EBC News (東森新聞) has not sought government assistance to retrieve two of its reporters who remain in custody in China after filming Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises earlier this month, a source said yesterday.
They were covering the PLA’s “united sword” drills around Taiwan from April 8 to Monday last week.
CONFRONTATION
Photo: AFP
On the second day of the drills, the reporters on Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, the Chinese island closest to Taiwan proper, were establishing a connection with the news anchor when they were approached by a PLA soldier asking to see their credentials.
The soldier could be heard in the footage saying: “I just need to make sure you’re not a spy.”
EBC yesterday said the reporters are safe and have been in daily communication with the news division.
Photo: Screen grab from YouTube
They are in Xiamen “conducting business” and do not have plans to return at the moment, it said.
‘RESTRICTED RESIDENCE’
However, a person with knowledge of the matter said the reporters were taken into custody by Chinese authorities and were under “restricted residence.”
Although EBC said they have been in contact with the reporters, their actual status is unknown, the source said, adding that the government believes they are being kept from leaving Xiamen.
Their families have not contacted the Mainland Affairs Council or the Straits Exchange Foundation to help secure their release, they said.
DISAPPEARED
Unauthorized filming of PLA activities can result in serious repercussions.
Morrison Lee (李孟居), an unpaid adviser to Pingtung County’s Fangliao Township (枋寮), went missing in 2019 after sending photographs and footage of Chinese paramilitary police amassing on the border between Shenzhen and Hong Kong to the Fangliao mayor.
The state-run China Central Television later broadcast footage of Lee confessing to working as a spy. He was sentenced to one year and 10 months in prison, and deprived of political rights for two years.
Although his sentence is over, he has still been unable to return to Taiwan.
The cases should serve as a reminder to Taiwanese reporters that they must be careful when working in China, which does not have freedom of the press, the source said.
Additional reporting by Lin Hsin-ying
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said