China’s system of censorship and weak protection of intellectual property rights (IPR) mean many Taiwanese creative and cultural companies face serious difficulties in their forays into the Chinese market.
Minister of Culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) said that the Ministry of Culture is seeking to establish a “public authority-to-public authority” platform with its Chinese counterpart to discuss and resolve issues related to cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Strait.
If all goes well, Lung said, the ministry will host a cross-strait cultural forum in Taipei in September to discuss these issues.
“We want direct talks between cultural officials from both sides,” Lung said, adding that this could “facilitate solutions to problems involving IPR protection and freedom of expression for our performing artists and cultural workers when they are working in China.”
“We have put forward a list of issues that we hope to negotiate on,” Lung added.
Saying that cross-strait cultural exchanges have faced many hindrances and bottlenecks, Lung added that the two sides need to sit down to talk.
“We must work to resolve the issues one by one to protect the legitimate rights and interests of our artists and creative industry companies working in China,” Lung said.
The ministry cannot sit on its hands and leave Taiwanese cultural workers to deal with the Chinese authorities and competitors unassisted, she added.
The agenda for the September forum would include the creation of an institutionalized mechanism for talks on stumbling blocks to cross-strait cultural exchanges, pushing China to offer greater market access to Taiwanese cultural and creative industry operators and easing censorship.
Lung said her ministry will urge its Chinese counterpart to enhance transparency in publication and film censorship and strengthen IPR protection.
“We will lobby the Chinese culture ministry to set up a ‘fast track’ window for screening the work of our creative and cultural workers in a transparent manner,” Lung said.
The ministry will also push Beijing to exempt Taiwanese non-ideological cultural products from censorship and allow their launch in selected cities and experimental zones without restrictions.
The forum would hopefully pave the way for the culture ministry to dispatch its staff members to work in the Straits Exchange Foundation’s planned branch office in China to offer legal counseling and administrative coordination, Lung said.
Lung said her ministry will give priority to the interests of cultural and creative industries in negotiating with its Chinese counterpart in a pragmatic manner.
“The two sides are talking about establishing an institutionalized dialogue platform to better protect freedom of expression of our artists working in China and their intellectual property rights,” Lung said.
The forum will be a channel for direct “culture ministry-to-culture ministry” dialogue, with officially authorized representatives taking part, Lung said.
“We also look forward to inviting Chinese Minister of Culture Cai Wu (蔡武) to visit Taiwan,” she added.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by