Taiwanese officials in Washington have hit back at criticism leveled against them earlier this week by members of the Falun Gong over claims that shortwave radio towers in Taiwan were being demolished to please China.
Falun Gong members said that as a result of pressure from Beijing the towers they used to broadcast uncensored programs to China were being pulled down.
They also alleged that letters of protest from three members of the US Congress to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had not been forwarded by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in Washington.
In a statement issued on Wednesday night, TECRO rejected the allegations and said they were “absolutely contradictory to the facts.”
It said the dismantling of the Tainan and Huwei stations would result in no change in the technical support provided to the Falun Gong’s Sound of Hope (SOH) radio arm.
The statement said that Radio Taiwan International (RTI) continued to honor its contract with SOH and “there should be no concern over any possible restriction of SOH broadcasting.”
According to the statement, the Tainan and Huwei stations were being consolidated and relocated to sites at Yunlin County’s Baojhong Township (褒忠) and Tamsui District (淡水) in New Taipei City (新北市), both of which possess new transmission equipment.
“The current equipment at Tainan and Huwei stations is over thirty years old with annually increasing maintenance costs, and the stations’ transmitting effectiveness reached only 50 percent of the service area, compared with the new equipment’s efficiency of 80 to 90 percent,” the statement said.
“The consolidation will not only improve the quality of the signal, but also effectively reduce the cost,” the statement issued by TECRO spokesman Frank Wang (王億) said.
According to TECRO, the Tainan station was being moved to accommodate local development and for reasons of electromagnetic wave interference.
The Huwei station was being dismantled as part of the plans for a new Yunlin high-speed railway station special district.
TECRO denied the allegations that letters of protest from US Congressmen had been blocked.
“In each and every case, TECRO faithfully and rapidly relayed through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant agencies the referenced letters from the Congressmen to President Ma expressing their concerns,” the statement said.
It said that Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) “deeply regrets” that the SOH radio network “didn’t check the facts and made these unfounded and misleading accusations.”
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to