There were three major factors at play in the Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections — these did real damage to the success story of Taiwanese democracy and demonstrated that we still have some way to go before the country can be considered a normal democratic nation.
These factors were negative propaganda and misinformation, the glaring disparity in resources available to the parties, and overseas interference. In talking of overseas interference, this refers specifically to that, either direct or indirect, of China and the US.
The disparity in resources refers to the vast wealth of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and the access it had to the state apparatus and government resources. Perhaps the most shameful aspect, however, is the stubborn stain of vote-buying and the willingness of some to trade their electoral say for monetary gain.
For the negative propaganda and misinformation, blame the various media outlets prepared to put their own political beliefs and profit before professional integrity, more so perhaps than ever before.
One expects politicians to resort to negative campaigning — it is in their blood; they will not change. However, the press, supposedly an impartial observer, should not stoop to character assassination.
Certain elements within the media went beyond simply dancing to the KMT’s tune, by calling for the blood of People First Party (PFP) candidate James Soong (宋楚瑜) and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). One editorial in the Chinese-language United Daily News went as far as to claim that Soong supported Tsai. Not only did such a statement betray the writer’s own political hysteria and lack of journalistic integrity, it might even have been illegal.
In the past the media have been accused of unfair and factually unsound reporting, political favoritism, inaccurate opinion polls and inflated vote counts. This time round, they were also quite happy to accept “infomercials” and other propaganda on behalf of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the KMT.
Such latitude derives surely from ideological affiliation and an anti-independence stance on the part of the press. That, and the abandonment of a commitment to being the “perpetual opposition” — one of the basic roles the press should fulfil as the fourth estate — as well as a long-standing relationship with KMT governments.
The media’s preoccupation with profit and their ideological stance made it easier for China to interfere in the presidential election.
During previous presidential elections in Taiwan, China has employed both verbal and military intimidation, relying on missiles fired over the Taiwan Strait on the orders of the Chinese president, and on the Chinese premier and other senior officials making personal appearances and giving inflammatory speeches.
Now all they need to do is make pronouncements through the Taiwan Affairs Office and someone in Taiwan will press the message home, aided and abetted by a media scornful of a Taiwan-centric perspective. No longer do senior Chinese figures actually have to make personal appearances, and the effect of the intimidation is that much greater as a result.
The KMT and the Chinese Communist Party finally got the upper hand in the battle for public opinion played out in the press over the so-called “1992 consensus.”
Should the media continue down this slippery slope, the country will never be able to develop into a normal democratic society.
Lu Shih-hsiang is an adviser to the Taipei Times.
Translated by Paul Cooper
On March 22, 2023, at the close of their meeting in Moscow, media microphones were allowed to record Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) telling Russia’s dictator Vladimir Putin, “Right now there are changes — the likes of which we haven’t seen for 100 years — and we are the ones driving these changes together.” Widely read as Xi’s oath to create a China-Russia-dominated world order, it can be considered a high point for the China-Russia-Iran-North Korea (CRINK) informal alliance, which also included the dictatorships of Venezuela and Cuba. China enables and assists Russia’s war against Ukraine and North Korea’s
After thousands of Taiwanese fans poured into the Tokyo Dome to cheer for Taiwan’s national team in the World Baseball Classic’s (WBC) Pool C games, an image of food and drink waste left at the stadium said to have been left by Taiwanese fans began spreading on social media. The image sparked wide debate, only later to be revealed as an artificially generated image. The image caption claimed that “Taiwanese left trash everywhere after watching the game in Tokyo Dome,” and said that one of the “three bad habits” of Taiwanese is littering. However, a reporter from a Japanese media outlet
Taiwanese pragmatism has long been praised when it comes to addressing Chinese attempts to erase Taiwan from the international stage. “Taipei” and the even more inaccurate and degrading “Chinese Taipei,” imposed titles required to participate in international events, are loathed by Taiwanese. That is why there was huge applause in Taiwan when Japanese public broadcaster NHK referred to the Taiwanese Olympic team as “Taiwan,” instead of “Chinese Taipei” during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. What is standard protocol for most nations — calling a national team by the name their country is commonly known by — is impossible for
The Iran war has exposed a fundamental vulnerability in the global energy system. The escalating confrontation between Iran, Israel and the US has begun to shake international energy markets, largely because Iran is disrupting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. This narrow waterway carries roughly one-third of the world’s seaborne oil, making it one of the most strategically sensitive energy corridors in the world. Even the possibility of disruption has triggered sharp volatility in global oil prices. The duration and scope of the conflict remain uncertain, with senior US officials offering contradictory signals about how long military operations might continue.
RSS