The PRC and its netizens, taking their cue from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), are presenting Okinawa by mirroring the claims about Taiwan. Conversely, during the 1950s and 1960s, when the US governed Okinawa, Okinawan support for the reversion movement to revert Okinawa to Japanese control was widespread. Recall too that the Japanese islands to the east of Taiwan, Yoniguni, Ishigaki, and others, are governed as part of Okinawa prefecture. A conquest of Okinawa will likely result on PRC claims to any territory Okinawa once ruled, including the Amami-Oshima islands. Links between frontline Taiwan and Okinawa prefecture will get a boost this month with the opening of ferry services between Keelung and Ishigaki.

In Beijing’s repression of Tibetans in occupied Tibet and in exile, it extends its coercive practices to anyone bearing Tibetan cultural markers, regardless of citizenship. While such repression of Tibetans has been well documented — including by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy — transnational cultural repression of people with affinities to Tibetan identity is becoming increasingly applied to Indians. That constitutes a form of transnational cultural repression not limited to Tibetans, and extends to those perceived to be associated with Tibetan culture, even when they are legal citizens of sovereign states. Within Tibet, efforts to erode Tibetan cultural identity have included the establishment of colonial boarding schools aimed at severing children from their language, culture and traditions. While name changes in many societies are undertaken to improve social mobility, in this context, they are increasingly driven by the need to avoid cultural repression.

North Korea slams nuclear Japan as threat to humanityAFP, SEOULNorth Korea yesterday said that Japan’s nuclear ambitions “must be prevented at any cost,” after a Tokyo official reportedly suggested the country should possess atomic weapons. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center, visits the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang with officials on Wednesday last week. “This is not a misstatement or a reckless assertion, but clearly reflects Japan’s long-cherished ambition for nuclear weaponization,” said the North Korean official, who was not named. In an address to the UN in September, North Korean Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Son-gyong said his country would never surrender its nuclear weapons. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has also said he is open to talks with Washington, provided Pyongyang is allowed to keep its nuclear arsenal.

Ex-HK head confession a warning for TaiwanBy John ChengFormer Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying (梁振英) has chosen a curious moment to speak candidly. Lai, in his view, was simply too influential, too dangerous and too effective to be left to the market. Hong Kong did not lose its freedoms suddenly in 2020. If this is the system some still urge Taiwan to trust, then Leung’s “confession” should be required reading, not as history, but as warning. John Cheng is a retired businessman from Hong Kong now living in Taiwan.

Mr. Wu Goes to IsraelIs a new foreign partner for Taiwan emerging in the Middle East? Both small countries facing literal existential threats, Israel and Taiwan have much to gain from closer ties. Jerusalem may be able to provide Taipei with early warning of developments in the Middle East pertinent to Taiwan. Nongovernmental elements, witting and unwitting, of a Chinese political warfare network have operated in both spaces, pushing narratives critical of Israel and Taiwan. China is an important economic partner and is securing growing diplomatic heft in the Middle East.

EDITORIAL: Taiwanese need better readinessA stabbing attack inside and near two busy Taipei MRT stations on Friday evening shocked the nation and made headlines in many foreign and local news media, as such indiscriminate attacks are rare in Taiwan. At Taipei Main Station, the suspect threw smoke grenades near two exits and fatally stabbed one person who tried to stop him. He then ran into the store and wounded others, before jumping from the building’s sixth floor, the National Police Agency said on Saturday. Following the incident, bystanders posted videos of the attack on social media, which were broadcast by news media. However, as indiscriminate attacks by lone actors are increasing globally, the shocking incident in Taipei underscored the pressing need to improve personal safety preparedness.

Outdoors clothing could help China’s ailing domestic salesThe trend toward outdoors athletic brands reflects a larger movement of healthier livingBy Juliana Liu / Bloomberg OpinionCOVID-19 lockdowns in China transformed the way people think about their health. In the social-media driven world of online sales, the Gorpcore trend is even more apparent. The unit that houses its Gorpcore brands accounted for only 19 percent of revenue in the first half of the year, but is the fastest-growing part of the business. Data Monday showed retail sales had slowed by a record amount, with the exception of the pandemic period. The outdoor trend is a bright spot in an otherwise challenging market that should have legs well into the new year.

TSMC shareholders increase after share price dropStaff writer, with CNATaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) last week recorded an increase in the number of shareholders to the highest in almost eight months, despite its share price falling 3.38 percent from the previous week, Taiwan Stock Exchange data released on Saturday showed. As of Friday, TSMC had 1.88 million shareholders, the most since the week of April 25 and an increase of 31,870 from the previous week, the data showed. The number of shareholders jumped despite a drop of NT$50 (US$1.59), or 3.38 percent, in TSMC’s share price from a week earlier to NT$1,430, as investors took profits from their earlier gains amid volatility among tech stocks in the US. Odd-lot trading typically makes it easier for retail investors to buy high-priced stocks such as TSMC in quantities of fewer than 1,000 shares. This week, the number of investors who held 1,000 to 5,000 TSMC shares rose by 5,839 to 376,597 as of Friday, while the number of investors who held 1 million or more of TSMC shares increased by 12 to 1,541.

