The state-run Central News Agency (CNA) and the Public Television Service (PTS) have come under fire for what opposition lawmakers say is their degeneration into Beijing mouthpieces after the agencies issued a joint call with Chinese media for the establishment of reciprocal media offices on either side of the Taiwan Strait.
The call was listed in a six-point proposal jointly issued by the representatives of more than 70 Chinese and Taiwanese media outlets after they attended a forum organized by China Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing on Sunday last week.
Among the Taiwanese representatives attending the forum were CNA chairman Chen Kuo-hsiang (陳國祥), PTS chairman Shao Yu-ming (邵玉銘) and Want Want China Times Group (旺旺中時集團) president Tsai Shao-chung (蔡紹中).
The proposal also called for the inking of a cross-strait cultural cooperation agreement; a concerted effort between Chinese and Taiwanese media to promote the “Zhonghua culture” (中華文化); and the normalization and formalization of cross-strait media exchanges.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) said CNA appears to have reduced itself to China’s mouthpiece.
“Is CNA Taiwan’s state news agency or China’s? The demands listed in the proposal do not conform with the Mainland Affairs Council’s policies, yet the news outlet still danced along with China anyway. I think the agency is confused about its role,” Chiu said.
Chiu, who is the convener of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee, said that since CNA’s overseeing authority, the Ministry of Culture, had ostensibly failed in its duty to supervise the outlet, he would demand that it deliver a report to the committee soon.
The CNA and the PTS receive about NT$300 million and NT$900 million (US$9.9 million and US$29.9 million) in government funding each year respectively. There are also plans to allocate an extra NT$130 million to the latter next year.
DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the proposal’s failure to make any mention of press freedom proved that cross-strait media exchanges would only subject local media to the negative impacts of China, rather than helping it exert a positive influence on the latter.
DPP Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) said it was absurd for Taiwanese media to try to pressure the government into allowing the establishment of cross-strait media offices when what they are supposed to be doing is urging China to refrain from suppressing press freedom.
DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said that as agencies that enjoy government resources, CNA and the PTS’ cross-strait stance should be in sync with government policies.
“I am fine with these representatives attending forums and seminars [in China], but issuing a proposal telling their government what to do is [out of line],” Kuan said, adding that Minister of Culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) needed to state her view on the matter.
Chen Kuo-hsiang said he did not acknowledge the “joint statement” issued by the forum, since it was unilateral and had therefore not being properly discussed.
Shao said he attended the forum in his capacity as a media professional in a bid to better understand the development of the sector on the other side of the Strait.
The Mainland Affairs Council said CNA falls under the Ministry of Culture, but remains an autonomous news outlet and “since the agency’s managers informed the ministry of their plan to attend the Beijing forum in advance, the council will respect [their behavior] as long as no laws are broken.”
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
RSS