Force In Taiwan Research Articles

An inter-Asian perspective on China’s rise and power shifts in Asia

PurposeTaking an inter-Asian perspective on the perception of China’s rise and power shifts in Asia, this reflection draws on the examples of Hong Kong’s years-long pro-democracy movement, Taiwan’s democratization and India’s anti-China sentiments to discuss the growth of domestic and international discontents against China’s projection of sharp power, even military power, along its peripheries. The severity of these crises suggests that an assertive China has trapped itself in a perpetual cycle of intensifying authoritarian rule at home and seeking expansionary outreach abroad. China’s diplomatic and military adventurism is likely to antagonize potential allies, jeopardizing the hope for inter-Asian solidarity and cooperation.Design/methodology/approachThe authors consult relevant secondary literature to contextualize the perception of China’s rise to domination from an inter-Asian perspective.FindingsFollowing the end of the Cold War in 1990 and the demise of the Soviet Union as a Eurasian empire, some cultural theorists proposed a postcolonial, inter-Asian perspective to de-globalize the Euro-American-dominated humanities and social sciences, recognizing that many areas once deemed by the West as marginal and peripheral had contributed to the transformation of the modern world. The nineteenth-century Western imperialists and early twentieth-century Japanese militarists once deployed the geopolitical concept of “Asia” to advance their respective discourses of modernity and progress. Thus, the very notion of Asian solidarity or Pan-Asianism is deeply problematic because it reminds us of the entwined histories of colonial oppression and resistance against imperialistic intrusions.Research limitations/implicationsThe conventional “inter-Asian” perspective that emphasizes relational connectedness across and within nations does not seem applicable to explaining the troublesome relationship between American universalism and China-centric authoritarianism.Practical implicationsIn today’s multipolar world, the USA and China are embroiled in a competitive relationship regarding the shape the global order should take. The recent US-China trade war is only the opening shot in the wider bilateral conflict. Behind this contest for global leadership in economic influence and technology is a serious battle of ideas.Social implicationsChina is still coming to terms with many unexpected consequences of globalization. Steady recovery gave China a temporary reprieve but the overall economy has weakened due to many years of trade disputes with the USA and the COVID-19 pandemic. China has yet to find a way to coexist with a fast-developing India, address the genuine grievances and demands for democratic change in Hong Kong and accommodate a stronger pro-independence force in Taiwan. To revive the vision of inter-Asian solidarity, China should build trust at home and abroad and reimagine institutional mechanisms for conflict resolution. Otherwise, it would trap itself in endless cycles of tensions and conflicts that benefit no one.Originality/valueThe rapid rise of China to power in the Eurasian continent and Asian waters has not only distorted the inter-Asian vision of seeking unity among postcolonial states but also accelerated competitions for territorial resources and regional dominance. By reflecting on the latest interventions of China in geopolitical affairs, this paper shows that despite the rhetorical appeal of horizontality, the engagement of many emerging Asian powers has diverged from the ideal of inter-Asian cooperation. The task for scholars is to gain a more accurate understanding of the fluid situations on the ground.

The Evaluation of Competency-Based Diagnosis System and Curriculum Improvement of Information Management

Teaching evaluation is an important issue in the learning process in higher education. In addition to the teaching evaluation on campus, feedback from alumni is also very important to instruction improvement. Undergraduates and graduates in universities are the main labor force in Taiwan; therefore, many higher education institutions pay attention to the feedback of competency. However, the written questionnaire has limitations and lacks sufficient evidence to improve curriculum planning and instruction activities. In the present study, a systematic survey in the ‘University Career and Competency Assessment Network' was applied to analyze the results. Data were collected from 1,080 participants. The results can be summarized as follows: (1) ‘Learn-Practice Fit' was positive to the ‘Satisfaction' at workplaces. (2) ‘Responsibility and discipline' were significantly positive concerning ‘Communication and Expression,' ‘Interpersonal Interaction', and ‘Teamwork.' (3) ‘Service' and ‘Information technology writing' need to be improved in the training of Information Management students.

