The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday it will temporarily ban China's Xinhua News Agency and the People's Daily from sending journalists to Taiwan because the two media outlets only air opinions from the "extreme sides of Taiwan's political spectrum."
Council Chairman Joseph Wu (
The two official Chinese media outlets' coverage on Taiwan news "has not helped China understand Taiwanese society at all," he said.
The council's original aim of permitting Chinese journalists to come to Taiwan was to promote mutual understanding between China and Taiwan, Wu explained.
However, the unbalanced reports written by the journalists from Xinhua and the People's Daily on political affairs in Taiwan have not helped the Chinese public know more about Taiwan, according to Wu.
"Xinhua and the People's Daily are state-controlled media. Their coverage on Taiwan has been very unhelpful, extreme and negative over the years ... Their reports did not truthfully reflect the voice of the people of Taiwan," Wu said. The official stressed the move was not a setback for press freedom.
The journalists from Xinhua and the People's Daily collaborated with China's agenda of political propaganda and their reports often "distorted the truth," said a statement released by the MAC.
"Apparently, these journalists have lost the neutral stance their profession requires. They intend to mislead the Chinese public and they worsen misunderstandings between Taiwan and China," read the statement.
MAC spokesman You Ying-lung (
Wu told reporters in Wulai that some media outlets in China are controlled by the state, but other unofficial outlets aren't.
"We do not exclude the possibility of allowing [unofficial] news agencies to send reporters to Taiwan," Wu said.
Noting the government will not completely ban Chinese reporters from coming to Taiwan, Wu nevertheless pledged to "carefully evaluate" cross-strait cultural exchanges to ensure that they increase mutual understanding between Taiwan and China.
Commenting on the MAC's decision, Vice President Annette Lu (
"But it is not too late to take the step now," added Lu, who called the decision a move to defend Taiwan's national security.
Beijing strictly blocks all Taiwanese news Web sites so that people in China have no access to Taiwan's local news coverage -- restricting the Chinese' public's knowledge of Taiwan.
Apart from Xinhua and the People's Daily, three Chinese media outlets, including CCTV, the China News Agency and China National Radio, also have reporters in Taiwan. Each of them is allowed to send two reporters to Taiwan. The news agencies rotate their reporters in Taiwan each month.
The government first permitted Chinese media to send reporters to Taiwan in August 2000. A MAC official said the council has communicated with Xinhua and the People's Daily journalists regarding their reports.
also see story:
Opposition slams MAC's ban on Chinese reporters
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
RSS