Historic meeting of China and Taiwan

On Nov. 7, 2015, Chinese and Taiwanese leaders had a historic meeting.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou at Singapore and took a conference. They shook hands for one minute in front of reporters. It is for the first time since Taiwan was established in 1949.

CNBC: Leaders of China, Taiwan meet for first time in six decades

Singapore was chosen as the place of the meeting because it is one of the cities maintaining neutral stance between them. Singapore is adopting Chinese and English as the official languages, and permit many international companies to deal with the business.

The Wall Street Journal: China-Taiwan Summit a Success for Singapore

The two leaders confirmed that there is “One-China” base on the consensus established in 1992, meaning that at present Communist Party and Taiwan Nationalist Party are only conflicting regarding the sovereignty of China, rather than China itself has been split into two nations. This recognition seems beneficial to the both leaders.

On the other hand, Chinese President was reluctant to shrink the military force. When Ma referred the missiles placed on the seashore in front of Taiwan, Xi merely said that these weapons were not aiming at Taiwan, without mentioning the possibility of the removal of the missiles.

Focus Taiwan: Taiwanese concerned about China's military threat, Ma told Xi

After all, there was no progress toward the reunion of China in this meeting. However, they agreed to the idea that a hotline connecting them will be developed. I do not think the situation around Taiwan will be amended soon following this conference. Nonetheless, it is certain that the relationship between China and Taiwan will become closer.

The result of the next election in Taiwan is crucial. Opposite Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) seems to be advantageous. DPP is against the One-China policy. If it wins the next Presidential election next year, it may break the consensus in 1992. In this case, the confirmation of the two leaders in this meeting will control the next President’s diplomatic policy.

Xi declared the willingness of Chinese to make negotiations with Taiwanese as far as they adhere the One-China policy. In this sense, China seemed to prioritize the stability of this region to its authority.

A 2x2 matrix reveals Japanese forensic mental health systems

There are several methods for problem solving. Among them, 2x2 matrix is simple and useful to clarify your thought.

A 2x2 matrix is composed of four cells divided by two axes. At first, you need to decide these axes. It is often not easy to find the axes that can precisely categorize the components into four cells.

I will show an example of forensic mental health issues, as my specialty. There are several strategies to treat mentally disordered offenders. You can punish them in a harsh way. You can also choose to forgive them considering their severe impairment of mental ability. Forcible treatment in a psychiatric facility is another option. So, how do you classify these options?

I set the two axes: “Priority: punishment or treatment”, and “Responsibility: the subject or the society,” as below.

The Priority axis determines whether you punish the mentally disordered offenders or give psychiatric treatment to them. Of course, both are offered concurrently, but you should simplify the situation at this time.

On the other hand, Responsibility axis determines which is emphasized as the subject to be responsible for addressing the offending, the offenders themselves, or the society.

Thus, there are four cells each of which has mutually exclusive alignment. I named each cell conveniently like below.

In “Formalism” cell, mentally disordered offenders are punished in the same way as healthy people. Their punishment is not amended regardless of the severity of the offender.

On the contrary, in “Paternalism” cell, mentally disordered offenders are never punished. They are forgiven because of their mental illness. Instead, they are treated in a special hospital for addressing their psychiatric symptoms.

In “Authoritarianism” cell, mentally disordered offenders are deemed as criminals, but psychiatric treatment is given. The society is responsible for preventing further offending by them.

In “Humanism” cell, treatment is prioritized to punishment for mentally disordered offenders. But they are responsible for accepting treatment adequately. If they refuse to obey the treatment order, they can be incarcerated.

Ok, these four cells meet mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive (MECE). Next, I will apply some archetypes of strategy in Japan into this matrix.

In Japan, prisoners are hardly given psychiatric treatment, unfortunately, without some exceptions. Most of them engage the correctional work in prison. So, Japanese prison is applied to the Formalism cell.

However, some prisoners who have so severe psychiatric symptoms that they cannot be managed in an ordinary prison are to be sent to a medical prison. In medical prisons, offenders are given psychiatric treatment, and they need not engage the correctional work. However, they are still prisoners, and will be released when the term of incarceration is over. So, medical prison is applied to Authoritarianism cell.

In contrast, Medical Treatment and Supervision Act provides a scheme of medical treatment for mentally disordered offenders. Offenders who were identified as not guilty for the reason of insanity or with diminished criminal responsibility are subjected to this scheme. Once approved, they will be never punished for the issued offense. Instead, involuntary treatment is provided to treat their mental disorders. So, psychiatric facilities offering the treatment based on the MTS Act is applied to the Paternalism cell.

