Minister of Culture Lung Ying-tai (龍應台) yesterday expressed regret over the withdrawal of several Chinese TV stations from this year’s Taipei TV Festival, allegedly due to China’s discontent with the participation of a TV station associated with the Falun Gong spiritual movement.
“The political divergence [between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait] has made the exchange of broadcast content the most profound [cross-strait] cultural exchange we can have. The TV festival is a channel through which we can climb over that political fence,” Lung said.
Lung said the Chinese TV stations had “lost the forest for the trees” by withdrawing from the festival for political reasons, adding that while she understood there might be “certain rules” that those stations had to comply with, she hoped they could join next year’s festival.
Photo: CNA
Now in its 10th year, the festival — which opened yesterday and runs through tomorrow — has attracted 95 broadcasting and production companies from more than 14 countries, including the UK, the US, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Turkey, Greece, Vietnam and the Netherlands, to showcase their programs.
In previous years, about one-third of the exhibitors came from China, including some affiliated with the Chinese government. However, a Chinese delegation comprising of just over 100 representatives is attending this year.
According to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), the Chinese stations’ withdrawal was in response to an order from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office and State Administration of Radio Film and Television to avoid direct contact with representatives of New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV).
NTDTV was founded in the US in 2001 by several Chinese expatriates and Falun Gong practitioners with the aim of providing uncensored information to Chinese citizens and others and facilitating press freedom in China.
NTDTV had participated in the festival for the past few years, the source said, adding that the Chinese probably decided to boycott this year’s festival because of the change of venue.
“The festival had traditionally been held in the Grand Hotel, where participants were allowed to set up their exhibition stands in their respective rooms. However, this year the event has been moved to the Taipei World Trade Center Hall 3, an open-style exhibition hall,” the source said.
Lin Tung-cheng (林銅城), chief executive officer of festival organizer Hochan Entertainment Co confirmed the reports yesterday, but added that the boycott was motivated solely by NTDTV’s participation, not the change of venue.
NTDTV spokesperson Chu Wan-chi (朱婉琪) said the station was established to inform ethnic Chinese of the truth about China and that it neither encouraged nor opposed Chinese media joining the festival.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man