Correcting the use of "Chinese terms" has become an increasingly popular pastime on Taiwan's internet, and the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is laying the blame on Beijing's military pressure — adding another round to the cross-strait war of words.

• MAC Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh said that with Chinese military aircraft and vessels constantly harassing Taiwan and national security and espionage cases on the rise, it is only natural that the public should feel averse to Chinese vocabulary.
• China's Taiwan Affairs Office, for its part, criticised the Democratic Progressive Party administration for "opposing anything Chinese," accusing Taiwan of treating simplified characters as a form of espionage infiltration and inflaming divisions on the island.
• The flashpoint was an incident in which a passer-by photographed and reported someone at Taipei Main Station whose laptop was displaying simplified characters; police investigated and found the person was merely listening to an investment and personal finance course.
• Ironically, the police's own press release used the term "yinpin" (audio), prompting netizens to question whether the force itself had been subject to "red infiltration."
• Liang admitted that he too had once been corrected for misusing the term "chutai" (to roll out a policy), stressing that linguistic exchange is normally quite ordinary and that the problem lies in the poor state of cross-strait relations.

Outlook: As long as the People's Liberation Army's military harassment and espionage cases continue, this linguistic hostility will only intensify in the short term rather than cool down.