The last cell remained is the Humanism cell. Surprisingly, there are no schemes applicable to the cell in Japan. It seems to be unbalanced. I think Drug Court in the US is appropriate to match this cell. Similar schemes are under consideration in Japanese administrative framework, but yet to be adopted.

Above all, the matrix thought has revealed the weakness of Japanese policy for mentally disordered offenders. So useful.

Russian airplane crashed in Egypt

Another topic about the airplane, but too bad one.

A Russian airliner flying from Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt was crashed soon after its levitation. All 224 passengers and crews were killed. It is a terrible disaster.

The Guardian: Egypt says no survivors from Russian plane crash

By the way, there is a controversy about the cause of this disaster. Islamic State (IS), composed of extremists, made a statement of being responsible for the destroyed plane. Most of all passengers were Russians. IS said that they shot it down as revenge to Vladimir Putin, the Russian president who ordered the bombing at IS recently.

The Hill: ISIS claims responsibility for Russian plane crash

However, there is skepticism about IS statement. It is doubtful that IS had equipped weapons with enough power to aim at the airplane at 9,000 meters in the sky precisely. The Russian government, as well as Egyptian, dismissed the claim of IS, and began to investigate the cause of this tragedy as usual.

The Sydney Morning Herald: Russian plane crash: Islamic State claims put Vladimir Putin in a bind

On the other hand, it is also possible that someone brought explosives into the plane to commit a suicidal bombing, albeit it is a little inconsistent with the statement of IS. The US intelligence seems to adopt this hypothesis.

Catch News: ISIS planted bomb may have brought down Russian airliner, claims US intelligence report

The possibility of mechanical errors has not been ruled out. Russian airplanes are infamous about its quality, unfortunately. In the past 20 years, a total of 20 fatal accidents was recorded on Russian airlines.

Independent: Egypt plane crash: The tragic recent history of Russian aviation

Anyway, no adequate information has been gathered to determine the true reason for this tragedy. The Egyptian government retrieved the black box of the plane for further investigation. But it will take a while because it was damaged.

Hindustan Times: What went wrong in Egypt: Possible scenarios in Russian jet crash

I have nothing to say about this case at present, other than wishing the victims would rest in peace.

*Sequel

Bitcoin rising

Bitcoin is boosting. The price has been doubled in a month. Especially in these some days, it is rocketing.

I am not sure why bitcoin is so strongly bought, but there are some hypotheses.


1. Friendly verdict of European Court

Recently, European Court made a historic decision admitting Bitcoin as money. It means that exchange between bitcoin and real currency is not subjected to taxation. This issue had been a great controversy since Bitcoin was born.

Financial Times: European court ruling bolsters bitcoin


2. Blockchain becomes famous

Blockchain, the technology underlining the maintenance of bitcoin, is attracting the attention of British government. The ministry of finance in the UK is aiming to utilize blockchain, investing 10 million GBP. A similar movement is also observed in the US.


3. Chinese economy

Some people consider the rise of bitcoin connected to the slowdown in Chinese economy. Not a few investors to Chinese market found bitcoin as a haven while China market is in peril.


4. Speculation

Another hypothesis is simpler. Some speculators may control the price of bitcoin. Indeed, the magnitude of the recent rise of bitcoin is incredible. It is possible that the price will fall immediately, considering that Bitcoin is still more volatile than any other major currencies.

The Real Reason For the Rise In Bitcoin Prices


Two years ago, the price of bitcoin reached 1,000 USD. The bubble ended after Chinese government prohibited the trade with crypt-currency.

Anyway, the price will fall, more or less. I wonder when this festival will be finished, but every price rises and falls someday.


*Before posting this entry, the falling of the Bitcoin price began, ironically.

*Sequel

Some issues in the airplane trip

As I repeatedly mentioned, I like airplane travel. Riding an airplane for hours is far less stressful than in the past, thanks to tablet devices. In addition, there are many options including LCCs for an abroad traveling. You can choose either inexpensive or comfort journey.

My past entry: Comfortable airplanes

Recently, an article introducing some tips in the airplane was published. An airplane is a mass of various architecture. We have many things yet to know about the management of airline travel.

