A great new article from The Reporter on road safety in Taiwan — or the lack thereof. It includes stats on how it's very clearly an issue (something folks dispute for some reason), illustrations of very easy fixes, and an exploration of popular myths and bureaucratic hurdles preventing improvements.
台灣的行人交通安全問題經國際媒體披露，以及如台中母子過馬路死亡等嚴重事故一再發生，從地方到中央，政府不得不正視，許多關注交通安全的民間團體提出，規劃合理明確的行人動線，改造馬路設計才是提升行人安全的關鍵。
In the HKEJ, former transport and housing sec. Anthony Cheung warns against the "narrow alley of political correctness." If they dismiss all doubts as "soft resistance" the govt will only become more alienated from the people. Seeing even mild criticism like this in print is a rare treat these days
因應中共二十屆三中全會決定進一步全面深化改革，香港近期也多了人談改革。 「改革」對香港並非陌生詞。窮則變，上世紀二戰後香港逆境求變，在地緣政治狹縫中找空間、尋機遇，七十年代起勵行改革，遍及房屋、教育、醫療、交通、勞工、福利、城市規劃、反貪倡廉、消費者保障等，以及公共行政現代化。八九十年代，出台不少長期改革，如公營部門改革、長遠房屋策略、環保白皮書、公共醫療體制改革、教育統籌委員會系列報告等。經濟方
In a speech on 20 September, Xi Jinping reiterated his resolve to "solve the Taiwan problem in the New Era" — a phase associated with the time of his own rule. He also said overseas Chinese would be "guided to convey China's voice" abroad and "serve the country's external work."
#10: Hong Kong Protest Music (香港抗爭音樂誌) A crowdfunded, pseudonymously produced collection of protest songs from the summer of 2019, before the emergence of Glory to HK. Some janky translations and an overly rigid interview format but overall an important record of the movement’s cultural production.
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News, analysis, and commentary on Chinese-language media from the PRC and beyond.
For the PRC's 75th I wrote about why they've failed to peacefully integrate Hong Kong and Taiwan. Since Deng, the party believed the market would be the means for achieving this goal. They were almost right, but the market is a fickle tool! www.bostonreview.net/articles/the...
For Hong Kong and Taiwan, neoliberalism’s falling tides made political repression inevitable.
In the same piece, they also call on the government to "make use of its overseas offices" to push back against international criticism. This would appear to contradict the government's own arguments that HKETOs — currently threatened with closure in the US — are merely "trade facilitators."
You could say that it sounds ironic how they are calling for more international coverage whilst also turning away foreign reporters again and again — but what the Wen Wei Po seems to be pushing for is the invitation-only model for foreign journalism so familiar to other "restive regions" in the PRC.
On the same day that Hong Kong denied entry to a French AP photojournalist, the state-run Wen Wei Po newspaper published an op-ed calling on local authorities to "actively invite international media and netizens to come to Hong Kong for on-site visits" and see the truth about the city for themselves
香港作為「一國兩制」下的國際大都市，在中外交往中扮演着舉足輕重的角色，長期受到國際社會高度關注。然而，近年受修例風波衝擊、新冠疫情影響，如今西方少數別有用心的反中亂港分子刻意抹黑，有社會人士擔心，這些負面因素疊加，給香港的國際形象和發展帶來前所未有的挑戰。事實上，香港落實了「愛國者治港」，迎來由治及興的最佳發展機遇期。面對誤解和攻擊，香港必須利用好特區政府駐海外機構，集合各商會、傳媒機構等力量，理直氣壯，主動出擊，用國際社會喜聞樂見的途徑，向世界展示真實的香港故事，重塑香港的美好形象，讓世人看清東方之珠風采更添。