American expat, living in Taipei... as of 22:13 (UTC +8) in one window a livestream of Songshan Airport and in the other tradingview/BTC with SN in between.
Oh the world we live in...🤞🏻
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318 sats \ 5 replies \ @uco 2 Aug 2022
Curious, what is the general vibe for citizens living in Taiwan?
- Apprehension
- Couldn't care less
- Why is Pelosi coming to Taiwan?
Thanks for providing any insights from being on the ground.
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589 sats \ 4 replies \ @linesgone OP 2 Aug 2022
Mostly the later two.
People here have lived with the threat of the PRC since 1949. It's a daily constant thing. Most people just throw up their hands and say "What can you do, we need to live our lives". So this is just another day in that way.
There is a group that doesn't really care and still more than that have no clue why she is coming.
Two other groups are ones that fully support her visiting and another that want America/China to stop using Taiwan as a pawn. That last one is vocal but seems to be a vast minority.
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100 sats \ 3 replies \ @uco 2 Aug 2022
Interesting, thanks for sharing!
I assumed there would be a group upset with US (and China) using Taiwan as a pawn but thought it might be bigger than just a vocal minority.
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201 sats \ 2 replies \ @linesgone OP 2 Aug 2022
It's very small, probably about the same size as the one who is anti China. There are groups for everything here.
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @DeezSats 2 Aug 2022
Taiwan is a huge investor into mainland China, but how much investment by CCP into Taiwan has there been? It used to be very, very strict about not letting any mainlanders into Taiwan, has that changed?
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102 sats \ 0 replies \ @linesgone OP 2 Aug 2022
Very little to none. The PRC, economically speaking, doesn’t need Taiwan. Plus the regulations you stated forbidding them to invest in TW.
Taiwanese invested in the mainland because it was easy and what they know. Mostly it’s manufacturing and mostly it’s a legacy form the 90s/early 00s. It’s not done as much now, at least at the same scale.
The culture and the language + traditions bind the two countries so naturally investments follow. But they are much less than they used to be.
Japan has become a bigger partner for investment for Taiwan as has Southeast Asia, mostly Malaysia.
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211 sats \ 6 replies \ @puhbuhruh_old 2 Aug 2022
What is the bitcoin scene like in Taiwan? Is there a Taipei monthly bitdevs meetup?
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145 sats \ 5 replies \ @linesgone OP 2 Aug 2022
There is Bitdev activity here in Taipei, but not my scene. Most people generally have heard what Bitcoin is here...but few have any real interest or understanding (same as the states really).
Buying BTC here on a local exchange involves endless hoops to jump through, but that is more Taiwan's ancient banking practices and systems than anything.
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113 sats \ 4 replies \ @bitgould 3 Aug 2022
I help host Taiwan BitDevs at https://bitdevs.tw. We have been doing a bilingual monthly Socratic Seminar since March. We've done Pizza Day too. It's a strong community of builders and thinkers. I wonder what your scene would be?
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5 sats \ 1 reply \ @bitgould 3 Aug 2022
We've had lots of college students who are interested in DLCs or getting their first sats, bar owners who now accept bitcoin, a scooter mechanic who want to accept bitcoin from foreigners, policy folks, fine art collectors, circular economy people, privacy coiners, brilliant automation engineers, exchange people, investors and of course bitcoin developers to name a few. We'd love to invite you whenever you're ready
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16 sats \ 0 replies \ @linesgone OP 3 Aug 2022
That’s great to hear.
What’s amazing to me is how prevalent digital payments are here, especially in Taipei (I.e. Apple Pay, Line pay, etc). I’m a NYC native and have lived in Taipei for almost two years. Prior to moving here I used a digital payment at a POS maybe once or twice. Since moving here I use it for 85% of my transactions, the rest are cash since they are super local/old school.
So the desire to embrace the next gen in digital payments is here for sure. Also, no one likes the outdated banking and credit systems here in Taiwan.
I keep looking for a Bitcoin or Lightning logo in shops, have yet to see one. When I do I’m ready.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @puhbuhruh_old 3 Aug 2022
Doing Satoshi's work đź’Ş
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @linesgone OP 3 Aug 2022
My comment wasn’t on the Bitdevs scene at all or specific to Taipei. I’m just not a group person, especially in COVID times. In the future maybe I’ll join, when it’s safer.
I’ll keep an eye on Bitdevs.tw
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311 sats \ 1 reply \ @tomlaies 2 Aug 2022
🇹🇼🇹🇼🇹🇼
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @DeezSats 2 Aug 2022
This flag has always been a snuff of the communist regime, long live Taiwan!
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105 sats \ 1 reply \ @nerd2ninja 2 Aug 2022
Good luck! Don't surrender if the commies invade
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DeezSats 2 Aug 2022
Commies grow their pestilence by feeding on the rot from within. I am very curious how much infiltration into Taiwan there has been.
Most of the time commies don't turn a country by means of overt war. The stakes of a war for China and Taiwan and the world are extremely high, and i am very interested in how far the commies have gotten so far using their preferred tactics of subversion.
