Taiwan’s press freedom and freedom of expression have begun to show signs of being “Hong Kong-ized” (香港化) as a result of China’s political and economic pressure, a report by a legislative agency said.
Self-censorship among Hong Kong and Macau media outlets has increased and press freedom has sharply deteriorated since the two territories signed Closer Economic Partnership Arrangements (CEPA) with Beijing, the report by the legislature’s Organic Laws and Statutes Bureau said.
The report, A Study on Mainland China’s Post-ECFA Political and Economic Strategy Toward Taiwan, was written after a delegation from the bureau and the legislature’s Budget Center traveled to Hong Kong in May to study a number of issues.
The report said Hong Kong’s ranking in surveys conducted by Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House have dropped since the CEPA was signed in 2003. Journalists and other media workers in Hong Kong also feel that self-censorship has become a “boorish tacit agreement” that permeates their industry, the report said.
Although the CEPA has led to intensifying contacts between Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta, the report says Hong Kong media must apply for permission to set up operations in the delta, and reporting has become “more red.” For outlets that might want to report on free markets, the rule of law and human rights concepts “have no chance whatsoever to wield any influence,” the report said.
Although Taiwan is different from Hong Kong and Macau, the current situation in this country — following the signing of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China — nonetheless “seems to show changes in the media similar to those in Hong Kong prior to [the return of Hong Kong to China in] 1997,” the report said.
China is adopting the same methods in Taiwan that it used to deal with the media in Hong Kong, the report said. Major Taiwanese business leaders are becoming more intimate with the top leadership in Beijing and are beginning to buy up Taiwanese media.
The report cited the concerns expressed by the US-based Freedom House about Beijing’s power to influence freedom of expression in Taiwan following the purchase by the Want Want Group (旺旺集團) — which also invests in China — of the China Times Group (中時集團) and its resulting change in editorial direction and softening of criticism of the government and cross-strait issues. Whether Taiwanese media are following the “Hong Kong mode” (香港模式) has become a growing concern, it said.
Because President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) government is throwing open the doors to Chinese investment, it is becoming difficult to prevent Chinese capital from entering the Taiwanese media sector, the report said.
The report concludes that while Hong Kong media outlets had gained some economic benefits from the CEPA, gradual sinicization had led to strong self-censorship and the loss of press freedom.
Taiwan should learn from this and be wary of Beijing’s “united front” tactics, while the media should avoid self-censorship and be aware of the problems that Chinese capital investments in local media outlets can cause, the report said.
In response to the report, the Executive Yuan said the government has spared no effort to ensure freedom of speech in Taiwan. The media industry was booming, which is the embodiment of freedom of speech, it said.
Democratic Progressive Party spokesperson Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said it was hard to see how the trend toward growing Chinese pressure could be reversed, given the government’s China policies.
“The Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] doesn’t take China’s attitude seriously, so we expect that Chinese influence in Taiwanese media will continue to increase,” he said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO AND SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
‘ILLEGAL RULING’: The KMT and the TPP slammed the Constitutional Court judgement, saying it contravened the law and was trying to clear the way for a ‘green dictatorship’ The Constitutional Court yesterday ruled that amendments to the Constitutional Court Procedure Act (憲法訴訟法) passed by the Legislative Yuan last year are unconstitutional, as they contravene due legislative process and separation of powers. The Legislative Yuan on Dec. 20 last year passed amendments stipulating that no fewer than 10 grand justices must take part in deliberations of the Constitutional Court, and at least nine grand justices must agree to declare a law unconstitutional. The Executive Yuan on Jan. 2 requested that lawmakers reconsider the bill, but the Legislative Yuan, under a combined majority of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party
RSS