Reuters has obtained information showing that some Taiwanese media have allegedly become Beijing’s mouthpieces after receiving Chinese money.
Although the news confirmed long-standing public doubts, the authorities overseeing news and prosecutors appeared to turn a blind eye and allowed Chinese influence to enter Taiwan and establish “red” strongholds.
Western democracies generally regard media as “the fourth estate,” independent from the government. This underlines the importance of the media and explains why political forces would resort to all means — including carrot-and-stick approaches — to manipulate them.
Former deputy minister of national defense Lin Chong-pin (林中斌) once warned: “For China, buying Taiwan is more economical than conquering it,” adding that Beijing would hollow out Taiwan by offering benefits and incentives to “impoverish the nation.”
Reviewing China’s measures regarding Taiwan in the past few years, Beijing has evidently adopted the strategic goal of unification without resorting to war.
A turning point occurred in 2016, when first Taiwan and the US changed leaders.
Donald Trump won the US presidency with his “make America great again” clarion call. Soon after assuming office, he replaced the US’ long-standing policy of engagement with Beijing with a confrontational strategy.
Affected by the US-China trade conflict, China-leaning Taiwanese businesspeople who had “gone west” have started to return home.
According to data released this month by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, investment from repatriated business capital has reached NT$537 billion (US$17.1 billion) so far this year, which is expected to create more than 45,700 job opportunities.
When President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her administration took office, they halted the pro-China policy of former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration.
They also set the tone for safeguarding Taiwan’s sovereignty, effectively wresting the spotlight away from China’s attempt to connect with Taiwan using the so-called “1992 consensus” and showing the “one country, two systems” framework to be mere empty talk.
Under these circumstances, China has had to find a breakthrough by using Taiwan’s media. Whether by inviting managers and academics to China to attend “lectures” or by directly paying them to build a pro-China network, China is confusing the public’s understanding of what it means to safeguard Taiwan and its sovereignty by using the fourth estate to foster the illusion that siding with Beijing will open the door to “getting rich” and “creating peace.”
Beijing hopes that this would build support and once again place a pro-China leader in the Presidential Office.
Has Taiwan deployed defenses as China’s “united front” tactics take hold?
The founders of Taiwan’s two major Chinese-language newspapers — the United Daily News and the China Times — were both members of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Central Standing Committee during the Martial Law era, yet their tough stance against communist China, and their pursuit of democratic ideals and freedom demonstrate the strength of character of true newspaper workers.
In comparison, the “red” media of today that work only for their own interests are truly lamentable.
The Bible says: “No one can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money.” This passage has profound implications.
Paul Lei is a former editor of the Christian Tribune.
Translated by Chang Ho-ming
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under