The contradictory phenomenon by which China is able to maintain a high economic growth rate and yet also step up state control over the media and basic human rights is likely to continue for the next 10 years, as Beijing's leadership attempts to build China into the world's No. 2 economic power, a China expert from Hong Kong said yesterday.
Willy Lam, professor of China and global studies at Japan's Akita International University and a veteran journalist, yesterday addressed the European Chamber of Commerce in Taipei on the policies that the Chinese leadership uses in the management of its economic development.
Lam, who previously worked at the South China Morning Post and CNN's Hong Kong headquarters, said that the regime of Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) was trying to transform China into the world's No. 2 power after the US before 2020 by seizing all the economic opportunities available.
Lam said the contradictory phenomenon of China's economic liberalization and its tightening of political control on the Internet and religious freedoms will continue for the foreseeable future.
"There is no light at the end of the tunnel," he said.
Lam said one such contradiction includes an exodus of money belonging to children of high-level Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadres to Western countries.
"In addition to CCP cadres being the beneficiaries, the US is also a major beneficiary as these contributions from China's high-born children have helped create a real estate boom in California and New York City," Lam said.
He said the reason the offspring of cadres purchase housing in the West is because "None of these high-born kids have faith in the party [CCP] or believe in the `free market with Chinese characteristics' way of development."
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
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