LIBERAL TAIWAN VERSUS ILLIBERAL SOUTH KOREA: THE DIVERGENT PATHS OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN REGULATION

AbstractSouth Korea and Taiwan have developed very different sets of election campaign regulations. While both countries had highly restrictive campaign rules during the authoritarian era, they have diverged since democratic transition. South Korea still imposes numerous restrictions on campaigning activities, but Taiwan has removed most of the restrictions. We explore the causes of these divergent trajectories through comparative historical process tracing, focusing on critical junctures and path dependence. We find that incumbency advantage and containment of new opposition parties were the primary objectives of introducing stringent regulations under the authoritarian regimes in both countries. The key difference was that, during the democratic transition, legislators affiliated with the opposition parties as well as the ruling party in South Korea enjoyed the incumbency advantage but that opposition forces in Taiwan did not. As a result, the opposition in Taiwan fought for liberalization of campaign regulations, but the South Korean opposition did not.

Understanding profit margins of medical providers from prescription drugs: evidence from Taiwan.

BackgroundThis study empirically estimates the magnitude and associated determinants of profit margins that medical providers earn from prescription drugs based on Taiwan’s pharmaceutical market.MethodsOur main data set is from the population-based claims data compiled by the National Health Insurance Research Database covering three waves of price adjustment: July–December 2004, October 2007–September 2008 and October 2009–September 2010. Only drugs whose reimbursement prices were adjusted using the R-zone formula were used as samples for this study. By calculating the difference between retail and wholesale prices for 796 pharmaceutical products, we can estimate the profit margin determinants using the regression model.ResultsWe found evidence that suppliers of generic drugs tend to offer larger discounts to medical providers than suppliers of brand-name drugs. In addition, the countervailing power of wholesale pharmaceuticals, as measured by the discount rate offered by pharmaceutical manufacturers, is positively associated with the degree of competition within the pharmaceutical market and the size of the market itself.ConclusionsOur findings imply that the profit-seeking behaviour exhibited by medical providers is the engine of competitive forces in Taiwan’s prescription drug market. This creates financial incentives for them, which in turn influences their choices of prescription drugs.

Electronic Cigarette Use and Smoking Initiation in Taiwan: Evidence from the First Prospective Study in Asia.

A growing literature indicates that electronic cigarette use increases the risk of subsequent initiation of conventional smoking among cigarette-naïve adolescents in several Western countries. This research assesses the same relationship in an Asian country, Taiwan. The Taiwan Adolescent to Adult Longitudinal Study is a school-based survey that was carried out in two waves in 2014 (baseline) and in 2016 (follow-up). It employs probability sampling to create nationally representative samples of students in junior high school (mean age 13, 7th grade at baseline) and in senior high school (mean age 16, 10th grade at baseline). Data from this survey were analyzed via logistic regression to estimate the association between ever use of e-cigarettes at baseline and smoking initiation at follow-up, accounting for susceptibility to smoking, socio-demographic profile, depression status, and peer support. Among the 12,954 cigarette-naïve students surveyed, those with e-cigarette experience at baseline exhibited higher odds of smoking initiation at follow-up (Odds Ratio = 2.14, 95% CI (1.66, 2.75), p < 0.001). For the first time, we confirmed, through a longitudinal survey, a prospective association between ever use of e-cigarettes and smoking initiation in an Asian adolescent population. The restrictive policy on e-cigarettes currently in force in Taiwan is justified to prevent both e-cigarette and cigarette use among adolescents.

