Bonum Certa Men Certa

Genuinely Worried About Taiwan, a Tech Powerhouse That Gave Us EEE PC

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jul 29, 2024,
updated Jul 29, 2024

Pingxi Sunrise

Taiwan is one of these precarious places that can be invaded any day; there would not be any signs or notice given in advance (for strategic reasons). As I sometimes tell people, it's probably going to happen, but we just don't know when. It can happen tomorrow or in one hour.

Regardless of whether one believes it would be an invasion or China merely reasserting its control in defiance of the West, Taiwan is a highly developed country and collectively calling Taiwanese people "Chinese" is like calling Canadians "Americans" or "European" when seeking to justify a US invasion of Canada. Recently, around Alaska and around the North Pole, Canada and the US jointly staved off alleged airspace violations by both Russia and China (jointly also).

A mountain stream, or small river, in the district of Wanli, New Taipei, Taiwan, close to the Yangmingshan National Park

Taiwan is a beautiful island that maintains some of its nature reserves (the photos here are all from Taiwan) and its manufacturing industries, not just "R & D" are some of the world's best - up there with South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Taiwan is an avid adopter of GNU/Linux and home of the EEE PC, the first netbook of its kind, which also shipped GNU/Linux by default (out of the box).

It seems increasingly probable that, just as we constantly receive updates from the Ukraine war, there will be some sort of flow of news regarding conflict in Taiwan. We just don't know when. It seems the only alternative to that is Taiwan "surrendering" or not putting up any resistance whatsoever, which isn't the same as "peace".

A lot of people seriously underestimate just how much of the world's production happens in Taiwan and how many things are designed there or imported from there. Before the Ukraine invasion many people similarly underestimated Ukraine, too.

If Beijing directly controls Taiwan (through Taipei), it'll be a blow to human rights and - by extension - to tech rights and tech quality.

Finally, we should noted that China is now reportedly committing cultural genocide against Tibet(an) people via TikTok, basically reaffirming our longstanding position/stance/views/opinion [1, 2] about Bytedance/TikTok being an affront to free speech.

When it comes to tech rights, China is totally not an ally and it never was. Whatever you may think of the West abusing technology against the populace (yes, it happens!), China is always a step or two ahead. It goes without saying that things in Taiwan would worsen immediately under Beijing's thumb, as we saw in Hong Kong already. It's not "racist", it's just an objective observation based on observed/observable facts and eyewitness accounts. When Edward Snowden fled to Hong Kong (to avoid persecution/prosecution) it wasn't the same place it has been for the past half a decade.

Lighthouse at Cape Bitou, on the north-east coast of Taiwan

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

LLM Slopfarms: LinuxSecurity.com and FUDZilla Doing 'Linux' (Fake Articles)
It's 2025. Everything on the Web is getting worse, except SPARTAN.
Red Hat's Bluewashing to be Further Completed This Year
Do not wait for some announcement from redhat.com - it's already covered by IBM
LLM Slop is Now Filling the Web With Pure Fiction/Fabrication/Misinformation About Linux
The timing of this lie/fiction is curious because Torvalds is being brigaded for defending C
FUDZilla Has Turned Into LLM Slop and Machine-Generated FUD (New York Times Has Also Just Admitted Moving in That Direction)
Failing news sites, instead of calling it quits with some remaining dignity, are handing control over to LLM slop (pretending to still be active)
By Buying Twitter, MElon and Cheeto Now Control EU Politicians, Even at the Highest Levels
"the top level politicians make the egregious mistake of trying to treat Xitter as if it were a communications medium"
How to 'Sell' Software Freedom to People
In my experience, it helps when one speaks about control, not freedom, including confidentiality
 
Two Years After Issuing Ridiculous Threats and Choosing a Law Firm in Debt (Probably Desperate for Clients) Matthew J. Garrett Gets Help ('Bailout') From Microsofters
The karma won't be good
How Americans View 'Free Speech' in Practice
"No good deed goes unpunished"
Threats Against Techrights Always Come From Outside Britain
Over the coming days we shall write about an example of our own and we'll show how Americans have the audacity to bully people using a foreign (to them) court
Links 18/02/2025: More DeepSeek Bans and Supreme Court Patent Challenges
Links for the day
Links 18/02/2025: FAA Layoffs and EU Betrayed
Links for the day
On Technical Contracts of Employment and Why People Must Read Before Signing
The wave of layoffs under MElon will worsen prospects of finding alternate/better employment
Gemini Links 18/02/2025: Reading Books and Oneiric Monk
Links for the day
Swiss corruption, Greens, Liip & Debian human rights violations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Swiss police TIGRIS unit, World Cat Day, Swiss-corruption.com & Debian
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/02/2025: “Hey Hi Video Surveillance” and YouTube at 20
Links for the day
The Washington Post (Jeff Bezos) Dies in Darkness
spread it on
Gemini Links 18/02/2025: Downloading Gemini Files with Emacs and Elpher, Gopher on Devuan
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Confirms His Next Talk, "Free/Libre Software and Freedom in the Digital Society" (Next Monday in Free University of Bozen-Bolzano)
He could already advertise this more than a week ago
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, February 17, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, February 17, 2025
IBM's Chronic Neglect Won't Save Anything and It Might Even Get IBM Sued
The problem is likely a lack of manpower, not deliberate shoddiness
Gemini Links 17/02/2025: Ideal OS, AuraRepo Alpha, and Simple Code
Links for the day
The "Cool Kids" Are Already Using GNU/Linux, Microsoft is Just Cheating
The future and the present are Linux
Links 17/02/2025: War on Dissent and Bloggers, Nationalism a Growing Theme
Links for the day
IBM Going International (and India)
It's Monday and a national holiday
GeekWire: Microsoft Bribes Us While We Cover Microsoft Affairs (Spin Doctoring), Hence We Are "Independent"
What good is a "journalist" sponsored by the very same company he or she writes about?
The Attacks on LinuxQuestions.org
Going to Clownflare only worsens the problem
The GNU Manifesto Turns 40 Next Month
The guardian of Free software (definition, licences, philosophy, hosting and so on) has managed to endure and persevere for 40 years. Very few others can say the same.
Microsoft Lunduke Belongs in 4Chan
Assuming Microsoft Lunduke is aware of the full context, he is now trolling not one but two decent organisations
In Europe and in India Richard Stallman Need Not Duck Anymore, People Trying to Cancel His Talk Have No Sway
the last time a talk by Dr. Stallman got canceled was about a year ago
Back From a Short Break
We can now resume and try to stick to the usual pace
Links 17/02/2025: LLMs Failing and Patreon Support Becoming a Burden to Bloggers
Links for the day
Links 17/02/2025: Blogroll Conundrum; Research, Scientists Under Siege
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, February 16, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, February 16, 2025
Links 16/02/2025: Nostalgia for Physical Media and the US Government Actively Promotes Pro-Kremlin Politicians in the EU
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/02/2025:Life, Cynicism, and languages
Links for the day
Links 16/02/2025: Oligarchs "Collect Your Data and Control Your World", Global Temperatures Shoot Up
Links for the day
Promoting Microsoft Windows With LLM Slop
What is the policy at BetaNews regarding LLM slop?
Alex Oliva, the Potential 'Successor' of RMS, Has a New Web Site
More freedom for Alex Oliva
Links 16/02/2025: "Microsoft Is Laying Off Employees" and Internal Dissent Brewing at Facebook Over Regime Complicity
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 15, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, February 15, 2025