During its 7am news show on April 20, Chinese Television System (CTS) — part of Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS) — ran news tickers that said: “New Taipei City hit by Chinese People’s Liberation Army missiles,” “War on the brink of erupting” and “Vessel explodes in Taipei Harbor; facilities and ships destroyed.” More false tickers followed on that day, reading: “Oil field discovered in the Bashi Channel,” and “Fist-sized hailstones fall on Taipei at midnight, downtown traffic a mess.”
Four days later, the CTS midday news program misidentified Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) as “president.” Blunders continued on Tuesday, when President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was called “Tsai EE” in a caption.
CTS said that the April 20 news tickers were created by the New Taipei City Fire Department for disaster drill purposes and were aired by accident, while the others were the result of staff negligence and oversight. CTS reprimanded several news producers and editors for the blunders, while TBS chairwoman Tchen Yu-chiou (陳郁秀) and CTS acting general manager Chen Ya-ling (陳雅琳) tendered their resignations.
There was speculation over the outlandish mistakes. Some theories were benign, chalking up the mistakes to internal strife and power struggles at CTS, which led to distractions and negligence. Others were more serious accusations. With the record local surge in COVID-19 cases, along with November’s local elections approaching, some supporters of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said that the “mistakes” were part of a scheme devised by the Democratic Progressive Party and CTS to create an “illusion of red infiltration” to help DPP candidates. Another hypothesis was that the incident revealed the workings of “fifth column units” at CTS, referring to communist networks that conduct clandestine activities to infiltrate or destabilize a society through sabotage and disinformation. The “blunders” were said to be the malicious conduct of pro-China supporters, heralding the possibility of information warfare.
That last theory should give Taiwan further cause to remain vigilant and wary of China’s looming threat. As China intensifies its aggression toward Taiwan, a basic and effective approach would be to undermine Taiwan’s state telecommunications infrastructure. From propaganda to promotional videos to false information on social media, China has been relentless in its use of tactics to cause strife or turmoil within Taiwan.
“Fifth column units” inside Taiwan pose a plausible and significant risk. As the government focuses on policies to deter “new” threats such as cyberattacks, it should consider that attacks and sabotage could easily come from one’s own backyard. Although the incidents at CTS could be dismissed as human error, they might be the deliberate workings of pro-China supporters with the intention of wreaking havoc. Without appropriate penalties, these contraventions could turn into loopholes and embolden further acts of sabotage to national security.
While it is up to the National Communications Commission and the government to keep the media in line, it is the public’s responsibility to remain critical of the news and information they receive. The public needs to take any suspicious activities or information with a grain of salt and verify sources.
For Taiwan to keep Chinese infiltration at bay, an “all-out defense” consensus is required from the government and the public. To avoid suffering the boiling frog syndrome, Taiwan cannot afford to let its guard down by assuming a blunder when the reality might be sabotage.
It is almost three years since Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a friendship with “no limits” — weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, they have retreated from such rhetorical enthusiasm. The “no limits” language was quickly dumped, probably at Beijing’s behest. When Putin visited China in May last year, he said that he and his counterpart were “as close as brothers.” Xi more coolly called the Russian president “a good friend and a good neighbor.” China has conspicuously not reciprocated Putin’s description of it as an ally. Yet the partnership
The ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu (孫子) said “know yourself and know your enemy and you will win a hundred battles.” Applied in our times, Taiwanese should know themselves and know the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so that Taiwan will win a hundred battles and hopefully, deter the CCP. Taiwanese receive information daily about the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) threat from the Ministry of National Defense and news sources. One area that needs better understanding is which forces would the People’s Republic of China (PRC) use to impose martial law and what would be the consequences for living under PRC
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said that he expects this year to be a year of “peace.” However, this is ironic given the actions of some KMT legislators and politicians. To push forward several amendments, they went against the principles of legislation such as substantive deliberation, and even tried to remove obstacles with violence during the third readings of the bills. Chu says that the KMT represents the public interest, accusing President William Lai (賴清德) and the Democratic Progressive Party of fighting against the opposition. After pushing through the amendments, the KMT caucus demanded that Legislative Speaker
Although former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo — known for being the most pro-Taiwan official to hold the post — is not in the second administration of US president-elect Donald Trump, he has maintained close ties with the former president and involved himself in think tank activities, giving him firsthand knowledge of the US’ national strategy. On Monday, Pompeo visited Taiwan for the fourth time, attending a Formosa Republican Association’s forum titled “Towards Permanent World Peace: The Shared Mission of the US and Taiwan.” At the event, he reaffirmed his belief in Taiwan’s democracy, liberty, human rights and independence, highlighting a
RSS