Art, violence and memory in Taiwan

Taiwan is a liminal site of modernity in Asia. It is a modern exemplar as a liberal democracy with a developed economy, but is mostly unrecognized as a nation-state in the international system. In its liminality, however, it traces contours of modern power and their epistemological expression. This paper presents an account of Taiwan as an object of knowledge and representation in instances of scholarship and policy, Taiwanese politics, urban development and art, arguing that the narratives through which Taiwan is understood embed a lived experience as Taiwanese under forms of epistemological domination. The paper then explores Taiwanese responses of co-option and resistance in alternative sites of knowledge, and it concludes that the critical unexamined force in Taiwan’s experience of modernity is violence.

The Effects of Person-Environment Fit and External Locus of Control on Organizational Affective Commitment: a Study of Immigrant Wives in Taiwan

The National Immigration Agency of Taiwan reported that, by 2014, more than 498,000 immigrant spouses were registered in Taiwanese households, 91 % of which was female. Immigrant wives are now a significant part of Taiwanese society, and they are an important aspect of the labor force in Taiwan’s economy. However, they face major challenges in the workplace, which influences their work outcomes, results in a reduced labor force for enterprises, and increases societal costs. This pioneering study employed the person-environment fit and locus of control concepts from the organizational behavior field to address this issue. A sample of 130 immigrant wives from Indonesia and Vietnam living in Taiwan was surveyed. The results of a hierarchical regression analysis found that immigrant wives’ person-job fit and person-supervisor fit significantly influenced their affective commitments to their workplaces. An external locus of control significantly weakened the relationship between person-environment fit and affective commitment. The contributions and implications of the study results were discussed.

Rationale and design of the cardiorespiratory fitness and hospitalization events in armed forces study in Eastern Taiwan.

To investigate the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and hospitalization events in a cohort of large voluntary arm forces in Taiwan. The cardiorespiratory fitness and hospitalization events in armed forces (CHIEF) is a retrospective cohort consisting of more than 4000 professional military members aged 18-50 years in Eastern Taiwan. All participants received history taking, physical examination, chest radiography, 12-lead electrocardiography, blood tests for cell counts and fasting glucose, lipid profiles, uric acid, renal function and liver function in the Hualien Armed Forces General Hospital during 2014. In addition, participants were required to undergo two indoor resistant exercise tests including 2-min push-up and 2-min sit-up, both scored by infrared sensing, and one outdoor endurance 3000-m none weight-bearing running test, the main indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness in the Military Physical Training and Testing Center in Eastern Taiwan in 2014. Hospitalization events for cardiovascular disease, acute kidney injury, rhabdomyolysis, severe infectious disease, acute psychiatric illness, diabetes, orthopedic surgery and mortality will be identified in the National Insurance Research Database for 10 years. CHIEF will be among the largest Eastern Asian armed forces cohort, in which physical status was strictly evaluated to follow up the hospitalization events for severe illness.

Conventional Wisdom and the Next Unknown

Conventional Wisdom and the Next Unknown

Building a new society on the base of locality: transformation of social forces in Taiwan during the 1990s

The aim of this article is to explain the transformation of social forces in Taiwan during the 1990s, as well as the “ideals of society” embedded in Community Construction that aims to reconstruct the local community. Based upon the analysis of discourses of movement agents, I differentiate four ideal-types of “good society” configured in the Community Construction. First, by the ideal-type of “indigenous (bentu) society,” people hope to reconstruct local history and local culture. Secondly, by “civilized society,” people want to build a society in which its residents live in solidarity and civility. Thirdly, by “civil society” people emphasize the importance of grassroots democracy and the subject position based on locality in order to respond to forces of the state and the market. Lastly, by “civic society” people aims to construct communities encompassing different geographical ranges, in which people from different backgrounds can live together and integrate into a civic nation. Among these ideal-types, “civic society” is the articulating link between “indigenous society” and “civil society,” while locality has become the fundamental element in defining “culture” and “community” in Taiwan. As a result, the cultural resistance based on locality has transformed into the cultural governance focusing on locality.

