Today marked the third time in as many months that I ran across Mormons proselytizing in the street. As I was making a left turn into a narrow street I was forced to swing out wider than I had intended to avoid a Mormon on a bicycle importuning some luckless local on a motorcycle in the middle of the intersection.
The Mormons smiled patronizingly at me when I yelled at them colorfully to stop hassling people in the road. They were indifferent to realize how dangerous such activity is. As the light turned green, they were still there, preventing the scooter driver from moving forward.
In Taiwan customary usage is that if a pedestrian or bicyclist is struck and killed by a vehicle, the vehicle driver will generally do jail time regardless of who is actually at fault.
Each time some Mormon runs out into traffic to harass a local sitting at a light, he threatens the safety and well-being of every individual in that intersection, because whoever hits him is going to jail, most unjustly.
Religious proselytizing is by its nature dehumanizing, turning human beings with needs and agendas of their own into mere objects that validate the proselytizer's own insecurity and need for control of others. Every Mormon missionary who behaves in such a manner simply makes it that much harder for those of us long-term expats who have to live in the stink they leave behind.
Eventually even the seemingly limitless tolerance of the wonderfully patient Taiwanese will reach its limits, and all here will suffer.
It is high time this dangerous and discourteous activity of plunging into traffic to accost passing motorists was brought to a halt. It is time that Mormon missionaries displayed maturity, dignity and restraint, and behaved as responsible members of the foreign community whose widespread acceptance in Taiwan they constantly abuse for their own religious purposes.
Michael Turton
Chaoyang University
Taichung
When US budget carrier Southwest Airlines last week announced a new partnership with China Airlines, Southwest’s social media were filled with comments from travelers excited by the new opportunity to visit China. Of course, China Airlines is not based in China, but in Taiwan, and the new partnership connects Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport with 30 cities across the US. At a time when China is increasing efforts on all fronts to falsely label Taiwan as “China” in all arenas, Taiwan does itself no favors by having its flagship carrier named China Airlines. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is eager to jump at
The muting of the line “I’m from Taiwan” (我台灣來欸), sung in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), during a performance at the closing ceremony of the World Masters Games in New Taipei City on May 31 has sparked a public outcry. The lyric from the well-known song All Eyes on Me (世界都看見) — originally written and performed by Taiwanese hip-hop group Nine One One (玖壹壹) — was muted twice, while the subtitles on the screen showed an alternate line, “we come here together” (阮作伙來欸), which was not sung. The song, performed at the ceremony by a cheerleading group, was the theme
Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised eyebrows recently when he declared the era of American unipolarity over. He described America’s unrivaled dominance of the international system as an anomaly that was created by the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Now, he observed, the United States was returning to a more multipolar world where there are great powers in different parts of the planet. He pointed to China and Russia, as well as “rogue states like Iran and North Korea” as examples of countries the United States must contend with. This all begs the question:
In China, competition is fierce, and in many cases suppliers do not get paid on time. Rather than improving, the situation appears to be deteriorating. BYD Co, the world’s largest electric vehicle manufacturer by production volume, has gained notoriety for its harsh treatment of suppliers, raising concerns about the long-term sustainability. The case also highlights the decline of China’s business environment, and the growing risk of a cascading wave of corporate failures. BYD generally does not follow China’s Negotiable Instruments Law when settling payments with suppliers. Instead the company has created its own proprietary supply chain finance system called the “D-chain,” through which
RSS