While Taiwan has always been proud of its press freedom and many people in Taiwan would even go as far as saying that Taiwanese media is “too free,” recent developments surrounding in the local media environment suggest otherwise.
This is why those who work in the media industry found Sunday — Journalists’ Day, the annual day that pays tribute to their profession — difficult to celebrate.
Along with the deteriorating working environment, diminishing profitability and erosion of professional ethics that can be found in countries all over the world, media in Taiwan is facing a unique challenge in the growing influence of China.
Some people in the industry are aware of this and are frustrated that they cannot do anything about it. Others remain unaware of this invisible power that has been eroding press freedom and jeopardizing journalistic integrity.
Look no further than Hong Kong, the former British colony whose sovereignty was handed over to China in 1997, and Macau, a former Portuguese colony, which followed suit two years later.
Members of the media from those places, now known as special administrative places of China, warned their Taiwanese counterparts at a forum held on Sunday in Taipei that things may not worsen overnight, but that slowly and surely they could reach a point of no return.
How Hong Kong’s press freedom has changed since 1997 is reflected in the non-profit group Reporters Without Borders rankings. In 2002, the territory was in 18th place, while this year it is 58th. Taiwan was 35th in 2002 and 47th this year.
Beijing has played a game of patience dealing with the media in Hong Kong. It started asserting its influence on media outlet owners as early as before the 1997 handover, said Sham Yee-lan (岑倚蘭), chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association.
China incorporated Hong Kong media owners into its political system, made investments in the industry and used its administrative power over the territory as a tool for interference, enabling it to change the media industry’s structure, Sham said.
Over time, the mind-set of members of the media in Hong Kong changed and Beijing no longer needs to pay special attention to the industry because self-censorship has become the norm, she said.
Sham said self-censorship is a more serious concern than any direct interference from Beijing or the Hong Kong authority.
As Taiwanese media outlets remain relatively free from government interference, self-censorship might deserve as much — if not more — attention from local media organizations.
It has been an open secret that some Taiwanese media companies have Chinese investors, despite such ownership remaining illegal on paper. It is also evident that some media outlets have been silent on the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, Tibet, China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and the Falun Gong movement.
A recent incident may deserve attention.
Taiwan’s state-funded Central News Agency (CNA) published a story in error on Aug. 12 about the national basketball team’s protest against the organizer’s use of its title: “Chinese Taipei” in the FIBA Asia Men’s Basketball Championship in Manila, Philippines. What CNA’s editorial team originally intended is clear in the headline that CNA ended up posting: “Editor-in-chief instruction: do not publish.”
While people in Taiwan like making fun of Chinese news censorship, the nation needs to learn from the experiences of Hong Kong and Macau. This is the only chance Taiwan has to better prepare itself against a “point of no return.”
It is employment pass renewal season in Singapore, and the new regime is dominating the conversation at after-work cocktails on Fridays. From September, overseas employees on a work visa would need to fulfill the city-state’s new points-based system, and earn a minimum salary threshold to stay in their jobs. While this mirrors what happens in other countries, it risks turning foreign companies away, and could tarnish the nation’s image as a global business hub. The program was announced in 2022 in a bid to promote fair hiring practices. Points are awarded for how a candidate’s salary compares with local peers, along
China last month enacted legislation to punish —including with the death penalty — “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists.” The country’s leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), need to be reminded about what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has said and done in the past. They should think about whether those historical figures were also die-hard advocates of Taiwanese independence. The Taiwanese Communist Party was established in the Shanghai French Concession in April 1928, with a political charter that included the slogans “Long live the independence of the Taiwanese people” and “Establish a republic of Taiwan.” The CCP sent a representative, Peng
Japan and the Philippines on Monday signed a defense agreement that would facilitate joint drills between them. The pact was made “as both face an increasingly assertive China,” and is in line with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s “effort to forge security alliances to bolster the Philippine military’s limited ability to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea,” The Associated Press (AP) said. The pact also comes on the heels of comments by former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who said at a forum on Tuesday last week that China’s recent aggression toward the Philippines in
The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday announced that the military would hold its annual Han Kuang exercises from July 22 to 26. Military officers said the exercises would feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure. This year’s exercises underline the recent reforms in Taiwan’s military as it transitions from a top-down command structure to one where autonomy is pushed down to the front lines to improve decisionmaking and adaptability. Militaries around the world have been observing and studying Russia’s war in Ukraine. They have seen that the Ukrainian military has been much quicker to adapt to