Gender integration in policing: a comparison of male and female police officers' perceptions in Taiwan

In light of the increased recruitment of females into the police force in Taiwan, it is important to understand officers' attitudes toward women in policing. What is the nature of such attitudes? Are male and female officers equally receptive to gender integration in policing? Using data gathered from 391 police officers (297 males and 94 females) in the metropolitan area of Taipei, this study compared male and female officers' attitudes toward women in policing and gender role orientations. The findings indicated that male officers significantly differed from their female colleagues in several attitudinal dimensions. The findings revealed that although male officers cast doubts on female officers' capability and efficacy as police officers, they considered equal treatment to be essential – that is, female officers should perform exactly the same or similar duties as male officers. Moreover, officers who were in supervisory positions were more likely to support gender integration, and those officers who had more confidence in police work were more likely to have positive appraisal of female officers. Nevertheless, officers with a longer tenure in the police force were less likely to hold positive perceptions of women in policing. In comparison with male officers, female officers were less likely to be supportive of gender integration that demands women to perform exactly the same or similar duties as males. Policy implications and suggestions for future research are addressed.

ARE FEMALES SUITABLE FOR POLICE DUTY?

ABSTRACTPolice work is a masculine job that needs physical strength and force and thus it is male-dominated working environment in Taiwan as in other countries. Under gender mainstreaming, Taiwan's society has gradually adhere the basic female human rights for equitable employment, with one example being that the Special Examination for Police canceled limits on quotas for females in order to offer equal opportunity employment. However, police often have to face uncertain dangerous situations and so under real operation conditions, if policewomen are exposed to dangerous situations, does this meet the requirements of protection of maternity in R.O.C. Constitution? This study finds that females generally perform better in the examination and hence the number of Taiwan's policewomen is set to significantly increase in the future. If this situation continues, then the fact that policewomen request equal employment on the one hand and request being protected on the other hand may affect the operations of police authorities. This study aims to explore: Whether or not women are suitable to engage in police work?Keywords: Management Efficiency, Questionnaire Analysis, Gender Equality, Job analysis1. INTRODUCTIONPolice officers are called people's babysitters and their roles are not only to crack down on crime and show their masculine side, but also to protect and take care of innocent people, showing their soft and amicable side. Therefore, after the Nationalist government withdrew from mainland China and came to Taiwan in 1949, the Taiwan Police School began to recruit female graduates from junior high school. In order to enhance the quality of police, A-class Police Class opened up to graduates from senior high schools in 1969. Police College then allowed female students join in 1974, resulting in more and more females joining the force. With changes in Taiwan's society, female crimes increasing and the emergence of the sex industry and violence upon women and children, the police force is depending more and more on policewomen to handle police work.In reviewing the development of policewomen, we see after the introduction of them into the force that their main responsibility is in responding to the demands from society and dealing with female crimes or crimes on women and children mess. After opening up the police force in Taiwan to females and through the requirement of gender equality, the police force has had to recruit new members through fair examinations, but the fact that female students have generally performed better than male students on the examination has resulted in recruiting an excessive number of females to take on police duties. However, the innate weakness of females compared to males often causes difficulties in assigning field duties by the police station. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore if females are indeed suitable for joining the police force.This study begins by researching the problems that policewomen encounter in their daily work. It then proceeds by analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of policewomen. Finally, this study offers some recommendations.2. MATERIALS AND METHODSLiterature review is to discuss problems encountered by policewomen in police organizations.2.1. Unfairness of Promotions and AwardsLike male colleagues, policewomen have to pass the tough Special Examination for Police and receive stringent education and training before becoming a qualified police officer. In masculine police organizations, policewomen are recognized only as nominally being a police officer, because police organizations are full of patriarchal control and thought processes that believe policewomen can only do office work without incurring any heavy responsibilities. Yeh (2004) pointed out that most police organizations have lower expectations for policewomen and do not give them too much or too heavy of a workload, leading to fewer opportunities for promotion. …

