A National Security Bureau report on May 2 confirmed that some media organizations in Taiwan are on the same path as, or “fellow travelers” of, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and are sources of false information.
Nations such as the US, Canada and Australia have long been aware that Beijing infiltrates domestic media in a blatant example of “intervention and manipulation by foreign forces” — acts that should trigger national security alarms.
As a line of defense, these nations have implemented regulations such as the laws passed in Australia last year that target foreign interference and the Foreign Agents Registration Act in the US.
More than once, these nations have alerted the international community that Taiwan lies at the center of the “red” shadow cast by the “China factor.”
The infiltrations and destruction of the China factor can be traced through all the major events and controversies in Taiwan over the past decade, from Want Want Group’s acquisition of the China Times Group in 2008 to the movement targeting media monopolization in 2012, the Sunflower movement in 2014 and the nine-in-one local elections last year.
The events reveal how some Taiwanese media organizations — whether influenced by Chinese funding, Chinese market considerations or instructions from Beijing — come to adopt the “Chinese perspective” as they smear Taiwan and praise China, disparage democracy and compliment autocracy.
Chanting along with China and its state-run media, these media organizations pass on CCP propaganda disguised as “news” to Taiwanese.
When the CCP finally aligns Taiwanese discourse with Beijing’s thinking, the road to annexation will only be a stone’s throw away.
When the fellow travelers in Taiwanese media drop their disguises and openly praise Chinese military aircraft for “looking awesome,” talk about “disregarding Beijing’s opposition” and post maps showing Taiwan as part of China, it is time to realize the urgency of Taiwan’s situation.
When the management of some media groups gather with Chinese media at the Cross-Strait Media People Summit in Beijing and nod in agreement with the pep talk given by top Beijing officials, it is clear that the China factor has been neglected long enough and that any tolerance of fellow travelers must end here and now.
Local media should have the courage to pursue truth and freedom. Instead, some have sunk so low as to become the propaganda tools of another nation, as they clap their hands and smile approvingly at China’s People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee Chairman Wang Yang (汪洋) and Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Liu Jieyi (劉結一) when they intimidate and ridicule Taiwan.
In what way are these media organizations any different from the retired senior military officers and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) members who sit at the feet of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People when they should be defending Taiwan’s territorial rights and national security?
What they all have in common is trying to sell Taiwan down the river for personal gain. Most Taiwanese consider them shameless.
As some people love official Chinese lectures and instructions, here are words from Wang’s speech at the recent summit: “You will be remembered by history.”
Indeed, Taiwanese will never forget you.
Jethro Wang holds a master’s degree from National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of National Development and is a research assistant at a think tank.
Translated by Chang Ho-ming
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