“Ignorance is the greatest risk,” National Cheng Kung University Department of Electrical Engineering professor Li Jung-shian (李忠憲) said on Facebook on Thursday, after reports emerged earlier in the day that the Wi-Fi login page at the Four Points by Sheraton Linkou hotel listed Taiwan as “Taiwan, China” next to the Chinese flag.
Many netizens responded to the reports by flooding the New Taipei City-based hotel’s Facebook page with negative reviews and bad ratings.
While China’s suppression of Taiwan is nothing new, the incident has provoked disgust among many Taiwanese because Taiwan was the only place in the world that had not yet been insulted and contaminated by the use of “Taiwan, Province of China,” Li said.
Photo: CNA
Even though Taiwan’s problem clearly presents itself in the eyes of foreigners, the average Taiwanese is unaware and believes that Taiwan is a part of China and that China is not trying to annex Taiwan, Li said, adding that the average Taiwanese is also unaware of what Beijing has done in Xinjiang, Tibet, Hong Kong and other places.
While China’s economic development is astonishing, after suffering a setback with the cross-strait service trade agreement it has run out of ways to encroach on Taiwan, he said, referring to an attempt in 2014 by the then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government to force through passage of the proposed agreement, sparking the Sunflower movement, which halted its passage in the Legislative Yuan.
However, Chinese agencies in charge of Taiwan affairs have significant numbers of personnel and vast resources — they had to be put to work, he added.
Contrary to Beijing’s goal of unification, Li said that China’s “united front” tactics against Taiwan have enhanced the Taiwanese public’s understanding of who the nation’s enemy is and about cross-strait relations.
Meanwhile, the Four Points by Sheraton Linkou on Thursday afternoon said on Facebook that it cannot make changes to the system on its own and that it has reported the incident and made suggestions to Marriott International.
The hotel said it is directly managed by Marriott International, and its services, facilities and even marketing materials must follow the standards of the international brand.
As the hotel is currently in its trial operation stage, it “humbly accepts all guests’ suggestions,” it said, adding that it would do its best to improve and hopes that the public would not neglect its efforts due to the incident.
At about 4pm yesterday, the hotel said on Facebook that its Wi-Fi login page had been “updated.”
However, many netizens, unhappy that the hotel did not publicize its revisions, continued posting angry messages on its Facebook page demanding an apology from upper management.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
RSS