The National Security Council (NSC) should block any sale of the Apple Online news Web site to foreign owners backed by Chinese capital, as the news site could be used to influence domestic media or incriminate writers, the New Power Party (NPP) said yesterday.
Apple Online, which is linked to Hong Kong’s shuttered Apple Daily newspaper, on Wednesday announced that it had secured new ownership, although it has not yet identified who is behind the deal.
Citing sources from within Apple Online, Chinese-language media reported that Singaporean entrepreneur Joseph Phua (潘杰賢), cofounder of streaming platform 17Live, and Hong Kong businessman Kenny Wee (黃浩) are the new owners.
Photo courtesy of Chen Jiau-hua’s office
Many have raised concerns about the deal, leading Mainland Affairs Council spokesman Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) to say on Thursday that a change in ownership would be subject to “strict scrutiny.”
NPP members yesterday urged further action, calling on the government to block the sale to avoid being “condemned by history” for allowing the news site to fall under the control of Chinese.
Apple Online has accumulated years of personal information and interviews with the nation’s politicians and business leaders, including sensitive unpublished content, NPP Legislator Chen Jiau-hua (陳椒華) told a news conference at the legislature in Taipei.
People trusted Apple Online when it was controlled by Next Digital and many people writing under pseudonyms were critical of the Chinese government, said Jerry Liu (劉仕傑), an NPP candidate for Taipei City councilor.
If a hostile foreign power received their identities, their safety could not be guaranteed, Liu said.
Although the site is subject to Taiwanese law and its sale must be approved by the Investment Commission, the issue of its ownership has bigger implications than for other acquisitions, so any deal should be handled by the NSC, he said.
Private data from Apple Online could also be used to sow discord in Taiwan, as any information that is released — regardless of its veracity — could influence the direction of domestic politics and discourse, said Lin Pai-hsun (林柏勛), another NPP candidate for Taipei City councilor.
If sensitive information falls into Chinese hands, “they would not need to fire a single bullet or missile to destabilize Taiwan,” Lin said.
Chinese capital has long sought to infiltrate Taiwanese industry and academia disguised as foreign investment, NPP Secretary-General Christy Pai (白卿芬) said.
The government should look at the US Committee on Foreign Investment — an interagency entity that reviews the national security implications of foreign investments in US companies — and consider upgrading the Investment Commission to give it the authority to review national security cases, set penalties and conduct investigations, Pai said.
Then-US president Barack Obama in 2016 signed an executive order on the committee’s recommendation, which cited national security concerns, to block the acquisition of Aixtron — a California-based subsidiary of German semiconductor firm Aixtron SE — by a German limited liability company backed by Chinese investors, Pai said.
As it is a matter of national security, the government should publicly oppose a sale of Apple Online, Chen said, adding that the NSC should establish a committee to investigate any deal and block it.
“The media has become a battleground for the Chinese Communist Party,” she said. “Our government cannot sit idly by as the Apple Online acquisition takes place.”
Defending the nation’s democracy starts with stopping this sale, Liu said, adding that “if we do not act today, Taiwan will be the next Hong Kong tomorrow.”
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS