In view of the recent brouhaha over whether cable station TVBS should be shut down -- a majority of its shares are Chinese-owned, which violates the Satellite Broadcasting Law (
Chen's statement is tantamount to pardoning a monster. It is as if he is saying, "Come and get me, for no matter what you do, even if you attack me, I will not get you."
TVBS general manager Lee Tao (
Whether capital is from Hong Kong or China, it is not Taiwanese and is therefore foreign capital. The law stipulates that direct foreign investment in a TV station should not exceed 50 percent. Lee, therefore, was swearing on his life that TVBS is 100 percent funded by foreigners.
It's a clear violation of the law, so why has the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration taken so long to act?
Most likely one can attribute this to the administration's own wishful thinking that pro-China media outlets will be nicer to it in return for not intervening.
Apparently, the administration has not learned its lesson, despite the number of times it has been cut and bruised by the pro-China media with smearing and false accusations.
Sometimes, offense is the best defense. If the government can't be trusted to stand up for Taiwan's interests, then the task rests with the Taiwanese people.
The Northern Taiwan Society on Monday urged members of the public to donate NT$100 to help gather the necessary cash for the budget in lieu of the long-stalled arms-procurement bill.
The group expects that 1 million people will support the drive.
Coincidentally, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (
NT$100 is not a very big sum. If both parties are serious about these proposals, it will be interesting to see how each group fares.
It could be viewed as a kind of pocket-change referendum on what the public prefers: maintaining national security or propping up a cable station that has willingly helped China push its agenda in Taiwan.
American civil-rights vanguard Rosa Parks, who passed away aged 92 last Monday, was the first woman to lie in honor in the US Capitol Rotunda -- a tribute formerly reserved for presidents, soldiers and prominent politicians. She was no shrewd legislator, charismatic politician nor an articulate talkshow host. She was but an ordinary woman who simply had the guts to say, "I'm tired of giving up my seat."
The majority of the Taiwanese public could learn from her example and end their mute reaction to pro-China media manipulation.
We need more people like Parks -- people who can dare to stand up and defend the dignity and pride of the Taiwanese and refuse to be bullied.
On Sept. 3 in Tiananmen Square, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) rolled out a parade of new weapons in PLA service that threaten Taiwan — some of that Taiwan is addressing with added and new military investments and some of which it cannot, having to rely on the initiative of allies like the United States. The CCP’s goal of replacing US leadership on the global stage was advanced by the military parade, but also by China hosting in Tianjin an August 31-Sept. 1 summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which since 2001 has specialized
In an article published by the Harvard Kennedy School, renowned historian of modern China Rana Mitter used a structured question-and-answer format to deepen the understanding of the relationship between Taiwan and China. Mitter highlights the differences between the repressive and authoritarian People’s Republic of China and the vibrant democracy that exists in Taiwan, saying that Taiwan and China “have had an interconnected relationship that has been both close and contentious at times.” However, his description of the history — before and after 1945 — contains significant flaws. First, he writes that “Taiwan was always broadly regarded by the imperial dynasties of
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) will stop at nothing to weaken Taiwan’s sovereignty, going as far as to create complete falsehoods. That the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never ruled Taiwan is an objective fact. To refute this, Beijing has tried to assert “jurisdiction” over Taiwan, pointing to its military exercises around the nation as “proof.” That is an outright lie: If the PRC had jurisdiction over Taiwan, it could simply have issued decrees. Instead, it needs to perform a show of force around the nation to demonstrate its fantasy. Its actions prove the exact opposite of its assertions. A
A large part of the discourse about Taiwan as a sovereign, independent nation has centered on conventions of international law and international agreements between outside powers — such as between the US, UK, Russia, the Republic of China (ROC) and Japan at the end of World War II, and between the US and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since recognition of the PRC as the sole representative of China at the UN. Internationally, the narrative on the PRC and Taiwan has changed considerably since the days of the first term of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) of the Democratic
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