Government Information Office (GIO) Minister Vanessa Shih (史亞平) yesterday denied a report that state-owned Radio Taiwan International (RTI), which broadcasts in 13 languages around the world, had been told by the government not to denounce China.
A front-page story in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday said some independent directors of RTI were planning to resign en masse to express their dissatisfaction with the government’s intervention in the company’s operations.
“The GIO, as a supervisor of RTI, has urged it to build a good image of the country. It has not asked them not to criticize China,” Shih said.
RTI chairman Cheng Yu (鄭優) said he has told the GIO that he intends to step down and will give his letter of resignation to a provisional meeting of RTI’s board of directors today.
Cheng was assigned by the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government to lead the RTI. His term expires next September.
Board member Luo Chih-cheng (羅致政) said that he, several independent directors and RTI director general Shao Li-chung (紹立中) would submit their resignations today to protest the government’s repression of free speech and its pro-China position.
Meanwhile, Cheng refused to respond to comments by some Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers that he should have resigned after the KMT administration took office since RTI is a national station.
KMT Legislator Kuo Su-chun (郭素春) accused Cheng of using political intervention as an excuse to quit his job.
DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) criticized the KMT government for reshuffling RTI’s board for political reasons.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
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The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
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