Tougher laws are needed to combat China’s growing influence on Taiwanese media via funding and sponsored news articles with the aim of subverting public discourse and undermining Taiwan’s democracy, New Power Party (NPP) officials said yesterday.
Taiwanese society and protest movements have over the years fought hard to end the system of state-controlled media introduced during the Martial Law era, NPP caucus whip Chiu Hsien-chi (邱顯智) told a news conference in Taipei, adding that these efforts have resulted in political parties, government agencies and the military shedding ownership of media firms.
“Now we are seeing that an enemy state, whose regime is hostile toward our nation, has been using the power and money of its party, government agencies and military to infiltrate Taiwan’s media outlets,” Chiu said. “Of course, we must take a hardline approach to stop it.”
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
To that end, the NPP would in the current legislative session push for stricter governance and increased punishment through amendments to the three key laws regulating broadcast media: the Radio and Television Act (廣播電視法), the Satellite Broadcasting Act (衛星廣播電視法) and the Cable Radio and Television Act (有線廣播電視法), he said.
The NPP would also seek to amend relevant articles of the Anti-infiltration Act (反滲透法) and the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), he added.
“Taiwan has come under attack by China through military threats, political warfare and propaganda campaigns,” the NPP said in a statement.
“In the past few years, China has been using money and connections to infiltrate Taiwan’s media outlets, civil groups, temples and religious organizations, as well as other sectors of society,” it said.
The statement highlighted a rally in front of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei on June 23 last year — of which leading NPP figures were among the main organizers — that attracted a massive crowd under the slogan: “Refuse red communist media, safeguard Taiwan’s democracy.”
“More than 200,000 people showed up to support the rally and its call for action. It is clear that Taiwanese are fed up with several media outlets backed by China and its funding, as they pervert and distort the news, fail to differentiate fact from fiction and deliberately misrepresent facts,” Chiu said.
The NPP’s amendments would seek to increase fines from between NT$200,000 and NT$2 million (US$6,651 to US$66,509) to a maximum of NT$20 million for media outlets that found to have received funding from or to be under the control of countries, regimes or organizations that are at war with Taiwan or threaten it militarily, Chiu said.
“We urge the Democratic Progressive Party and all opposition parties to support our proposed amendments, which would make it clear that Taiwan’s media outlets are forbidden from receiving funding from or coming under the control of China’s government, ruling party or military,” he said.
The ban must be extended to curtail China’s influence and control over the local media industry, he added.
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