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Taiwanese student receives threats over his map of China’s military facilities

A map of China’s military facilities created by a Taiwanese music student has received considerable attention after he appeared in a China Television talk show.
Taiwanese student speaking in a talk show about his map of China's military facilities. (SCREENSHOTS: Google and YouTube)

A map of China’s military facilities created by a Taiwanese music student has received considerable attention after he appeared in a China Television talk show, according to local media reports.

Wen posted the map online in June last year, but it only went viral after the show’s broadcast last month. As of Thursday afternoon, the map has been viewed more than 1 million times. Wen said his intention to create the map was to “help people better understand the cross-strait situation,” according to a report by the Taipei Times.

Wen had initially wanted to post the People's Liberation Army Air Force bases only as he could find their runways easily online, according to a separate report by Taiwan News. But he later expanded the map to include 782 areas of interest, such as China's key military and political organs, army bases, naval bases, rocket force facilities, and important military-industrial facilities, such as the shipyards in Dalian, Jiangnan and Huangpu.

He was able to pinpoint where the 666 brigade of the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force is located following a leaked photo shown on Chinese state-run CCTV as two lighting covers above a building in the photo match a structure in Xinyang.

Most of the facilities in the map are concentrated along the coast of the Fujian and Guangdong provinces, which are located close to Taiwan, and in the northern provinces near the Korean peninsula and Japan. In contrast, the map shows far fewer facilities along China’s border with Russia.

In the talk show, Wen explained that he gathered information on the facility locations by looking at publicly available websites, and papers from various military academies.

Wen urged Taiwanese students to improve their ability to assess information by differentiating between useful information and "implanted propaganda".

While the student plans to continue working on his map, he does not intend to pursue a career in the military or intelligence. He said, “Music is a relatively pure interest that is not shrouded in conflict.”

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