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.
ORDER OF 66 JETS: Delivering the F-16s faster and enabling Taiwan to develop its fleet into one of the biggest in Asia would be based on ‘risk assessment,’ one official said The US is looking for ways to accelerate delivery of Taiwan’s next generation of newly built F-16 jets, US officials said, bolstering the Taiwanese air force’s ability to respond to what Taipei and Washington see as increasing intimidation by the Chinese military. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that they have not yet come up with a solution on how to speed up delivery of Block 70 F-16s, manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corp and equipped with new capabilities. The aircraft are slated to be delivered by the end of 2026. Taipei has privately expressed its wish for a faster delivery
‘STIRRING CONFLICT’: Chinese content farms use hundreds of fake accounts to reach ‘every corner of society,’ an official at the Investigation Bureau said China is conducting disinformation campaigns that involve more than 400 fake accounts targeting Taiwanese on social media, the Investigation Bureau said on Friday. China is trying to infiltrate social media, Internet forums and online chatrooms that are popular among Taiwanese to subvert the public’s trust in the government, destabilize society and meddle in elections, the bureau said. Since it started tracing fake accounts and disinformation to Chinese content farms in April last year, the Information and Communication Security Division investigated 2,773 such cases, the bureau said. It has forwarded 174 cases to prosecutors, who have listed 234 people as suspects, the bureau added. An
SEARCHING LINKS: While targeted testing added cases to existing clusters, new cases were linked to the Taipei Grand Hotel and an Yilan hotel, Chen Shih-chung said The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 52 local COVID-19 cases, including 30 linked to Taoyuan businesses and 15 linked to Kaohsiung Harbor. The remaining seven cases include a cluster of four — three family members and a friend — in Taipei and New Taipei City, two cases linked to a Tasty Steak (西堤牛排) restaurant in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢) and one case in Yilan County, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center. As 70 cases were on Friday and Saturday reported among workers at Askey Computer Corp (亞旭) in Taoyuan’s Farglory Free Trade Zone
SHOW OF FORCE: Incursions of 39 Chinese warplanes on Sunday and 13 yesterday were likely in response to US-Japan exercises off Okinawa, military analysts said China on Sunday sent 39 warplanes — mostly fighter jets — into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), in its second-largest single-day incursion, the Ministry of National Defense said. Thirteen warplanes entered the zone yesterday, it added. The ministry late on Sunday said that the air force scrambled aircraft to broadcast warnings and deployed air-defense missile systems. The Chinese warplanes included 24 J-16 fighters — which experts say are among China’s favorite jets for testing Taiwan’s air defenses — 10 J-10s and one nuclear-capable H-6 bomber. Yesterday’s incursion included eight J-16s and two J-16Ds — a jet introduced at an air show last year
RSS