Agencies are to meet within a month to discuss how to stop Chinese radio broadcasts espousing “united front” content in Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said yesterday.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lai Pin-yu (賴品妤) raised concern about the issue during a meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee.
While driving through Hsinchu and Miaoli counties, a member of the public reported hearing only Chinese radio programs, she said.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
All the content was related to China’s “united front” tactics, encouraging young Taiwanese to go to China for work, where they would be “treated like family,” she said.
Lai said she contacted the National Communications Commission (NCC) about the case, which said that the counties sometimes pick up broadcasts from China’s Fujian Province due to their proximity, and vice versa.
Calling the response “lies on top of lies,” Lai said the NCC gave a selective answer and was evading its duties.
China Huayi Broadcasting Corp (中國華藝廣播), which is run by the Chinese Central Military Commission’s Political Work Department, broadcasts on station 99.6, whose roster includes the well-known “united front” program Voice of Strait (海峽之聲), she said.
Based on data compiled by her office, Lai said the content can be heard on AM and FM, and across Taiwan.
The following stations and programs can be heard on AM: Cross-Strait Radio (台海之聲), Voice of Strait news and Hoklo-language shows, China Southeast Broadcasting Corp (中國東南廣播), Voice of Shenzhou (神州之聲), Voice of China (中華之聲) and China National Radio (中央人民廣播電台), Lai said.
On FM, Voice of Strait programs and Cross-Strait Radio can also be heard, in addition to China Huayi Broadcasting, Fujian Economy Radio (福建經濟廣播電台), Voice of Minnan (閩南之聲) and Fujian People’s Radio (福建人民廣播電台), she said.
Taiwanese stations broadcast on frequencies that end in an odd number, but the Chinese stations broadcast on even numbers to fit into the spaces, she said, adding that it is not a matter of signal strength as the NCC claimed.
Responding to the report, Chiu said that the MAC is aware of the problem, which is twofold.
One strategy used by China is to send high-power transmissions to reach Taiwan, he said.
The other is to get Taiwanese stations to broadcast or create pro-China content, he said.
Taiwanese stations that make such programs would be in contravention of cross-strait laws, and would be handled by the Ministry of Culture and supervised by the NCC, Chiu said.
For the first circumstance, there have been discussions about whether to launch an extreme response, as outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties have been completely overrun in the past, he said.
Lai said the authorities’ reaction was overly passive and intended only to make people feel better without doing anything to address the problem, such as the MAC saying that Taiwan broadcasts its own content back.
When Cross-Strait Radio premiered in 2021, the MAC said that deliberations were needed, but matters of national security cannot wait, she said.
The government should respond faster, starting with the MAC convening a meeting within a month to propose amendments to cross-strait law, Lai said, to which Chiu agreed.
The NCC must also take stock of the proximity of broadcast frequencies and find technical solutions to stop China from broadcasting in the gaps, she said.
In addition, the culture ministry should review its licensing requirements for Chinese broadcasts, she added.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat