Schedium

A Taiwanese association has asked the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to change street names honouring former dictator Chiang Kai-shek in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan .  " Zhongzheng Road, Tainan City 20070408 " by  Ikaridon ,  licensed under  CC BY-SA 2.5 .

On February 11, I read an interview by Financial Times' Europe-China correspondent Yuan Yang with Yale University Professor Jing Tsu on the role of cultural understanding in the midst of the power conflict between the United States and the People's Republic of China (PRC).  "I think it’s very important to understand China from the inside," professor Tsu said. Recalling her reporting from the Beijing winter Olympics in February 2022 as NBC's cultural commentator, she remarked:  "Everyone wants to see China as totalitarian. I saw Chinese people: girls in hazmat suits posing for selfies. They see the machine; I see the cogs in the machine." I find these comments quite interesting, because they highlight a fundamental issue: how to talk about present-day China? From what perspective can we study and understand it? ___ " Old vs new, Shanghai Pudong " by  Lawrence Wang 王治钧  is licensed under  CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 . _____ First of all, let me point out th...

" Apple Store@IFC Mall " by  SoQ錫濛譙  is licensed under  CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 . _____ In 1983, Apple launched the now iconic "1984" TV commercial for the Apple Macintosh personal computer. The ad shows two lines of people marching through a grey underground corridor. They are wearing uniforms and act like automata, as if they had no will of their own. They enter a large hall, at the end of which is a giant screen. A speech by a dictator-like figure is being broadcast. "Today, we celebrate the first glorious anniversary of the Information Purification Directives," the man says. "We have created, for the first time in all history, a garden of pure ideology - where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory thoughts. Our Unification of Thoughts is more powerful a weapon than any fleet or army on earth. We are one people, with one will, one resolve, one cause ... We shall prevail!" A lone female runner disrupts the scene of op...

One of the biggest issues with social media today is the ease with which disinformation and propaganda can be disseminated effectively. It is also a very secretive way, because it can be difficult to find out the extent to which accounts spread their message organically or through advertising. 

Taiwan 's national security authorities have recently uncovered a cognitive cyberwarfare campaign conducted by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to flood the Facebook accounts of President Tsai Ing-wen and former premier Su Tseng-chang with derogatory comments. "The government found 825 Facebook accounts run by China’s cyberarmy that posted large numbers of anti-government comments on Tsai’s and Su’s Facebook pages," the Taipei Times reported on February 6.  The PRC claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to use force to achieve its goal . Disinformation, cognitive warfare and propaganda are part of Beijing's strategy to undermine Taiwan from within by manipulating public opinion and deriding Taiwan's close ties with the United States.   Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen visiting troops, via official Facebook profile   _____ According to the report, Beijing's cyberarmy follows several steps:  - creating fake accounts to post disinformation; ...