Sat, Oct 03, 2009 page1

• DPP wants probe of TV stations that aired Beijing parade

  OUT OF CONTEXT DPP spokesman Chao Tien-lin said the stations erred in airing the mainly military parade without mention of the threat to Taiwan

  • By Jenny W. Hsu / STAFF REPORTER
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  The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that several local media outlets broke the law by broadcasting China’s National Day parade on Wednesday almost in its entirety and demanded that the National Communications Commission (NCC) and the Government Information Office (GIO) investigate.

  DPP spokesman Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said that the parade through Tiananmen Square showcased China’s military might by displaying its latest military hardware such as missiles, tanks, fighter jets and nuclear-tipped missiles.

  Several local media outlets covered the event live with almost no editing, but failed to mention China’s military threat toward Taiwan, he said.

  The broadcasts violated the Act Governing the Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the People of the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) by promoting unification, he said.

  “Broadcasting the military parade uncut has serious legal implications because it was spreading propaganda for an enemy state and should be considered part of the unification warfare strategy. This posed great harm to Taiwan’s national security,” he said.

  “We call on the GIO and the NCC to launch an investigation immediately. We also ask the press to exercise self-discipline and stop disparaging the country’s dignity and hurting the public’s feelings,” Chao said.

  Chao said former DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦), a former GIO chief, had received word from some NCC review board members that some “movement” would be taken in the next few days.

  Ho Nai-chi (何乃麒), director of the GIO’s Department of Broadcasting Affairs, said last night the GIO would probe the matter, adding that an initial accessment suggested some TV stations may have violated regulations.

  The DPP released a statement criticizing China’s elaborate military show, saying history has proven a strong army under an authoritarian regime is often the biggest threat to world peace.

  “China chose to display its strength and progress by putting on a grandiose military parade on the 60th anniversary of Chinese Communist rule. Such a gesture only highlighted a lack of confidence and the weak nature of an authoritarian regime because it can only rely on force to suppress its people and intimidate surrounding countries,” the DPP statement said.

  Taiwan has long been a target of Chinese military threats, the statement said, but the nation still looks forward to normalization of relations and the establishment of a harmonious setting where both sides can coexist peacefully, the DPP said.

  “The DPP puts its hope in the Chinese people and is willing to work with them to help China abandon authoritarianism in order to advance toward democracy, freedom and universal human rights, which are steps to becoming a responsible major power that could live in peace with its neighbors,” it said.

  Meanwhile, during a question-and-answer session at the legislature, DPP Legislator Hsueh Ling (薛凌) asked Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) what he thought about China’s display of military might, to which Wu answered that he “held a neutral position.”

  “Any sovereign country has the right to decide on its national day activities,” he said.

  Asked if the more than 1,000 missiles that China had aimed at Taiwan were a threat, Wu said: “If [the missiles] are targeted at Taiwan, it’s not beneficial to peaceful development of cross-strait relations.”

  The lawmaker also asked Wu if China Airlines chairman Philip Wei (魏幸雄) should resign after the Chinese-language China Times reported yesterday that Wei was one of the Taiwanese businesspeople on the official review platform watching the parade in Beijing, given that the airline could be considered government-owned since public institutions own all its shares.

  It was “inappropriate” for officials from government departments and state-owned enterprises to attend China’s National Day celebrations,” Wu said, adding that he would ask the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to look to into the matter.

  Wei, who returned to Taipei yesterday, told the Central News Agency that he participated in Beijing’s celebrations as a matter of courtesy after receiving an invitation from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.

  “China Airlines is a private company and I am not a civil servant, so there is no need for me to inform the government in advance of my activities,” Wei said.

  ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN AND CNA

  Also See: EDITORIAL: The PRC at 60: a shame of a parade
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