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101 sats \ 0 replies \ @spraveenitpro 2 Aug 2022
Do you think there could be a class of people who would accept the mainland Chinese as their overlords in case of a successful invasion?
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @DeezSats 2 Aug 2022
Do you speak Chinese?
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101 sats \ 0 replies \ @linesgone OP 3 Aug 2022
Enough to get by… but always learning more.
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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @starbuilder 2 Aug 2022
Living in the US, I have the same 3 windows on my desktop..! Virtually we are same but geographically separated...! Hope one day the "network" state takes over the physical state to end all these dramas..!
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11 sats \ 0 replies \ @linesgone OP 2 Aug 2022
Ha! Interestingly I was reading some of “The Network” state as well… thinking about all of this nationalistic drama realizing those of us in a place like SN are already embracing the future (like internet culture always has).
It’s interesting times indeed.
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14 sats \ 0 replies \ @picco 2 Aug 2022
Taipei is a beautiful city. Be safe!
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12 sats \ 0 replies \ @sb 2 Aug 2022
Keep us updated and hope that you're safe :)
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @1sats 3 Aug 2022
I am a Taiwanese native. I've been talking to families and friends about buying bitcoin as a hedge against war. But none of them listen to me :(
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @nout 2 Aug 2022
Is your first name Nancy?
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0 sats \ 4 replies \ @DeezSats 2 Aug 2022
What is the depth of communist infestation into Taiwan leadership and politics? Are there CCP-aligned interests and agents in high places there, like we see in Hong Kong and the US?
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111 sats \ 0 replies \ @linesgone OP 3 Aug 2022
I further clarified this question with my father-in-law this morning. Starting about 35 years ago, during Taiwan's economic boom, the majority of Taiwanese fortunes were invested in mainland china, mostly in manufacturing (like the rest of the world). This peaked around 2000. By that time three things happened;
1). Chinese companies had "learned" (aka stolen) enough processes and technology from Taiwanese firms that Taiwanese firms were no longer competitive and most families left China and retired.
2). Local authorities essentially pushed Taiwanese owners out and or took over their businesses, often when it was something more complicated that they couldn't steal fast enough.
3). Those Taiwanese that are still invested in China essentially became Chinese and renounced Taiwan all together.
Now-a-days the majority of Taiwanese investment is in Southeast Asia, as I said, mostly Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. However, there is a significant more amount of investment of Taiwanese money in Japan.
Japan and Taiwan are extremely friendly with one another. Taiwanese generally love Japan, especially those under 40 or so (the older generations have a more guarded view of Japan due to the occupation during WW2). Many Taiwanese speak Japanese and doing business with Japan is generally very easy for Taiwanese (i.e. both countries have the same dependence on paperwork and bureaucracy, plus the banking system work in similar was/rules). Plus, due to the economy, Japan is really cheap right now to invest in.
Lastly, I confirmed that Mainland Chinese are forbidden to own businesses in Taiwan. This has been the case essentially from 1949 onward, with a few exceptions. Mainland Chinese can own residential property here, but it is very difficult from a Visa standpoint (PRC citizens need very special Visa to leave China and additionally enter Taiwan, both China and Taiwan need to issue them, they are two distinct separate counties after all) as well as the repercussions a Chinese citizen would face in mainland China if hey owned Taiwanese property.
There are a few political parties in Taiwan, which has double digit political parties, that are pro China, pro-unification and pro-PRC, but they get smaller and small every election cycle, mostly due to their insane rhetoric and their members dying (average age for this parties id 75+).
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101 sats \ 2 replies \ @linesgone OP 2 Aug 2022
There are a handful of PRC sympathizers in politics, the party they are generally part of is increasingly becoming irrelevant. The average age of these people will be 70s, if not older, with some younger children in their 50s now.
The currently relevant political parties are all much younger and with for “status quo” or independence.
Prior to the crackdown in HK many wanted to just maintain the “status quo” here. Since the crack down in HK those supporting independence are much more.
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101 sats \ 1 reply \ @Coinosphere 3 Aug 2022
It's really odd to me that the generation who remembers the split is the one that wants to reunite... If I understood my Chinese history correctly the rift between the commie Mao and the democratic Kai-shek was extremely hateful and filled with spite... So much so that the two refused to stop fighting each other as Japan invaded China's mainland, which is why little old Japan kicked China's ass at the start of WWII. -And then when we nuked Japan & they fell back to their own island, Mao and Kai-shek resumed fighting each other again immediately.
Why such a change of heart by these folks?
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @linesgone OP 3 Aug 2022
Legacy… many older folk idealize a past that (likely) never existed. Same with Trump voters in the States. What was feels safer than the future, which is scary.
Also the older generations tend to hold on to more of the old traditions, many of which have been lost in China, so they also want to bring that back together and continue the “culture”.
No one is still thinking Taiwan will “take back” the mainland and reestablish the ROC on the mainland. That dream died in the 50s.
Politically the KMT, the party of CKS, officially claims a “status quo” platform now, but many of the older members of the part would be totally fine with unification.
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