Revisiting China's Use of Force in Asia: Dynamic, Level and Beyond*

In the context of China's rapid rise, scholars still debate heatedly and always make contrasted predictions on China's use of force. This article seeks to identify the determining factors of a rising China's use of force and its varying levels. Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China's use of force has been shaped by its high external vulnerabilities. They consist of two major security concerns: the homeland encirclement by superpowers and the increasing support from the outside to domestic splitting factions. Consistency in China's use of force can be explained by the legitimacy of the party involved and the regional power position in East Asia. The level of the use of force has been determined by China's relative capability to its adversaries. Specifically, China will use high levels of force, such as wars or lengthy conflicts, if it enjoys the favorable relative capability. On the contrary, China will use low levels of force, such as blockade, artillery attacks and very short combats, if the opposite is true. Based on these findings and current regional trends in East Asia, the authors are optimistic about China's non‐use of force in Taiwan and territorial or maritime disputes in East Asia over the next decade.

Mediated Politics in Taiwan Political Talk Shows and Democracy

Talk show programs have been a media phenomenon in many democratic societies. This essay intends to offer an analysis of media discourse and the political deliberation process in Taiwan in the 2000s, by concentrating on the talk-show fever of the past decade. Over this period, any political issue in Taiwan could easily develop into a heavily mediated political event, attracting widespread public attention and leading to a complex, intriguing power relationship among the media, politicians, and the general public. In other words, talk shows have become a forum used by various political forces in Taiwan to compete and struggle for agenda-setting power and to try to manipulate public debates in favor of their political space and place. This study illustrates several distinctive features of Taiwan's political talk shows, identifies how they frame and promote political issues, shows the mediated interaction among different political actors, and evaluates the contribution of talk shows to Taiwan's democratic deliberation process.

Crises and Chances: Year 2015, the first year of the “Taiwan Aging Power Era”

The birthrate in Taiwan is decreasing yearly. As a result the aging population problem is getting drastically worse. According to “Population Projections for R.O.C (Taiwan): 2010–2060”, the population growth rate will become negative after the total population peaks at 23.44 million in 2022. Does this mean that Taiwan will still be able to enjoy the benefits of population growth for the next 11 years, including a sufficient labor force to support Taiwanese industries during that period of time? Unfortunately, the answer may be “no”. The problem is that over the next 11 years the population of Taiwan will change not only in terms of “amount”, but also in terms of “quality”. Almost every country in Asia will encounter this common issue soon. According to “Taiwanese Future Population Projection (the medium-variant)” released by the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) in September, 2010, the dependency ratio in the population will reach its lowest point (34%) (turning point) in 2015. The dependency ration is the number of people aged 1–14 and those aged 65 and over, divided by the number of people aged 15–64. After the turning point in 2015, the more people who are dependent, the larger the dependent ratio will become and the heavier the burden of support for the labor forces in Taiwan will be. The labor force in Taiwan’s primary, secondary and tertiary industries will all be directly impacted by the country’s low birthrate and rapidly aging population. If one looks at the labor statistics in these three industry sectors prior to 2015, and then one takes the projected dependency ratio and uses it to project the labor force available to the three industry sectors from 2015 to 2035, one can see that there is a significant impact. This impact will be explored in detail in this paper, as well as the idea that this change in the dependency ratio may also prove to be an opportunity for the automatic technology industry in Taiwan. The opportunities for businesses to capitalize on this demographic shift will occur not only in Taiwan, but throughout Asia.

