A recent reshuffle of personnel at the Chinese-language China Times has sparked speculation of political interference after a headline story published last month was rumored to have upset the Chinese government.
The newspaper announced on Saturday that its editor-in-chief, Hsia Chen (夏珍), would take over as president of China Times Weekly magazine, while the magazine’s president, Wang Mei-yu (王美玉), is to become the new China Times editor-in-chief.
Speculation emerged that the shift was made because a report upset Beijing. A headline story published in the China Times last month quoted a Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) official as calling China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) a “C-list” politician.
Want Want China Times Group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) reportedly ordered the personnel shift to appease China.
In the report published on Dec. 26, the China Times quoted an anonymous SEF official as saying that describing heavyweights from the pan-blue political camp as eager to meet Chen was like “A-listers” fighting to meet a “C-lister.”
Both Hsia and Wang declined to comment.
Instead of denying the report, however, Hsia said in an e-mail to China Times employees that it would be “very difficult to comment” on the rumors. In the e-mail, she also urged employees not to believe or spread rumors from inside or outside the newspaper.
When asked for comment, Chen Shun-shaw (陳順孝), a journalism professor at Fujen Catholic University, said that while it was difficult to prove if the personnel shift was triggered by the headline story, it was clear that China’s impact on media outlets in Taiwan is growing.
Chen said more Taiwanese media outlets were trying to avoid reporting on sensitive issues related to China, such as material involving the Falun Gong.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)