The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday slammed claims that Taiwan would become a “land of rapists” if Indian migrant workers are allowed into the nation and said they were attempts by foreign forces to intervene in Taiwan’s affairs.
Minister of Labor Hsu Ming-chun (許銘春) on Monday last week confirmed that Taiwan and India are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding before the end of this year on recruiting Indian migrant workers to Taiwan.
Since then, Taiwanese social media platforms have been inundated with inflammatory and derogative posts about the plan, MOFA said on Facebook, adding that such messages were misleading and harmed Taiwan’s international image.
Photo: screen grab from a Ministry of Foreign Affairs livestream
They also undermine efforts to promote warming Taiwan-India ties, it said.
MOFA is to meet with the India Taipei Association to clarify the misunderstanding, Department of East Asia and Pacific Affairs Deputy Director-General Chen Chuin-chi (陳俊吉) said.
Taiwan is a multiethnic country that respects human rights and is resolutely against discrimination or biased views against specific groups, MOFA said.
It urged the public to recognize cognitive warfare tactics and refrain from posting or forwarding false or misleading information.
It said that it hoped Indians who are part of the Milk Tea Alliance would not believe that the posts originated from Taiwan.
The Milk Tea Alliance started out as an online war of words between netizens supporting and criticizing China’s actions and policies and has grown multinational.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.