The Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times), and other news media have carried reports about a Taiwanese political talk show being “shadowed” by “red” (Chinese communist) media.
The reports say that a correspondent of China’s state-run Xinhua news agency in Taiwan sat in the TV studio and monitored the production of the program.
They say that Xinhua had a significant influence on the TV station’s political talk show, including the themes and scenarios of discussions, and that the guests and pundits invited to the program were picked or vetted by the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of the Chinese State Council.
The National Communications Commission (NCC) quickly responded to these reports by saying that it was investigating which TV station was involved, and that if the station is found to have contravened the regulations, it would be fined up to NT$2 million (US$61,482) and be taken off the air.
If the reports are true, this is a major case of interference in Taiwan’s press. It would mean the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is reaching into Taiwanese political talk shows to conduct brainwashing and promote unification by means of “using Taiwanese to control Taiwanese.”
Taiwan, as a democratic country, has the characteristics of diversity and openness. However, a reporter of Xinhua directing a Taiwanese political talk show means that the media of democratic Taiwan is being infiltrated by authoritarian China.
Authoritarian political systems have always regarded the media as propaganda tools. Xinhua is directly subordinate to the CCP’s Publicity Department, meaning that it takes its orders from the party.
In the past, the TAO had offered business opportunities to Taiwanese TV stations in the hope of inducing them to produce political talk shows that critique the Democratic Progressive Party and other “pan-green” forces.
Up until now, all such dealings have been conducted overseas, but now a Chinese reporter is reported to have taken part in the production and broadcast of a talk show in Taiwan.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that this case shows the importance of the NCC, and he called on the Legislative Yuan to pass a proposal that would give the commission the power to approve broadcasters’ personnel.
This latest incident should be promptly investigated and strictly dealt with, using the state’s authority to prevent Taiwan’s hard-won press freedom from being destroyed by authoritarian China’s infiltration.
Knight Chang is a political worker.
Translated by Julian Clegg
Why is Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) not a “happy camper” these days regarding Taiwan? Taiwanese have not become more “CCP friendly” in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) use of spies and graft by the United Front Work Department, intimidation conducted by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Armed Police/Coast Guard, and endless subversive political warfare measures, including cyber-attacks, economic coercion, and diplomatic isolation. The percentage of Taiwanese that prefer the status quo or prefer moving towards independence continues to rise — 76 percent as of December last year. According to National Chengchi University (NCCU) polling, the Taiwanese
US President Donald Trump is systematically dismantling the network of multilateral institutions, organizations and agreements that have helped prevent a third world war for more than 70 years. Yet many governments are twisting themselves into knots trying to downplay his actions, insisting that things are not as they seem and that even if they are, confronting the menace in the White House simply is not an option. Disagreement must be carefully disguised to avoid provoking his wrath. For the British political establishment, the convenient excuse is the need to preserve the UK’s “special relationship” with the US. Following their White House
It would be absurd to claim to see a silver lining behind every US President Donald Trump cloud. Those clouds are too many, too dark and too dangerous. All the same, viewed from a domestic political perspective, there is a clear emerging UK upside to Trump’s efforts at crashing the post-Cold War order. It might even get a boost from Thursday’s Washington visit by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In July last year, when Starmer became prime minister, the Labour Party was rigidly on the defensive about Europe. Brexit was seen as an electorally unstable issue for a party whose priority
After the coup in Burma in 2021, the country’s decades-long armed conflict escalated into a full-scale war. On one side was the Burmese army; large, well-equipped, and funded by China, supported with weapons, including airplanes and helicopters from China and Russia. On the other side were the pro-democracy forces, composed of countless small ethnic resistance armies. The military junta cut off electricity, phone and cell service, and the Internet in most of the country, leaving resistance forces isolated from the outside world and making it difficult for the various armies to coordinate with one another. Despite being severely outnumbered and
RSS