Hong Kong’s English-language daily the South China Morning Post (SCMP) plans to launch a bilingual newspaper in Taiwan in response to increasing ties between China and Taiwan, a newspaper reported yesterday.
The Chinese-language Economic Daily News said the SCMP intended to hire several economic and finance experts as it prepares to launch a Taiwan edition.
After hiring local reporters for political and economic affairs, the newspaper will launch a local online version of the SCMP in six months’ time and decide later if it should also publish a print edition, the Economic Daily News quoted an unnamed source as saying.
The funding for the Taiwan version of the paper would come from Hong Kong, a transnational bank in Taiwan and some members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
The SCMP decided to launch a paper in Taiwan because it expects Taiwan to play a greater role in economic and trade issues as a result of improved Taipei-Beijing ties since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office on May 20.
The Economic Daily News said the SCMP first conducted a survey on the newspaper market in Taiwan.
Since Taiwan already has three English daily newspapers and its market for English papers is saturated, the newspaper decided to focus on online operations with most content in Chinese, but some information in English.
The 106-year-old daily is the leading English newspaper in Hong Kong with some 100,000 subscribers and is known as one of the top English-language dailies in Asia.
If it launches a Taiwan version, it will become the second Hong Kong newspaper to break into the Taiwanese market. In 2003, Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英) began publishing the Apple Daily in Taiwan, while his Next Magazine began in 2001.
Although initially criticized by Taiwanese as gossipy and sensational, the Apple Daily quickly became one of the bestselling newspapers in Taiwan. Its daily circulation has reached 526,000 copies and is threatening the survival of other dailies. Next Magazine weekly is the bestselling news magazine in Taiwan.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS