Growing Chinese influence on the Taiwanese media, in particular via embedded marketing, is a concern and the government has not done enough to address the matter, Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers said in the legislature yesterday.
At the meeting of the legislature’s Internal Administration Committee, lawmakers accused Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) of doing nothing about embedded marketing by China’s Fujian Provincial Government in local newspapers.
The Chinese-language China Times, a subsidiary of Want Want Group, was reportedly paid to cover Fujian Province Governor Su Shulin’s (蘇樹林) visit to Taiwan last month.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Taiwanese law prohibits Chinese advertising in the media and Chinese investment in local media.
In the question-and-answer session, Lai said an investigation had shown there was “clear evidence” that the newspaper was involved in illegal advertising.
However, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is the agency with the authority over the violations, because Su was invited by the Chinese National Federation of Industries and the ministry has demanded an explanation from the newspaper, she said.
Lai said there was no law in -Taiwan regulating the content of print media because the Publication Act was abolished in 1999, leaving only self-regulation by the media because the Taiwanese government respects freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) also cited media reports claiming that state-funded Central News Agency (CNA) had published travel information about Fujian Province on its Web site, which Lai confirmed was against the law.
Lai said Taiwanese media were barred from publishing advertisements provided by unauthorized Chinese advertisers.
Such violations could be traced as far back as 2008, DPP -Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) said, -adding that the Control Yuan had said in a report that the China Times and the Chinese-language United Daily News were both involved in similar violations in their news coverage on China’s Hunan Province in 2010.
DPP Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) said officials from the Taiwan Affairs Office were also suspected of paying personnel in Taiwanese media, citing the case of Feng Fu-hua (馮復華), daughter of former New party legislator Feng Hu-hsiang (馮滬祥).
There has been no coordination among government agencies on the issue, lawmakers said, with the MAC saying it has neither the power to regulate the media nor to determine if visiting Chinese officials violate laws, such as promoting investment in China.
In Su’s case, the ministry was the responsible agency, while in the case of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) Deputy Chairman Zheng Lizhong (鄭立中), who visited southern Taiwan for two weeks in February, the responsible agency was the Council of Agriculture, Lai said.
DPP lawmakers accused the MAC of shirking its responsibilities as the main China policymaking agency over its inability to tackle the issue.
The committee reached a resolution that demanded the MAC coordinate an inter-agency investigation on the matter and levy punishment, if any violation is found, within a month.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
RSS