Earlier this month, the Japanese government donated 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan without asking for anything in return — a very generous and good deed.
However, it seems that there is a group of people in Taiwan who are incapable if distinguishing between right and wrong. They try to find fault with the AstraZeneca vaccine, talk about the donation in a sarcastic tone, and express pessimism about the relationship between Taiwan and Japan. It is very sad to see.
Surprisingly, a social media post has been widely shared, saying that when Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi was asked in the Japanese legislature why the country only donated 1.24 million vaccines, he allegedly answered that the Taiwanese government had only asked for enough doses to meet its needs for this month, as locally made vaccines would soon become available.
Having watched the video of the session, anyone with a good understanding of Japanese would know that Motegi did not make such a statement. The post was completely fabricated — a piece of vicious and despicable fake news.
Anyone who makes a foreign language the main tool of their profession would be familiar with three basic principles from their translation studies: truthfulness, expressiveness and elegance.
The main priority when translating is to faithfully convert a text from one language to another, and maintain its flavor and credibility. Even if the text does not coincide with the translator’s stance or beliefs, they should never substitute one thing for another, leave out parts of it or represent the text falsely.
Unfortunately, we live in an era of cognitive warfare, and many posts circulating on social media are fake news. Spreading news stories without fact-checking them can be very dangerous, and anyone who is not sufficiently cautions might easily end up being an accomplice of someone with a nefarious purpose.
Earlier this month, Hsinchu County Deputy Commissioner Chen Chien-hsien (陳見賢), the director of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) chapter in the county, shared the post of Motegi’s alleged vaccine statement on social media, adding some intentionally malicious comments.
Chen’s only response to having been caught red-handed was that he was sure about the truthfulness of the story because a friend who speaks Japanese had translated it for him.
I have been studying Japanese for more than 20 years. My Japanese might not be perfect, but at least I have no problem understanding what the Japanese minister said. I would like to ask Chen if his friend, who, as Chen claimed, is good at Japanese, learned the language from an incompetent teacher.
If they did not understand the statement, they should not have translated it. On the other hand, if they were making a “fake translation” and maliciously helping spread a rumor, they are bringing shame on the language industry.
Hung Yu-jui is a Japanese teacher and translator.
Translated by Eddy Chang
When it became clear that the world was entering a new era with a radical change in the US’ global stance in US President Donald Trump’s second term, many in Taiwan were concerned about what this meant for the nation’s defense against China. Instability and disruption are dangerous. Chaos introduces unknowns. There was a sense that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) might have a point with its tendency not to trust the US. The world order is certainly changing, but concerns about the implications for Taiwan of this disruption left many blind to how the same forces might also weaken
As the new year dawns, Taiwan faces a range of external uncertainties that could impact the safety and prosperity of its people and reverberate in its politics. Here are a few key questions that could spill over into Taiwan in the year ahead. WILL THE AI BUBBLE POP? The global AI boom supported Taiwan’s significant economic expansion in 2025. Taiwan’s economy grew over 7 percent and set records for exports, imports, and trade surplus. There is a brewing debate among investors about whether the AI boom will carry forward into 2026. Skeptics warn that AI-led global equity markets are overvalued and overleveraged
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Monday announced that she would dissolve parliament on Friday. Although the snap election on Feb. 8 might appear to be a domestic affair, it would have real implications for Taiwan and regional security. Whether the Takaichi-led coalition can advance a stronger security policy lies in not just gaining enough seats in parliament to pass legislation, but also in a public mandate to push forward reforms to upgrade the Japanese military. As one of Taiwan’s closest neighbors, a boost in Japan’s defense capabilities would serve as a strong deterrent to China in acting unilaterally in the
Taiwan last week finally reached a trade agreement with the US, reducing tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15 percent, without stacking them on existing levies, from the 20 percent rate announced by US President Donald Trump’s administration in August last year. Taiwan also became the first country to secure most-favored-nation treatment for semiconductor and related suppliers under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act. In return, Taiwanese chipmakers, electronics manufacturing service providers and other technology companies would invest US$250 billion in the US, while the government would provide credit guarantees of up to US$250 billion to support Taiwanese firms
RSS