Nearly 60 percent of Taiwanese support a full government ban on 4G telecommunication service operators using base stations made by Chinese manufacturers over concerns about national security, a survey by the Digital Convergence Development Association showed yesterday.
The survey also found that about 70 percent of respondents are concerned about national security risks from 4G operators using Chinese telecom facilities, and 69 percent are worried that Beijing could obtain information on Taiwan’s telecom infrastructure through Taiwanese businesspeople in China, or other methods.
Overall, the survey showed that about 58 percent of those polled have no confidence in the government’s ability to fend off cyberattacks from China or other countries.
Image taken from the Youth Alliance Against Media Monsters’ Facebook page
The figure was 7.1 percentage points higher than that recorded in the survey that the association conducted in December last year.
The public’s attitude toward local telecom operators using China-made 4G facilities was about the same as the last survey, with the difference being less than 2 percentage points.
The issue of whether telecom carriers should be allowed to use telecom facilities made in China came to the public’s attention earlier this year after Hon Hai Group (鴻海集團) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) threatened to withdraw the group’s investment in Taiwan, stop paying taxes and move overseas if the Taiwanese government failed to provide a reasonable explanation why he could not use base stations produced by Chinese company Huawei Technologies (華為).
The survey was also designed to identify if there had been any shift in attitude toward cable television, telecom services and the media in general.
Among the poll’s significant findings, about 74 percent of respondents said that public opinion in Taiwan was monopolized by certain media groups, up 13.3 points from the previous survey.
While 45 percent said they oppose any form of government funding in television, 44.5 percent said they support government funding to raise programming quality.
Commenting on the findings, Weber Lai (賴祥蔚), a professor at National Taiwan University of the Arts’ radio and television department, said he was horrified at the dramatic increase in the way people perceive the monopolization of public opinion in Taiwan.
The result “is a bit different from what I have observed,” Lai said.
“I suggest that the survey next time ask respondents who they think is monopolizing public opinion. It may be that they mean an oligopoly, not a monopoly,” Lai said.
Christy Chiang (江雅綺), an assistant professor at National Taipei University of Technology, said that the survey showed that more people support restricted government funding to improve the quality of programming, which is very different from 10 years ago.
While 4G operators are seeking more freedom in choosing whatever facilities they see fit, they are simultaneously restricted by public concern for information security, she said.
“Instead of worrying that the government will monopolize public opinion, they now care more that the same thing could be done through any private group,” she said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique