The retraction of an article calling for the impeachment of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) on an independent online platform has caused other columnists to withdraw their articles in protest and stirred up debate over media censorship.
Academia Sinica associate researcher Huang Cheng-yi (黃丞儀) published an article in the online CommonWealth Magazine’s Independent Opinion section, calling on the legislature to initiate impeachment proceedings against Ma in the wake of the announcement of a meeting between him and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
The article was taken offline a few hours after its publication.
According to Huang, who disclosed the incident on Facebook, his editor said that the article “has been taken offline because the bosses are worried that the readers might mistake it for the magazine’s official stance.”
“Is it not clear enough that the Independent Opinion section, since its launch, has clearly indicated that it is a platform contributed to by independent commentators and has a disclaimer at the bottom of each page saying that the opinions expressed are solely those of the authors?” Huang asked.
“If the platform has to be worried about every article published being mistaken for the stance of CommonWealth Magazine, it probably should not have bothered to set up this platform in the first place,” he added.
CommonWealth magazine later issued a statement apologizing for the “displeasure the retraction has caused to the author,” saying that despite the disclaimer, articles “are often interpreted differently.”
“Extra discretion is required for handling the issue of cross-strait relationship, which is key to Taiwan’s fate,” it said. “The Ma-Xi meeting is a major public issue, [the platform] believes the public is entitled to a comprehensive understanding of the matter so we are to invite more articles of different viewpoints to be displayed in juxtaposition with each other.”
The incident has prompted an exodus of a group of intellectuals from the platform in protest, who each publicly announced their disapproval of the retraction, as well as their decision to stop writing on the platform and the request to have their previous articles removed.
The list includes but is not restricted to: Chang Chuan-fen (張娟芬), an advocate of the abolition of the death penalty, Rex How (郝明義), publisher and former national policy adviser, Ku Yu-ling (顧玉玲), former secretary-general of the Taiwan International Workers’ Association, Chiu Hua-mei (邱花妹), assistant professor of sociology at National Sun Yat-sen University, and Academia Sinica Institute of Sociology associate research fellow Wu Jieh-min (吳介民).
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,