Independent: 8 things airline pilots won't tell you

In this article, I was surprised to know the reason coffee on the airplane tastes not good. Some chemicals are inserted into the water tanks in the aircraft so that harmful bacteria cannot grow. These chemicals spoil the flavor of coffee. To be honest, I never order coffee in the airplane because I do not like a hot beverage. Therefore, I have not noticed the taste of the coffee in the sky.

The issues about the mobile phone are also interesting. Using electronic devices are strictly restricted in the airplane during takeoff and landing. Actually, they are the riskiest parts in handling an aircraft. So, I understand that crews are nervous about the risk of entangled lines. It seems not so problematic, however, than we imagine so. A similar situation occurred in the hospital. Formerly, using a mobile phone was suspected to interfere the pacemaker in the heart of patients. We requested the patients and families not to use mobile devices in the hospital. Now it has been proven that there are very low risk for a cell phone to confuse the function of the pacemaker.

The other day, there was a bad report. A lady saw a message from her husband on the airplane in which he was going to commit suicide. She asked the crew to stop the plane immediately, but it was not accepted because the plane was approaching to takeoff. After the landing, she got the news that her husband was dead.

In this case, the airline company were criticized not to have taken a flexible reaction to the request of the passenger. I understand someone has the idea that the death would have been prevented if using a mobile phone had been permitted, even if it is unrealistic.

An airplane carries many passengers, always with many dreams, and sometimes a few worries.

Banana protein overcomes viral infection

A particular protein generated from banana is focused regarding its antiviral activity.

Researchers are expecting Banana Lectin, a protein isolated from bananas, to be an agent against HIV, Hepatitis C, and influenza. Banana Lectin was initially extracted in 2010, but the prototype caused several adverse effects. The team developed a modified version, H84T, which is less harmful to the human. The H84T is now under examination on mice.

Live Mint: Drug from banana protein could help fight AIDS, Hepatitis C and influenza viruses

The series of research was published in Cell, a world-famous academic journal. I could not read the full text at home, but it seems quite interesting.

Cell: Engineering a Therapeutic Lectin by Uncoupling Mitogenicity from Antiviral Activity

We would need no physicians if taking bananas were a panacea. Some kinds of virus are easily polymorph their own structure so that external foes cannot catch them. It is why developing the vaccine for a viral infection is difficult.

Nonetheless, scientists have been struggling to address this challenge. Treatment of HIV infection has been evolutionally changed for some decades. AIDS is no more inevitable end of HIV infection. Furthermore, Hepatitis C can be eradicated by Sofosbuvir and some other newly developed antiviral agents. It is only a couple of decades ago that Oseltamivir was developed for treatment and prevention of influenza.

Recent innovation makes me imagine the future in which many viral infections are controllable with medication, which was merely fantasy. I guess the ultimate target for antiviral agents is common cold. Upper respiratory infection is extremely common in almost all regions of the world. There are hundreds of viruses causing wet cough, sneeze, and mild fever, all of which are annoying symptoms. There is no particular solution to conquer common cold in spite of modern medicine. I dream the day that human overcome a cold.

China quit the one-child policy

Chinese government made a historic decision in the population policy.

Ruling Communist Party will ease the family planning of the couples, permitting them to make two, instead of one, children. It is a significant alteration from Chinese population control with long-lasting one-child policy since 1979.

Reuters: China to allow all couples two children to counter aging population

For several decades, suppression of growing population had been a challenge for China. The dictatorship of Communist Party made it easy, or too successful. Nowadays, the number of young people is only a half of working age population, and older people are approaching to a sixth of working population. Even if the policy change is implemented smoothly, China is still promised to face the aging problem in the near future. Critics say that it is unlikely that the new policy will boost the birth rate.

BBC: China to end one-child policy and allow two

Generally speaking, the birth rate is higher in poorer countries. There are several reasons. In some developing countries, many children cannot survive their childhood. And parents invest all money to one child who is the most talented in their children, to expect he or she will be successful on abroad. Apart from the ethical issue, this method is potentially beneficial to the gifted child. On the other hand, parents in developed countries need not worry about premature death of their babies. Getting higher education is still costly. Also, they have many things to do other than reproducing. Therefore, they tend not to make many children.

How is the situation in China? There is a considerable discrepancy of wealth among each family in spite of the communism policy. Rich parents can bring up two children, but poor parents will have difficulty. The new policy is possible to raise disparity of wealth much more.

Population effect is like a tidal wave. It is theoretically easy to prospect, but hardly controllable in real. China is unique in this matter. I am doubtful someone can manage the situation with true sustainability.