charge — Kim Jong-un or greying militarists, we’re not sure — will keep dancing. In other words, the recurrent cycle of escalation, each time more threatening than the last, is too dangerous for politicians to expect that decision-makers in Pyongyang will act rationally. 

My op-ed, published today in the Ottawa Citizen, continues here.

An affront to victims of terror

At CKS Hall on 2-28

Chiang Kai-shek is not a cultural icon to be cherished. He belongs in history books and museums 

It is difficult to decide which aspect of the Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) design competition, announced earlier this week by the National Chiang Kai-shek (CKS) Memorial Hall and the Ministry of Culture, is most infuriating: Minister of Culture Lung Ying-tai’s (龍應台) continued refusal to point to those responsible for the murder of thousands of Taiwanese under the Generalissimo’s watch, or that public funds are being spent on this ridiculous project at a time when society’s most vulnerable are seeing their homes destroyed by the government. 

Launched to coincide with the 10th anniversary of former first lady Soong Mayling’s (宋美齡) death and to honor the “deep love” that the dictator and his spouse had for each other, the design competition, which comes with a NT$100,000 (US$3,347) prize for the winner, purportedly seeks to promote marital love, family values and the uniqueness of the nation’s Chinese “heritage.”

No sooner had the contest been announced than its organizers, along with Lung, came under fire from victims of the White Terror and were ridiculed online. 

My unsigned editorial, published today in the Taipei Times, continues here.

Avian Flu Strain H7N9 Kills 2 in China

Birds are once again the likely culprits

Ten years after the SARS outbreak, a new mysterious strain of avian flu kills two in China and leaves another in critical condition 

It was no April Fools’ Day. Taiwan on April 1 strengthened monitoring measures at its ports of entry after Chinese health authorities confirmed on March 31 that two Chinese had died after contracting a lesser-known type of H7N9 avian influenza (Bird flu) and another was in critical condition. Though there are no signs of an epidemic but the cases are a reminder that nontraditional threats, not ballistic missiles or fifth-generation aircraft, are most likely to negatively affect large numbers of people in this densely populated and highly mobile part of the world. 

Two men from Shanghai, aged 87 and 27, died from H7N9 in early March within two weeks of falling ill, while in Chuzhou, Anhui Province, a 35-year-old female patient remains in critical condition after contracting the disease. Chinese health authorities have noted that those are the three first known cases of H7N9 infection worldwide. 

According to the World Health Organization, which is closely monitoring the situation, there is no evidence that H7N9 can be transmitted from person to person. It adds that H7N9, about which little is known, is a low pathogenic strain of avian flu — a claim that would be supported by China’s National Health and Family Planning Commission, which said there were no signs of infection among the 88 people who had been closest to the patients in the past months. 

My article, published today in The Diplomat, continues here.