More than 70 percent of Taiwanese think that national security is more important than freedom of the press, a survey released yesterday by the Professor Huang Kun-huei Education Foundation showed.
As the nation discusses the issue of “fake news,” the survey about educational issues included a question asking respondents the importance they attach to national security and freedom of the press.
A total of 74.1 percent of respondents think national security is more important than freedom of the press and 16.6 percent hold the opposite view, while 9.3 percent did not give a clear response, the survey found.
Foundation poll committee member Feng Ching-huang (馮清皇) said that the result was the same across all demographics, including gender, location, age and educational background.
Most people think that national security is more important, showing that people should be educated on how to identify fabricated news, Feng said.
An international study has suggested that Taiwan has in the past few years been seriously affected by foreign governments’ dissemination of false information, poll committee convener Kuo Sheng-yu (郭生玉) said.
Russia annexed Crimea after it launched a false news campaign, so Taiwan should think whether it wants to follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Kuo said.
Foundation president Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said that while the Constitution protects freedom of speech, widespread misinformation and fabricated news are affecting social stability.
From an educational viewpoint, the survey result calls for more thought on the issue, Huang said.
The survey also found that 71 percent of respondents support the Executive Yuan’s proposed draft amendments to the Teachers’ Act (教師法) to require schools’ evaluation committees, which review incompetent teachers, to have more outside members, and to lower the percentage of teachers who do not hold administrative or board member positions to less than 50 percent.
The survey showed that 75.3 percent of respondents are in favor of including early childhood education for five-year-olds in the compulsory education system and 77 percent think the government should announce a timetable for implementing the policy.
The survey also found that 51.6 percent of respondents support the policy to ban schools from publicizing individual students’ exam scores and ranking.
The survey collected 1,072 valid samples from Monday to Wednesday last week. It has a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of 3 percent.
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi yesterday lavished US President Donald Trump with praise and vows of a “golden age” of ties on his visit to Tokyo, before inking a deal with Washington aimed at securing critical minerals. Takaichi — Japan’s first female prime minister — pulled out all the stops for Trump in her opening test on the international stage and even announced that she would nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize, the White House said. Trump has become increasingly focused on the Nobel since his return to power in January and claims to have ended several conflicts around the world,
GLOBAL PROJECT: Underseas cables ‘are the nervous system of democratic connectivity,’ which is under stress, Member of the European Parliament Rihards Kols said The government yesterday launched an initiative to promote global cooperation on improved security of undersea cables, following reported disruptions of such cables near Taiwan and around the world. The Management Initiative on International Undersea Cables aims to “bring together stakeholders, align standards, promote best practices and turn shared concerns into beneficial cooperation,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said at a seminar in Taipei. The project would be known as “RISK,” an acronym for risk mitigation, information sharing, systemic reform and knowledge building, he said at the seminar, titled “Taiwan-Europe Subsea Cable Security Cooperation Forum.” Taiwan sits at a vital junction on
LONG-HELD POSITION: Washington has repeatedly and clearly reiterated its support for Taiwan and its long-term policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday said that Taiwan should not be concerned about being used as a bargaining chip in the ongoing US-China trade talks. “I don’t think you’re going to see some trade deal where, if what people are worried about is, we’re going to get some trade deal or we’re going to get favorable treatment on trade in exchange for walking away from Taiwan,” Rubio told reporters aboard his airplane traveling between Israel and Qatar en route to Asia. “No one is contemplating that,” Reuters quoted Rubio as saying. A US Treasury spokesman yesterday told reporters
RSS