International press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Thursday said that it is to open its first Asia office in Taiwan, after the Paris-based organization rejected Hong Kong over concerns that China poses the “biggest threat” to press freedom.
Taiwan last year ranked 51st in the organization’s World Press Freedom Index, while Hong Kong was 69th and China 176th.
Recent incidents in Hong Kong — including the disappearance of five booksellers who were known for salacious titles about the Chinese leadership — have sparked fears that Beijing is choking the territory’s freedoms.
Hong Kong presented “real obstacles” for the watchdog to carry out its monitoring work, Chinese dissident Wuer Kaixi said.
“They wouldn’t be able to guarantee the safety of their staff,” said Wuer Kaixi, an Uighur student leader in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests who now lives in exile in Taiwan and sits on RSF’s emeritus board.
He said he proposed Taiwan as an alternative, citing its boisterous and competitive media landscape.
“Freedom of speech and freedom of press is absolutely not an issue in Taiwan. What might be a problem is the threat from China,” he said.
“RSF realized that China is the biggest threat to press freedom, so it decided to shift its focus to Asia,” he added.
Taiwan was chosen not only because of its central geographic location and ease of operational logistics, but also due to its status as the top-ranking Asian nation in the watchdog’s annual rankings, RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said.
“The opening of an East Asia office corresponds to the ongoing international expansion of our association and aims to better address the new challenges of media freedoms in this increasingly influential region of the world,” he said in a statement released late on Thursday.
The office in Taipei is also to cover other East Asian countries, including Japan, North Korea, South Korea and Mongolia.
In the statement, the organization said that its Taipei bureau would serve as a strategic platform to exercise influence and action on the multiple fronts in which it is engaged.
It cited areas such as advocacy on behalf of press rights, building awareness in support of specific campaigns, assistance to journalists and building capacity for journalists.
Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said the government welcomed the group’s decision and its appreciation of the nation’s contribution to press freedom and the protection of human rights.
The organization has the same spirit as Taiwan, Hsu said, adding that freedom of speech had a key role in the nation’s transition from authoritarianism to democracy and is an important core value in its democratic development.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) also extended a welcome to RSF’s Taipei office, expressing hope that the organization could continue to fight for human rights, as well as freedom of speech and press.
The party also urged the organization to pay attention to and report on what it called controversial policies of the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), citing as examples a draft counterintelligence act, a draft transitional justice promotion bill and the Act Governing the Handling of Ill-gotten Properties by Political Parties and Their Affiliate Organizations (政黨及其附隨組織不當取得財產處理條例).
“These highly contested draft bills violate human rights and freedom of expression and have raised concerns that the government is seeking to infringe on the public’s freedom of press or impede the operation of our democratic system,” KMT Culture and Communications Committee deputy director Hu Wen-chi (胡文琦) said.
RSF has 11 other offices worldwide — in Berlin, Brussels, Helsinki, London, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, Stockholm, Tunis, Vienna, Washington and Geneva.
Additional reporting by Stacy Hsu
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from