Several Hakka activists called for a clear definition of Hakka TV’s legal status ahead of its 10th anniversary tomorrow because, despite its close ties to the Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS), it is not part of the group nor is it an independent station.
“Ten years after its founding in 2003, Hakka TV is not in the condition that we would expect it to be and just less than 30 percent of the programs it airs are new,” Taiwan Hakka Alliance secretary-general Liu Hui-chen (劉慧真) told a news conference in Taipei. “The station needs to have a larger budget and a more clearly defined legal status if it is to generate breakthroughs.”
Former Hakka TV chief executive director and long-term Hakka activist Chern Ban (陳板) said that many people seem to think the station is a member of the TBS group, but “Hakka TV was never part of the group, rather, Hakka TV gets its funding from Hakka Affairs Council, and the council outsources production to the TBS.”
“Since Hakka TV gets the budget from A and works with B, we are not very optimistic about its future, unless some fundamental changes are made,” Chern added.
Yiong Cong-ziin (楊長鎮), director of the Thinking Taiwan Foundation’s Social Force Development Center and one of the founding members of Hakka TV, said he is worried about the station’s future.
“It’s been almost 10 years since the station was established, it’s time to change it status as an outsourced project,” Yiong said.
“As both the Cabinet and the legislature have proposed amendments to the Public Television Act (公共電視法), we think now is the time for the public, the government and the legislature to do what’s best for Hakka TV — whether that entails becoming part of TBS or an independent station.”
Theaters and institutions in Taiwan have received 28 threatening e-mails, including bomb threats, since a documentary critical of China began being screened across the nation last month, the National Security Bureau said yesterday. The actions are part of China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty, it said. State Organs (國有器官) documents allegations that Chinese government officials engage in organ harvesting and other illegal activities. From last month to Friday last week, 28 incidents have been reported of theaters or institutions receiving threats, including bomb and shooting threats, if they did not stop showing the documentary, the bureau said. Although the threats were not carried out,
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday condemned Chinese and Russian authorities for escalating regional tensions, citing Chinese warplanes crossing the Taiwan Strait’s median line and joint China-Russia military activities breaching South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) over the past two days. A total of 30 Chinese warplanes crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Thursday and Friday, entering Taiwan’s northern and southwestern airspace in coordination with 15 naval vessels and three high-altitude balloons, the MAC said in a statement. The Chinese military also carried out another “joint combat readiness patrol” targeting Taiwan on Thursday evening, the MAC said. On
‘GRAY ZONE’ TACTICS: China continues to build up its military capacity while regularly deploying jets and warships around Taiwan, with the latest balloon spotted on Sunday The US is drawing up contingency plans for military deployments in Japan and the Philippines in case of a Taiwan emergency, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported. They would be incorporated in a first joint operation plan to be formulated in December, Kyodo reported late on Sunday, citing sources familiar with Japan-US relations. A US Marine Corps regiment that possesses High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems — a light multiple rocket launcher — would be deployed along the Nansei Island chain stretching from Kyushu to Yonaguni near Taiwan, Kyodo said. According to US military guidelines for dispatching marines in small formations to several locations,
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday confirmed that Chinese students visiting Taiwan at the invitation of the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation were almost all affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During yesterday’s meeting convened by the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) asked whether the visit was a way to spread China’s so-called “united front” rhetoric, to which MAC Deputy Ministry Shen You-chung (沈有忠) responded with the CCP comment. The MAC noticed that the Chinese individuals visiting Taiwan, including those in sports, education, or religion, have had increasingly impressive backgrounds, demonstrating that the
RSS