Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said yesterday that the administration would do its best to uphold reporters’ rights, including during President’s Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) transit stops in the US next month.
Wang’s remarks came in the wake of criticism of the Presidential Office’s request on Thursday asking the media not to file reports during Ma’s transit stops in the US, saying it was a “precedent” set during the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration.
Ma is scheduled to make his first state visit from Aug. 12 to Aug. 19 to attend the inauguration of Paraguayan president-elect Fernando Lugo on Aug. 15 and Dominican Republic president-elect Leonel Fernandez on Aug. 16. Ma will spend the night of Aug. 13 in Los Angeles before heading to Paraguay, and will transit through San Francisco on his return.
A Presidential Office official said yesterday that the request was a result of misunderstanding.
Earlier yesterday, Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦), director of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) Department of Culture and Communications, said that the Presidential Office had misinterpreted the “precedent” the DPP administration had set.
“They [the US government] always request that no public appearances be scheduled for the president during his stay in the US. That does not mean reporters cannot write and file their stories,” Cheng said.
“The Ma administration’s lack of experience in handling the president’s overseas visits is demonstrated by its misinterpretation of ‘no public activities’ as ‘no news coverage,’” he said.
As freedom of speech was one of the most important indicators of Taiwan’s democracy, the Ma administration has made itself a laughing stock by restricting journalists, Cheng said.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
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