This is the Year of the Dragon. At the beginning of the year, the Chinese government announced that “dragon” is to be translated as long (龍), in a move meant to erase the supposed negative connotations of dragons.
In many Western cultures, dragons are often seen as wicked or demonic.
This is not just a mere linguistic adjustment. It is symbolic, representing a change in China’s current political culture.
Under the overbearing leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Chinese government has been undergoing a cultural policy of “de-Westernization.”
Although this change in semantics is just one of many examples, it has garnered a lot of attention from the global community.
Xi is pushing forward with the economic policy of “building a nest to attract a phoenix and emptying the cage to switch out the birds.”
This is his attempt at reducing global downturns and economic reliance on Western nations. However, the result leaves much to be desired.
Xi’s ethno-nationalistic policy of “de-Westernization” has brought about changes such as banning foreign names and restricting foreign holidays and celebrations.
These measures are meant to isolate it, gradually sealing the country off from the international community.
China is not stopping at “de-Westernization” either. Changes are also happening in its religious policies.
It has moved away from its previous stance of relative tolerance of “sinicized religion,” and now leans toward “secularization” under communistic atheism.
This has led to the suppression of religious groups — such as Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants and Muslims — and have drawn domestic and foreign attention.
These policy changes could lead to conflict between China and religious countries.
Taiwan has also been affected by China’s cultural policies, especially the younger generation.
Although the government has been promoting its “Bilingual by 2030” policy, which aims to increase the country’s international integration, it is difficult for Taiwanese to avoid China’s infiltration through media such as Douyin and Xiaohongshu.
Taiwan must be more vigilant. It must avoid being entangled in Beijing’s fabricated “Chinese culture” trap.
President-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) proposed NT$10 billion (US$316.69 million) “foreign study dream fund” is a step in the right direction. However, rules must be in place to make sure it will not be monopolized by a select few.
China’s cultural policies have domestic and international effects.
Taiwan must continue to be vigilant, hold on to its own cultural values and avoid being manipulated by Chinese political forces.
The international community must also pay attention to China’s suppression of cultures and religions, as well as its infringement on human rights.
We must protect the diversity of human cultures and religious freedom.
Gong Lin-dong is a research fellow who focuses on the Chinese Communist Party.
Translated by Tim Smith
Chinese agents often target Taiwanese officials who are motivated by financial gain rather than ideology, while people who are found guilty of spying face lenient punishments in Taiwan, a researcher said on Tuesday. While the law says that foreign agents can be sentenced to death, people who are convicted of spying for Beijing often serve less than nine months in prison because Taiwan does not formally recognize China as a foreign nation, Institute for National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said. Many officials and military personnel sell information to China believing it to be of little value, unaware that
Before 1945, the most widely spoken language in Taiwan was Tai-gi (also known as Taiwanese, Taiwanese Hokkien or Hoklo). However, due to almost a century of language repression policies, many Taiwanese believe that Tai-gi is at risk of disappearing. To understand this crisis, I interviewed academics and activists about Taiwan’s history of language repression, the major challenges of revitalizing Tai-gi and their policy recommendations. Although Taiwanese were pressured to speak Japanese when Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, most managed to keep their heritage languages alive in their homes. However, starting in 1949, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) enacted martial law
“Si ambulat loquitur tetrissitatque sicut anas, anas est” is, in customary international law, the three-part test of anatine ambulation, articulation and tetrissitation. And it is essential to Taiwan’s existence. Apocryphally, it can be traced as far back as Suetonius (蘇埃托尼烏斯) in late first-century Rome. Alas, Suetonius was only talking about ducks (anas). But this self-evident principle was codified as a four-part test at the Montevideo Convention in 1934, to which the United States is a party. Article One: “The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: a) a permanent population; b) a defined territory; c) government;
The central bank and the US Department of the Treasury on Friday issued a joint statement that both sides agreed to avoid currency manipulation and the use of exchange rates to gain a competitive advantage, and would only intervene in foreign-exchange markets to combat excess volatility and disorderly movements. The central bank also agreed to disclose its foreign-exchange intervention amounts quarterly rather than every six months, starting from next month. It emphasized that the joint statement is unrelated to tariff negotiations between Taipei and Washington, and that the US never requested the appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar during the
RSS