Beijing has intensified its infiltration of Taiwanese media by inviting reporters to attend events aimed at informing them about its “31 measures” and “26 measures,” which are designed to attract Taiwanese to work and invest in China, a democracy watchdog said yesterday.
“We urge lawmakers to consider including regulations on ‘red media’ — media promoting a pro-Beijing agenda — in the anti-infiltration bill,” Taiwan Democracy Watch specialist Sung Cheng-en (宋承恩) said.
The Chinese government wants to influence Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections, and promote the “26 measures” by increasing the frequency of tours for the Taiwanese media in China, Sung said.
Since 2008, Beijing has been operating a massive propaganda campaign designed to spin positive coverage about China to the world through the publication of paid content in Chinese-language media around the world, he said, adding that this is a long-term, systematic plan, not just a short-term phenomenon.
The government does not have an effective mechanism to combat Beijing’s infiltration of the media and the National Communications Commission regulates only the broadcast media, he said.
The anti-infiltration bill regulates political donations, lobbying and other activities, but not political propaganda, Sung said.
“If the government does not have the time to include such regulations in the bill, it should at least tell people about alternative solutions to the problem,” he said.
Statistics compiled by the watchdog showed that in the second half of this year, Beijing hosted an average of three cross-strait media events a month.
In July, 23 Taiwanese online media organizations allegedly posted articles published on Taiwan.cn, which launched attacks against the Taiwanese government, the watchdog group said.
These media organizations also posted a news release on the “26 measures” from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office immediately after they were announced last month, it said.
The group also said that China hosted a total of nine cross-strait media events in July and August.
One of the events, titled “A Colorful Tour in Guizhou Province,” invited Taiwanese and Chinese social media influencers along with staff from online and traditional news outlets, it said.
Taiwanese media representatives, as well as influencers on Sina Weibo, were in October invited to Hunan Province and 20 Taiwanese reporters purportedly attended a tour last month of Sanming County, it said.
Chinese media also reported that 20 Taiwanese media organizations — including the Chinese-language United Daily News and TVBS — last month attended a cross-strait media conference, at which participants discussed the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China and the 40th anniversary of the “Message to Compatriots in Taiwan,” the group said.
The group quoted New Party legislator-at-large nominee Chiu Yi (邱毅), who was invited to address the participants, as saying: “May the voices of reporters be heard across the Taiwan Strait so that the goal of unification can be reached soon.”
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