In a bid to promote the burgeoning of Taiwan's creative industries, the Council for Cultural Affairs (CCA) organized an international symposium with the European Union Study Association-Taiwan yesterday in order to benefit from the EU's experience in both promoting and policing the cultural industry.
Addressing the symposium entitled "Creative Industry": A Global Thought and Future Action in Taiwan, vice chairman of the CCA Wu Mi-cha (
"In Europe, the cultural creative industry has a solid and successful development model that is notably worthwhile for Taiwan to learn from," Wu said.
Citing the UK as an example, Wu said the creative industry there has become the core economic-development force in Britain. In fact among all economic sectors, the creative industry has generated the second largest revenues since 1997, accounting for 7.9 percent of Britain's GNP.
The symposium, which runs till Saturday, has invited major creative cultural-policy researchers from the European Commission, Austria, Netherlands and Australia to engage in discussions with Taiwan's economic and cultural officials, as well as local artists.
Issues to be discussed include the EU's basis for the promotion of creative industry, challenges and opportunities for the creative industry in the globalized economy, global marketing strategy of the creative industry as well as the bottlenecks and turning points faced by local artists in Taiwan.
Christophe Forax, a spokesperson for the education and culture division of the European Commission, said that Taiwan could learn from Europe's experience.
Forax explained that the EU has for the past few years provided a legal framework that facilitates the development and growth of the cultural creative industry.
That framework entails a quota system that both requires and encourages European broadcasters to air programs and cultural works produced by artists in EU countries.
The EU also has a program which supports the development, distribution and promotion of European audiovisual works inside Europe and on other continents.
"Fair and regular financing resources are distributed to the European media sectors, including projects using digital technologies ? and the European film industry," Forax said.
Under such initiatives, the cultural diversity of the various European countries are both protected and encouraged, Forax said.
"To a certain degree, we help preserve the European cultural distinctiveness as opposed to the mass invasion from media productions from non-EU member states such as the US," Forax said.
Forax said that in 2000, the EU's trade deficit with the US on the television rights market was US$4 billion and US$8 billion for all audiovisual services. But after the enforcement of these regualtions, the market shares of European and US movies on European screens have been stabilized.
"A share of 20 percent to 30 percent of the box office goes to the national and European works, and tickets sold for European films outside their country of origin are about 10 percent of total ticket sales," Forax indicated.
In addition to a legal framework to ensure that European TV programs don't disappear from the screen, support is also delivered to small cultural industries through the EU programs.
Forax pointed to the Culture 2000 initiative that supports more than 200 projects every year. Those projects range from small-scale exchanges involving theater groups or musicians performing with partners from other European countries to the creation of what Forax called "long-term cultural networks."
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai