Michael Turton
@michaelturton.bsky.social
1K followers 1.6K following 2.4K posts
Boardgamer (now: The Isofarian Guard, #1 overland RPG boardgame). Cyclist. Taipei Times feature writer every Mon & Thurs with Notes from Central Taiwan. See Christine Lu's starter pack for Taiwan Studies: https://bsky.app/starter-pack-short/EM1VG8y
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michaelturton.bsky.social
Great little town, actually. The parks on the east side are quite interesting.
Reposted by Michael Turton
pyxorium.com
Out and about in Chiayi, Taiwan
Feb 2007
City street in Chiayi, Taiwan, motor scooters parked on sidewalk, traffic passing through city street, commercial signage and buildings (February 2007) Residential alley walkway, older construction and potted plants on left side, newer construction on right side (February 2007)
Reposted by Michael Turton
chen-yenhan.bsky.social
Multiple Chinese fishing vessels operating near Taiwan used AIS spoofing to disguise their identities, an Institute for the Study of War report finds.

In one example, Chinese fishing boat MINSHIYU07792 disguised itself as Russian Navy corvette Boikiy (532).
Reposted by Michael Turton
chen-yenhan.bsky.social
DPP Member of Legislative Yuan Lee Kuen-Cheng has called for the military to investigate how Taiwan-made parts have found their way into Russian weapons, following statements by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Reposted by Michael Turton
tedzu.bsky.social
In 1722 黃叔璥 Huang Shujing, a Mandarin-speaking Qing official, arrived Taiwan where he spent 2 years. He recorded in 臺海使槎錄 “Records from the mission to Taiwan and its Strait” (1736) how the language spoken by Taiwanese was totally unintelligible—like barbarian gibberish and birds talking (鴃舌鳥語,全不可曉)
臺海使槎錄·卷一~卷二
by (清)黃叔璥
https://archive.org/details/06044602.cn/page/n127/mode/1up Taiwanese Hokkien
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwanese_Hokkien

臺灣話
https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/%E8%87%BA%E7%81%A3%E8%A9%B1
Reposted by Michael Turton
fibonaccieu.bsky.social
USA, 90+% of your electronics come from China.
Let that sink in.

Now, Taiwan (TSMC) is the ONLY country (company) able to produce State-of-the-Art chips, with machines from ASML (Dutch). The ONLY machines that can.

THE ONLY ONE.
Inspite of ASML training, Intel (USA) can't do the same.

Say whát?!
zhugeex.com
You can buy China's Unitree G1 Robot from Walmart in the US.

Meanwhile, no American robotics company has a working commercial product.
michaelturton.bsky.social
Re the recent WSJ piece on energy supplies. The energy supply claims have a pro-nuke subtext:
www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/ar...
michaelturton.bsky.social
No, it couldn't. Once a blockade commences, industrial production and a large chunk of commercial activity will collapse. The existing power reserves could then run the island for months. The nonsense below still circulates despite several articles issuing correctives.
joyuwang.bsky.social
"This could be the Achilles’ heel of Taiwan." A Chinese blockade would quickly deplete resources on an island that depends on imported fuel. Here's a graphical look at why––and how: www.wsj.com/world/asia/c...
Reposted by Michael Turton
sarahkirchberger.bsky.social
🇨🇳 Chinese ‘fishing vessels’ now posing as warships off 🇹🇼 Taiwan:

“On Sept. 17, a fishing boat, Minshiyu 07792 (閩獅漁07792), transmitted a fake signal of Russian Warship 532 in Taiwan’s northern exclusive economic zone.”

#maritimemilitia
Reposted by Michael Turton
Reposted by Michael Turton
timeshighered.bsky.social
More than 90 per cent of higher education institutions in Taiwan now allow students to take time off for mental health reasons, reports Tash Mosheim #academicsky #edusky
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/taiwanese-universities-expand-mental-health-leave-students
michaelturton.bsky.social
"This is the ONLY thing keeping China from INVADING TAIWAN TODAY."

That's false. A wide variety of factors, from the Japanese Navy to the potential unrest at home when casualty lists start pouring in to the uncertainty of victory, are preventing a move on Taiwan.
Reposted by Michael Turton
chen-yenhan.bsky.social
NEW: A Magnitude 5.0 earthquake has hit Hualien, eastern Taiwan.

A dyke upstream of the Matai'an Barrier Lake, which had burst during Typhoon Ragasa, may be damaged. The Central Weather Administration advises evacuation of the following locales:

GUANGFU TOWNSHIP
FENGLIN TOWNSHIP
WANRONG TOWNSHIP.
michaelturton.bsky.social
Still a potentially huge scandal for the TPP... Donovan rounds up the reporting
"They cite sources saying each item of dirt was sold for NT$20,000 to NT$40,000, and that Huang was personally profiting from the arrangement."
www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/ar...
Donovan’s Deep Dives: Huang Kuo-chang’s alleged “puppy squad” hustle - Taipei Times
Bringing Taiwan to the World and the World to Taiwan
www.taipeitimes.com
Reposted by Michael Turton
brianhioe.bsky.social
I guess it does seem likely that China would try to spoof signals for ships as part of grey-zone tactics--or to try and lure Taiwan into a mistaken response that allows for escalating tensions

www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/a...
PRC vessels faking signals to test Taiwan’s response - Taipei Times
Bringing Taiwan to the World and the World to Taiwan
www.taipeitimes.com
Reposted by Michael Turton
willripleycnn.bsky.social
Why would Russia be teaching China how to drop tanks and troops from a plane? A former Ukrainian intelligence officer who helped to verify 800 pages of leaked documents calls it “a critical component, which is needed for China being ready to invade Taiwan.”
Reposted by Michael Turton
denisewu.bsky.social
Bravo EU for clapping back Chinese Big Lies.

"United Nations Resolution 2758 is very short - only 150 words. And among those 150 words, the word 'Taiwan' does not appear,"
Reposted by Michael Turton
phelimkine.bsky.social
"What’s the exact nature of China's AI security threat? We asked four experts to break it down for us — and the answers run from the deeply wonky to the apocalyptic" www.politico.com/newsletters/...
Inside the Chinese AI threat to security
www.politico.com
michaelturton.bsky.social
She went over to the other side a while back. Not only does she regurgitate PRC talking points, she also sends around Russian ones on Ukraine. In short, she's just a very articulate tankie, without the tankie ideological baggage. It's sad.