Taiwan’s press freedom and freedom of expression have begun to show signs of being “Hong Kong-ized” (香港化) as a result of China’s political and economic pressure, a report by a legislative agency said.
Self-censorship among Hong Kong and Macau media outlets has increased and press freedom has sharply deteriorated since the two territories signed Closer Economic Partnership Arrangements (CEPA) with Beijing, the report by the legislature’s Organic Laws and Statutes Bureau said.
The report, A Study on Mainland China’s Post-ECFA Political and Economic Strategy Toward Taiwan, was written after a delegation from the bureau and the legislature’s Budget Center traveled to Hong Kong in May to study a number of issues.
The report said Hong Kong’s ranking in surveys conducted by Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House have dropped since the CEPA was signed in 2003. Journalists and other media workers in Hong Kong also feel that self-censorship has become a “boorish tacit agreement” that permeates their industry, the report said.
Although the CEPA has led to intensifying contacts between Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta, the report says Hong Kong media must apply for permission to set up operations in the delta, and reporting has become “more red.” For outlets that might want to report on free markets, the rule of law and human rights concepts “have no chance whatsoever to wield any influence,” the report said.
Although Taiwan is different from Hong Kong and Macau, the current situation in this country — following the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China — nonetheless “seems to show changes in the media similar to those in Hong Kong prior to [the return of Hong Kong to China in] 1997,” the report said.
China is adopting the same methods in Taiwan that it used to deal with the media in Hong Kong, the report said. Major Taiwanese business leaders are becoming more intimate with the top leadership in Beijing and are beginning to buy up Taiwanese media.
The report cited the concerns expressed by the US-based Freedom House about Beijing’s power to influence freedom of expression in Taiwan following the purchase by the Want Want Group (旺旺集團) — which also invests in China — of the China Times Group (中時集團) and its resulting change in editorial direction and softening of criticism of the government and cross-strait issues. Whether Taiwanese media are following the “Hong Kong mode” (香港模式) has become a growing concern, it said.
Because President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government is throwing open the doors to Chinese investment, it is becoming difficult to prevent Chinese capital from entering the Taiwanese media sector, the report said.
The report concludes that while Hong Kong media outlets had gained some economic benefits from the CEPA, gradual sinicization had led to strong self-censorship and the loss of press freedom.
Taiwan should learn from this and be wary of Beijing’s “united front” tactics, while the media should avoid self-censorship and be aware of the problems that Chinese capital investments in local media outlets can cause, the report said.
In response to the report, the Executive Yuan said the government has spared no effort to ensure freedom of speech in Taiwan. The media industry was booming, which is the embodiment of freedom of speech, it said.
Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said it was hard to see how the trend toward growing Chinese pressure could be reversed, given the government’s China policies.
“The Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] doesn’t take China’s attitude seriously, so we expect that Chinese influence in Taiwanese media will continue to increase,” he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO AND SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
RSS