Officials from the US, Japan and Sweden yesterday joined their Taiwanese counterparts for a workshop in Taipei on tackling disinformation, with some noting its rampant spread in Taiwan in the run-up to the presidential and legislative elections in January.
The two-day Defending Democracy through Promoting Media Literacy workshop is the second held under the Taiwan-US Global Cooperation Training Framework.
This year it was also cosponsored by Japan and Sweden.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Addressing the opening ceremony, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scott Busby, who is leading the US delegation to the workshop, praised Taiwan for its commitment to universally accepted human rights and democratic principles, including the fundamental freedoms of speech, religion, press, association and peaceful assembly.
These freedoms must be vigorously protected throughout the entire Indo-Pacific region, including in Hong Kong, he said.
“Taiwan’s 2020 elections are only a few months away, and China once again seeks to use disinformation to undermine the vote, divide the people, and sow seeds of doubt in democratic systems” through numerous channels, he said.
“Taiwan is also on the front line of this battle and faces the same challenge, albeit from a more determined opponent,” American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen said.
The US and other nations have much to learn from Taiwan about how to marshal academic, policy and technical resources to confront that kind of external pressure, he said, highlighting the need to help citizens become “discerning consumers” of media reports.
Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Deputy Representative Shigehiro Nishiumi called for a balanced approach to tackling the issues of disinformation while protecting freedom of expression, which is the “very foundation of democracy.”
Swedish Trade and Invest Council Representative Hakan Jevrell said people know that many actors use information to affect their behavior, which can be as harmless as trying to influence consumers to buy certain goods, but authoritarian states are using the tools to undermine democracy.
“We must be aware and act ... and continue educating ourselves and vaccinate ourselves against harmful information,” he said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) reaffirmed Taiwan’s determination to safeguard its democracy, saying that dealing with false information is more important than ever when holding presidential elections.
The workshop, which is being held at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, is cohosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, AIT’s Taipei office, the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, the Swedish Trade and Invest Council, the National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute.
‘HONORED’: The DPP’s Lin Fei-fan said friends working in the foreign media, the diplomatic corps and at think tanks congratulated him for making the sanctions list The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday slammed China for sanctioning Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and six other Taiwanese officials for being “diehard separatists,” saying its attempt to intimidate Taiwanese would backfire. China has no authority to dictate the actions of Taiwanese, because Taiwan is a democratic nation that upholds the rule of law, and would never yield to intimidation and threats from an authoritarian regime, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told a news conference in Taipei. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency earlier yesterday reported that the Taiwan Work Office of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee has imposed
ORDNANCE: Under a five-year plan, the Chungshan Institute would make about 200 Hsiung Feng II and III/IIIE, and Hsiung Sheng missiles, an official said The Ministry of National Defense plans to counter the Chinese navy by producing more than 1,000 anti-ship missiles over the next five years, a defense official familiar with the matter said yesterday. The comments came after China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy began a series of military drills in a simulated naval blockade of Taiwan proper following a visit to Taipei by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Although China has in the past few years rapidly produced many warships and added them to its navy, these large vessels are more suited for warfare on the open sea than in the narrow
THAI ASSISTANCE: The representative office in Thailand worked with local authorities to help trafficking victims return home, while one in the group has been charged Eight Taiwanese who were lured to Cambodia with lucrative job offers only to be forced to work illegally were brought home on Sunday night in a joint effort between Taiwanese and Thai authorities, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said. Nine people — six men and three women aged 23 to 42 — boarded China Airlines Flight CI-836 from Bangkok, with assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 9:55pm and were taken to the Aviation Police Bureau for questioning before entering home isolation in accordance with Taiwan’s COVID-19 regulations. The Taoyuan District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday
The organizers of WorldPride 2025 have canceled the Kaohsiung event because its licensing group, InterPride, demanded that it remove “Taiwan” from the event’s name, they said in a statement yesterday. Kaohsiung was to host WorldPride Taiwan 2025 after being granted the right by the global LGBTQ advocacy group. However, the WorldPride 2025 Taiwan Preparation Committee said that InterPride recently gave “abrupt notice” asking it to change the name of the event and use “Kaohsiung” instead of “Taiwan,” even though it applied for the event using “Taiwan” in its name. The name was initially chosen for its significance to the Taiwanese LGBTQ community, as
RSS