Returns to scale in DEA models for performance evaluations

The technology industry is a major driving force in Taiwan's economic development. The Taiwan government employed technology development programs (TDPs) to stimulate industrial technology research and development to enhance industry competitiveness. This paper uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a nonparametric approach, to evaluate the relative efficiency of decision-making units (DMUs) that use multiple inputs to produce multiple outputs, to evaluate the relative managerial efficiency of TDPs. The inputs are human resources and expenditures. The outputs are patents and technology outcomes. We investigated TDP performance over the period from 1999 to 2003. This study uses CCR and BCC models, which are DEA model variants, to calculate efficiency indexes. CCR is adopted under the assumption of constant returns to scale. BCC is used to understand the variable returns to scale, including the constant, decreasing and increasing. We found that TDPs in the material and chemical engineering fields in 1999 and 2001, machinery and aerospace fields in 1999, and communication and optoelectronics fields in 2002 had better performance than the other TDPs. We provide potential improvements for inefficient DMUs.

QuJianghua : Disposing of and Re-appraising the Remnants of Chiang Kai-shek’s Reign on Taiwan

This article explores attempts that were made by pro-independence political forces in Taiwan between the mid-1990s and 2008 to purge the remnants of the Chiang Kai-shek personality cult from Taiwan’s landscape. It explores a set of policies culminating in the renaming of Taipei’s Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in January 2008, and which were referred to in the Taiwanese media as quJianghua — ‘de-Chiang-Kai-shek-ification’. This article demonstrates, however, that rather than resulting in Chiang’s removal from historical debates in Taiwan, the contradictory policies that were pursued in this era have led to the emergence of new interpretations of Chiang and his legacy on the island.

Measuring the performance of police forces in Taiwan using data envelopment analysis

Recently, the National Police Agency of Taiwan has begun to measure performance levels for police forces across the entire island. The performance benchmarks resulting from this strategy have become the basis for allocation of government funding and other scarce resources. In this work, data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to construct a scalar measure of efficiency for all police precincts. Further analyses on the effect of degree of urbanization and possible weight restrictions on the outputs upon the efficiency scores of each decision making unit (DMU) were conducted. In addition, a three-stage DEA model was applied to explicitly incorporate environmental factors into the DEA model. The results show that the external environmental factors specified in this study may have some effects on the efficiency scores of each district, albeit not statistically significant. Most decision making units are technically efficient; the average technical efficiency of all DMUs was as high as 98.46% when external environmental factors were accounted for.

Applying web-enabled self-regulated learning and problem-based learning with initiation to involve low-achieving students in learning

Vocational degree earners represent a major portion of the work force in Taiwan. However, vocational education in Taiwan is highly competitive in that it must attract sufficient student enrollment in an environment with a rapidly increasing number of schools. In this context, many vocational students tend to have lower levels of academic achievement. Under such constraints but moving toward more practical orientation, the authors conducted a quasi-experiment to examine the effects of applying web-based self-regulated learning (SRL), web-based problem-based learning (PBL) with initiation, and their combination to help these low-achieving students be involved positively in their learning. Four classes in successive years, with a total of 177 third-year students, were divided into 2 (SRL vs. non-SRL) × 2 (PBL with initiation vs. PBL without initiation) experimental groups. Results were generally positive. The authors further discuss the implications for schools, particularly vocational schools, and for scholars and teachers concerned about e-learning.

The Effects of Web-Enabled Self-Regulated Learning and Problem-Based Learning with Initiation on Students' Computing Skills

Vocational degree earners represent a major portion of the work force in Taiwan. However, the reality of computing education in Taiwan’s vocational schools is that it’s not so practically oriented, revealing much room for improvement. In this context, we conducted a quasi-experiment to examine the effects of applying web-based self-regulated learning, web-based problem-based learning with initiation, and their combination to enhance students’ computing skills. Four classes in successive years, with a total of 177third-year students, were divided into 2 (SRL vs. non-SRL) × 2 (PBL with initiation vs. PBL without initiation) experimental groups. Results were generally positive. Results revealed that the effects of web-enabled SRL, web-enabled PBL with initiation, and their combinations on students’ computing skills have significant differences. We hope that the online teaching method applied in this study is also useful for those teachers engaged in e-learning, specifically, in vocational schools.