The news about Minister of Transportation and Communications Yeh Kuang-shih’s (葉匡時) alleged lavish birthday banquet is fading. Both the Presidential Office and the Cabinet seem to have decided that although Yeh may have been a bit careless about choosing his friends and where he eats, it was not a serious mistake, and that he should be a bit more frugal in future and eat boxed lunches a bit more often. The worst of the storm may have blown over, but Yeh is not likely to forget the episode any time soon.
This round of gossip started when Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) posted a comment online saying that Yeh was attending a “lavish banquet” given by Senao International Co chairman Paul Lin (林保雍) to celebrate Yeh’s birthday at a “mysterious meeting place” in Waishuangxi north of Taipei.
Tsai posted a second post revealing that “the birthday party was not held at the place where it was said to be [but] at a storage area containing valuable national treasures known as ‘the little Palace Museum.’”
A third post said that Yeh was “singing love songs together with a beautiful and sexy female singer” at the banquet.
Taiwan’s media went crazy over the gossip, which had the right ingredients — power, treasures, lavish banquets and beautiful women — while commentators could not stop discussing the story. However, in the end, the furor seems to have been more hot air than cold facts.
As the media discovered a few days later, this is closer to what happened: Yeh took his wife, children and a few friends out hiking in the mountains.
When they were finished, they went to a restaurant in a house of rickety corrugated steel sheeting for some food, where the minister celebrated his birthday by inviting a female singer to sing along with the karaoke to elevate the atmosphere. When they were finished eating, they went to an art exhibition at Ever Rich DFS Corp’s (昇恆昌) headquarters in Neihu and after that, everyone went home.
If media outlets had sent reporters to the “lavish dinner,” they would have found that the “mysterious meeting place” was nothing but a house with corrugated steel sheeting, and that the “lavish dinner” consisted of pork noodles and vegetables. That would have been a warning sign to anyone who is careful about handling “revelations.”
The “little Palace Museum” mentioned in the second post was nothing more than an art exhibition at Ever Rich DFS Corp’s headquarters, and that should have made the media doubt the source’s credibility.
The “beautiful and sexy singer” in the third posting was in fact a karaoke singer over the age of 50, and that would have made the media criticize the source for being unscrupulous and spiteful.
The whole episode gained Tsai a lot of air time and could be helpful in his election campaign for the Taipei mayoral seat.
The person who provided Tsai with the information achieved their goal of attacking Yeh, Chunghwa Telecom and Senao. Tsai and his source’s actions are questionable.
However, some greenhorn reporters may not have understood that they should check the facts. Some media managers may have thought that it was a win-win situation: Although Tsai kept portioning his revelations and stringing the media along for several days, his revelations gave them material, and improved viewer ratings and readership numbers.
This turns the media into accomplices in this sordid affair.
If the media remain incapable of self-reflection and do not improve their fact-checking, this vicious “culture of exposure” will never go away, which will result in more victims of the practice.
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
As Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s party won by a landslide in Sunday’s parliamentary election, it is a good time to take another look at recent developments in the Maldivian foreign policy. While Muizzu has been promoting his “Maldives First” policy, the agenda seems to have lost sight of a number of factors. Contemporary Maldivian policy serves as a stark illustration of how a blend of missteps in public posturing, populist agendas and inattentive leadership can lead to diplomatic setbacks and damage a country’s long-term foreign policy priorities. Over the past few months, Maldivian foreign policy has entangled itself in playing
A group of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers led by the party’s legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (?) are to visit Beijing for four days this week, but some have questioned the timing and purpose of the visit, which demonstrates the KMT caucus’ increasing arrogance. Fu on Wednesday last week confirmed that following an invitation by Beijing, he would lead a group of lawmakers to China from Thursday to Sunday to discuss tourism and agricultural exports, but he refused to say whether they would meet with Chinese officials. That the visit is taking place during the legislative session and in the aftermath