The laptop, the social media user and the false alarm in Taiwan over a Beijing ‘spy’

A false espionage alarm about a Taipei subway user has fuelled concerns that growing fears of Beijing are breeding unhealthy suspicion on the island and eroding public trust. The controversy erupted after a social media user posted a photograph of a man holding a laptop on a Taipei Main Station metro platform on Saturday. Seeing the words “2nd Theatre Photosynthesis System” appeared in simplified Chinese on the laptop’s screen, the social media user suspected that the man was a mainland Chinese...