Beijing has repeatedly appealed to the emotions of Taiwanese, seeking to convince them that by speaking a similar language, sharing folklore festivities and having common kinship, people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are all “descendants of the legendary emperors Yan and Huang” (炎黃子孫) and must therefore be bonded together in a “great motherland” called China.
If it only knew how its actions have undermined its popularity with Taiwanese, as it has managed only to enforce the belief that the two sides of the Strait are worlds apart.
After China in July last year blocked all images of Winnie the Pooh online as a result of memes comparing the fictional bear to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the latest subjects to fall victim to the Chinese Communist Party’s censorship are Chinese-produced historical TV dramas.
From The Empress of China (武媚娘傳奇) and The Empresses in the Palace (後宮甄嬛傳) to Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace (如懿傳) and Story of Yanxi Palace (延禧攻略), Chinese historical TV drama series have garnered huge ratings in both China and Taiwan, captivating viewers with fascinating story lines based on true historical characters that are full of intriguing plots combined with elaborate costumes and fantastic scenery.
Screenings of Story of Yanxi Palace were abruptly pulled earlier this month after the Beijing Daily on its Sina Weibo microblog listed five “charges” against the historical drama, ranging from an emphasis on the dark side of human nature to an indulgence in luxury that runs counter to “the broadcasting of core communist values.”
Beijing has also cracked down on dyed hair, tattoos and pierced ears in an attempt to force people to conform to its “social values.” Male actors sporting dyed hair, tattoos and pierced ears on TV are shown with the offending features pixelated.
The latest on Beijing’s list is the so-called Foxi (佛系) phenomenon — an Internet slang term referring to Buddha-like passivity and indifference toward a goal.
In an article published in last month’s edition of the People’s Tribune magazine, professor Tung Zhenhua (董振華) of the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China argued that the Foxi phenomenon would lead to youngsters lacking zeal and proactivity, and would in the long term make the objective of “reinvigorating the Zhonghua minzu (中華民族) and the Chinese dream hard to achieve.”
Meanwhile, despite Beijing’s denials, there have been reports that China is holding as many as 1 million Uighurs against their will in re-education camps in Xinjiang, and that it is persecuting them and other Muslims.
While this censorship, the imposition of “Chinese” values and the restriction of freedoms of movement and religious belief might appear completely natural to those in authoritarian Beijing, these actions have appalled Taiwanese, as they have crushed the values and democratic freedoms that they hold so dear.
Beijing can engage in all the flowery words and economic enticements it wants in a bid to woo Taiwanese, but its actions have convinced Taiwanese that there is no way they want to be part of a China that would doubtless deny them their hard-won freedoms and democracy.
There has been much catastrophizing in Taiwan recently about America becoming more unreliable as a bulwark against Chinese pressure. Some of this has been sparked by debates in Washington about whether the United States should defend Taiwan in event of conflict. There also were understandable anxieties about whether President Trump would sacrifice Taiwan’s interests for a trade deal when he sat down with President Xi (習近平) in late October. On top of that, Taiwan’s opposition political leaders have sought to score political points by attacking the Lai (賴清德) administration for mishandling relations with the United States.Part of this budding anxiety
The diplomatic dispute between China and Japan over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments in the Japanese Diet continues to escalate.In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, China’s UN Ambassador Fu Cong (傅聰) wrote that, “if Japan dares to attempt an armed intervention in the cross-Strait situation, it would be an act of aggression.” There was no indication that Fu was aware of the irony implicit in the complaint. Until this point, Beijing had limited its remonstrations to diplomatic summonses and weaponization of economic levers, such as banning Japanese seafood imports, discouraging Chinese from traveling to Japan or issuing
Tokyo-Beijing relations have been rapidly deteriorating over the past two weeks as China tries to punish Japan over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks about Taiwan earlier this month, and the off-ramp to this conflict is yet to be seen.Takaichi saying that a “Taiwan contingency” could cause a “situation threatening Japan’s survival” — which would allow Japan to act in self-defense — has drawn Beijing’s ire and sparked retaliatory measures. Her remark did not gain public attention until Chinese Consul General in Osaka Xue Jian (薛劍) made an apparent threat to behead her. The two sides lodged protests against each
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Nov. 5 recalled more than 150,000 eggs found to contain three times the legal limit of the pesticide metabolite fipronil-sulfone. Nearly half of the 1,169 affected egg cartons, which had been distributed across 10 districts, had already been sold. Using the new traceability system, officials quickly urged the public to avoid consuming eggs with the traceability code “I47045,” while the remainder were successfully recalled.Changhua County’s Wenya Farm — the source of the tainted eggs — was fined NT$120,000, and the Ministry of Agriculture instructed the county’s Animal Disease Control Center to require that
RSS