Two small VCDs are driving pro-China unificationists crazy. They are causing People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (
Soong and his fellow travellers' crying and weeping and their frightening attitudes, threatening to bring lawsuits and confiscate published materials, makes one wonder if they know what age they are living in. They still naively believe that they are living in the martial law era of the two Chiangs (the late presidents Chiang Kai-shek [
Thanks to the history of control exercised by the two Chiangs, the media has been more or less dominated by a minority of "new resident" media with die-hard ideologies. Some of these people support the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), the PFP or the New Party. Some are fellow travellers of the communists and some frequently offend the Taiwanese because of their own ethnic prejudices. Such phenomena did not occur just under the two Chiangs; they have been the main source of social disorder ever since former president Lee Teng-hui (
For example, on the evening of Nov. 5, at about 10pm, almost every TV news station, including Formosa Television, broadcast a farewell ceremony for Soong May-ling (
Although Taiwan has entered the democratic era, many media, from newspapers and television to radio, still act as the hatchet men of the forces remaining from the Chiangs' era. The most common example is the way both of the country's pro-China newspapers often mobilize journalists and columnists from a special ethnic group, and use articles written by authors and academics of that same group, to create rumors by using obscure references such as "It is said," "It is reported" and "A certain top level official points out." This method has long been used to make libelous statements against and criticize local politicians and "Taiwan" awareness.
TV shows such as those hosted by Lee Tao (
A common scene on such shows is the guests from a certain ethnic group, who almost always are in a majority, together with the host, who is of the same group, openly pressuring the Taiwanese guests, who are in the minority. Sometimes every guest is a member of that certain ethnic group, and together they sing of the demise of Taiwan.
In fact, on the News Night Club (
Radio shows are just the same. From the time you turn your receiver on in the morning, you will hear show hosts from a certain ethnic group hard at work at their brainwashing mission, constantly "educating" the public to hate local politicians.
In the past few years, several shows with mainlander actors imitating local politicians have been broadcast on TV. Using the pretext of freedom of speech, local politicians are slandered. An actor, who in his role as "Lee Tsu-hsi" (
It is ironic that these people for many years have been directing ethnic struggle through the media, often claiming that other ethnic groups have been playing to the ethnicity complex when they are the ones really doing so. They ignore the fact that history will inevitably judge them. The sheer shamelessness of these people is frightening.
In fact, if we leave aside the statements made by these people, and just look at Article 5 of the Employment Service Act (
Although this ugly ethnic struggle has been going on for many years, some people from the blue camp's so-called "localization faction" participating in call-in shows not only disregard the fact of this struggle, but actually help the bad guys by tolerating the irrationality of that struggle. History has already judged former KMT vice chairman Wang Ching-wei (
Most of the local politicians who have been slandered and libelled by these unificationist media are magnanimous. They don't stoop to arguing with the people engaged in this ethnic struggle. A majority of the Taiwanese are also tolerant -- in fact too tolerant, which has allowed the old lies to be acted out repeated, almost turning this country into a nation of lies.
Many Taiwanese are no longer able accept such media behavior. They are turning to the Internet to voice their discontent. The Special Report VCDs are merely part of the first wave of counterattacks.
Steve Chen is an associate professor in the statistics department at Tamkang University.
TRANSLATED BY PERRY SVENSSON
On April 19, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) gave a public speech, his first in about 17 years. During the address at the Ketagalan Institute in Taipei, Chen’s words were vague and his tone was sour. He said that democracy should not be used as an echo chamber for a single politician, that people must be tolerant of other views, that the president should not act as a dictator and that the judiciary should not get involved in politics. He then went on to say that others with different opinions should not be criticized as “XX fellow travelers,” in reference to
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Liu Shu-pin (劉書彬) asked Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) a question on Tuesday last week about President William Lai’s (賴清德) decision in March to officially define the People’s Republic of China (PRC), as governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as a foreign hostile force. Liu objected to Lai’s decision on two grounds. First, procedurally, suggesting that Lai did not have the right to unilaterally make that decision, and that Cho should have consulted with the Executive Yuan before he endorsed it. Second, Liu objected over national security concerns, saying that the CCP and Chinese President Xi
RSS