It is seen instead as opening an unexpected front in US President Donald Trump’s trade war on the world. But the real reason is that Sheinbaum is spooked by the deadline, six months away, for reviewing the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). But Sheinbaum shows that the trade conflicts Trump has launched are a cascading war, not some controlled confrontation. But a significant proportion of Indian exports to Mexico are not about the US at all. Opposition lawmakers pointed out that official modelers had given up on trying to estimate the effects of such a drastic change to Mexican trade policy.

Social ossification is killing India’s economic growthChina made good on its economic shift, but India’s economy has stagnatedBY Andy Mukherjee / Bloomberg OpinionIn 1980, neither China nor India had much representation in the global middle class — people who neither belong to the bottom half of the income distribution nor rank among the top 10 percent worldwide. China became the factory to the world; India became its back office. To unpack this puzzle, start with Indians who are outside the middle class. A stunted middle class might be a direct result of this extreme inequality. An unambitious elite spoiled by finance — plus a working class held back by inadequate education and inequities of caste and gender — are stymying the emergence of a global middle class in India.

METRO RAMPAGE: Free counseling offered for victims and familiesBy Chiu Chih-jou / Staff reporterThe Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) yesterday said it is offering three free psychological counseling sessions to anyone who has been mentally affected by the random stabbing in Taipei on Friday evening. Department of Mental Health Director-General Chen Po-hsi (陳柏熹) said the Taipei City Community Mental Health Center has stepped in to provide mental health support to the victims and their family members. The ministry has also expanded its psychological counseling resources to help people who were affected by the incident, he said. The free counseling program is to run until the end of next year, to ensure affected people do not miss their chance to ask for help, he added. The funding for the service has been discussed with the local government and the budget has been secured, so mental health support measures can continue, Chen said.

KMT lawmakers seen visiting China ahead of major votesSUSPICIOUS TIMING: KMT lawmakers have a habit of visiting China before votes, with major implications for defense and cross-straits issues, a DPP lawmaker saidBy Chen Cheng-yu and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerVisits by multiple Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers to China’s Xiamen yesterday have sparked concern. In response to media queries, Lin said he was invited by the organizers to attend the Xiamen Taiwan Businessmen Association’s event in Xiamen. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Weng Hsiao-ling, center, is pictured at Taoyuan International Airport yesterday. When told KMT Legislator Yeh Yuan-chih (葉元之) was seen boarding the same flight as her, Wen said she had no idea about her colleague’s plans. KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍), who initially invited fellow KMT lawmakers to the Xiamen event, ended up not making the visit herself.

Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. Police officers yesterday keep watch at a busy shopping center near the scene of a knife attack in Taipei on Friday. National Police Agency Director-General Chang Jung-hsin, center, speaks at a news conference in Taipei yesterday. A composite image shows a smoke grenade thrown by suspect Chang Wen at Taipei Main Station on Friday. Photo: Taipei TimesThe smoke grenades the assailant used could be purchased online, he said.

METRO RAMPAGE: Police tracing user who threatened to attack KaohsiungStaff writer, with CNAKaohsiung police are tracing a copycat threat made on social media after Friday’s deadly knife attack in Taipei that killed three people and injured 11. A user on Threads on Friday wrote that the suspect in the Taipei Main Station attack was his “brother” and that they belonged to the same organization, the Kaohsiung Precinct of the Railway Police Bureau said. They threatened to continue what the suspect had “failed to complete,” warning that Kaohsiung Station would be the next target, the bureau said yesterday, adding that the user also said they would “reshape a dysfunctional society.”Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai, center, inspect police mobilization at the Kaohsiung Station yesterday. The threat was posted hours after an attack on Friday evening in Taipei Main Station and the nearby Zhongshan MRT Station. The city also would step up security at its railway, metro and high-speed rail stations, Chen said.

“However, the possibility of other people’s open wounds or mucous membranes having been exposed to the [HIV-positive] person’s blood through the perpetrator’s weapon cannot be ruled out,” he said. As administering pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to these people can almost eliminate their HIV infection risk, the CDC has initiated a special program to assist them, Lo said. People who were wounded or came in contact with other people’s blood should call the CDC’s “1922” hotline, he said. The hotline would refer them to an infectious disease specialist to help them evaluate whether they need PrEP, he said. If needed, they should go to a hospital and get PrEP administered within the “golden hours” — 72 hours following exposure — to reduce their infection risk, he added.