Publishing firms and book retailers yesterday lambasted the Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) administration for its inking of the cross-strait service trade agreement, saying that allowing Chinese investment in the Taiwanese publishing industry would severely impact the sector’s vitality.
Presidential Office national policy adviser and publisher Rex How (郝明義) held four separate public hearings yesterday with representatives from publishing and printing firms and book retailers on the theme “how the cross-strait services trade agreement would impact on Taiwan’s publishing and reading environment.”
In a fully democratic society, the government is responsible for holding such conferences before the commencement of negotiations on deals such as the service trade agreement, How said.
However, since the Ma administration had neglected to do so, it is up to the public to take on the task and pass the results to the government, How said.
During the conference, Terry Chang (張天立), general manager and founder of books.com.tw, said it was worrying that Taiwanese officials had failed to secure any strategic advantages when conducting the talks with China.
Chang said that his Internet bookstore has been barred from operating in China for at least a decade.
“It is difficult for Taiwanese books to be sold in China, because they [the Chinese] prohibit book transactions outside their national borders,” Chang said, adding that not one Taiwan-registered bookstore has been able to operate in China so far.
“The only source of help we can expect is from the government, but a decade has passed and it still has not acted,” Chang said.
Chang said that as all Chinese publishing firms are national assets, “it is difficult to exclude ulterior motives.”
Chang also said Chinese publishing firms may attempt to influence the political opinions of Taiwanese readers.
Xue Xue Institute president Hsu Li-ling (許莉玲) also provided an example of how retail and department stores in Taiwan had been influenced by foreign models and become agents of Japanese, European and US brands.
It was a lost opportunity to develop local brands, Hsu said.
“Similarly, if Chinese investment comes to Taiwan, foreign firms would be in a position to shape publication trends,” Hsu added. “In the future, writers would be forced to write more about China in order for their works to be put on the shelves.”
Hsu added that the Ma administration “is establishing a trend, and in the future Taiwanese corporations would need to cooperate with Chinese firms in order to survive.”
This would mean Taiwanese values would change, and “such an idea is scary,” Hsu said.
Hsu also said that with the average age of the nation’s population on the rise and more young men and women returning to rural areas to take over family businesses and take care of their parents, it is a perfect opportunity for publishing firms to focus on local culture.
Such a focus would also let local cultural businesses flourish, Hsu said, adding that the government’s decision to let Chinese investors into the market at this critical juncture is a severe blow to the industry.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan Association for Independent Bookshop Culture general manager Chen Lung-hao (陳隆昊) said that China and Taiwan have taken separate paths concerning book publications and their interactions are neither fair nor equal.
“For many years Taiwan has allowed books written in simplified Chinese characters to be sold in Taiwan, but China has yet to allow the sale of books written in traditional characters,” Chen said.
The Republic of China Books Publication Association’s executive director Wu Cheng-hung (吳政鴻) said that despite a clause in the service pact allowing for speedy passage [of book reviews] Taiwanese books to be published in China will always have to be reviewed.
“The government should ask the Chinese to establish a database of books so that those that have been reviewed before do not have to go through the process again,” Wu said.
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with