Hundreds of university students voiced their disappointment and anger over President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) continued silence over their anti-media monopoly appeal following an overnight vigil yesterday and vowed to keep on pressing the president for a response and action on an issue that risks undermining freedom of speech in the nation.
The students launched the protest on 7pm on Monday at Liberty Square, followed by a sit-in protest starting at 4am yesterday on Ketagalan Boulevard, right outside the restricted area for the New Year’s Day flag-raising ceremony. They demanded that the president clarify his position on the controversial Next Media Group (壹傳媒集團) deal and address related issues on media monopoly and Chinese influence over Taiwan’s media.
However, Ma did not say a single word about the students’ concern about media monopoly in his New Year’s Day address.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
In their fifth protest over the media deal since July, the students braved the cold, with temperatures hovering around 10°C, and took turns making speeches about how the deal could jeopardize media diversity and, for the first time, listed their concern over growing Chinese influence on Taiwan’s media as a primary cause of the protest.
Sitting in front of hundreds of police equipped with riot shields, the crowd chanted slogans, such as “Anti-media monopoly,” “Ma Ying-jeou, declare your position” and “Anti-Beijing interference” before concluding the protest at 8:30am.
Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆), leader of the Youth Alliance Against Media Monsters, the organizer of the protests, announced five demands: that Ma should pledge that he is against media monopoly and initiate concrete measures to stem rising Chinese influence; that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) should not block amendments to media regulatory bills; that Fair Trade Commission should hold a legally binding public hearing; that the Investment Commission should clarify whether the consortium applying to purchase the Next Media Group should be considered foreign investors; and that the government should disclose all information about the deal and ensure transparency.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“If the government fails to make substantial progress [on these issues], we will keep coming back,” Lin said.
The students have received strong support from university professors and civic groups. More than 600 professors across the country had signed a petition in support of their cause and several professors attended the protests and spoke with the students. National Taiwan University professor Chang Chin-hwa (張錦華) condemned what he called Ma’s silence on the issue and refusal to listen to the people, while Academia Sinica researcher Wu Ruei-ren (吳叡人) said: “Ma has to choose between the good and the evil, and he will be ultimately judged by Taiwanese and history.”
Prior to the sit-in, the students gathered at Liberty Square for a night rally, which was filled with songs and speeches. They staged their own year-end countdown, to the tune of The Final Countdown, a 1980s hit by the rock band Europe, to rival the countdown party at Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義).
In related news, Taiwanese singer-songwriter Deserts Chang (張懸) praised Wu Ching-feng (吳青峰), the lead singer of the popular band Sodagreen (蘇打綠), in a Facebook post, after the latter voiced his opposition to media monopoly on stage during his New Year’s Eve live performance at the E-da World theme park in Greater Kaohsiung.
However, Wu’s remarks were removed from the rerun aired by China Television Co, a television channel owned by pro-China Want Want China Times Group (旺旺中時集團), which was in charge of broadcasting the festivities.
“He [Wu] has always managed to achieve things that I couldn’t do or do well enough. I’m truly grateful for his ability to cleverly manage fame and to transform fame into a power that prevents him from being manipulated,” Chang wrote.
AdditIonal reporting by Lin Shu-hui
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,