A general review of the regulations is needed to ascertain which laws should be amended to combat the negative effects of fake news perpetrated by China against the government and Taiwanese society, Premier William Lai (賴清德) told a lawmaker yesterday at a question-and-answer session.
Lai was responding to a query from Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋), who asked about the government’s stance on fake news.
Lee asked which unit had jurisdiction over Internet-related policies, to which Lai replied that no agency yet exists and the government would act to rectify the matter.
The Executive Yuan has plans to remedy the situation, but whether it is to propose amending existing legislation or drafting special legislation regarding fake news is still under consideration, Lai said.
“Rest assured, this loophole will be closed,” Lai added.
Lee told Lai that the Cabinet should review the existing legislation to decide whether special legislation would be required.
The Cabinet should deliver a well-rounded plan by the end of the year to demonstrate its willingness to combat fake news and prevent the erosion of the nation’s democratic foundations, Lee said.
The government would do everything in its power to prevent China from destabilizing Taiwanese society via fake news, Lai said.
“China is the primary source of the threat to Taiwan,” Lai added.
Lai told People First Party Legislator Chen Yi-chieh (陳怡潔) that he has tasked Minister Without Portfolio Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) with reviewing the existing legislation.
Chen asked whether Lai supported a proposal to amend the National Security Act (國家安全法) as a solution to the fake news issue.
Lai said that it was “fact” that China was using various channels to spread fake news.
“One could say that such actions are one of the major sources of discontent,” he said.
UNDER WATCH: Taiwan will have to establish a standardized nucleic acid testing method to identify the virus and monitor its spread, the CDC said The Langya henipavirus, which can be transmitted from animals to humans, has been discovered in China, with 35 human infections reported so far, Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said, adding that the nation would establish a nucleic acid testing method to identify the virus. A study titled “A Zoonotic Henipavirus in Febrile Patients in China” that was published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday said that a new henipavirus associated with a fever-causing human illness was identified in China. The study said an investigation identified 35 patients with acute infection of the Langya henipavirus in China’s Shandong
BILINGUAL PLAN: The 17 educators were recruited under a program that seeks to empower Taiwanese, the envoy to the Philippines said The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines on Thursday hosted a send-off event for the first group of English-language teachers from the country who were recruited for a Ministry of Education-initiated program to advance bilingual education in Taiwan. The 14 teachers and three teaching assistants are part of the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which aims to help find English-language instructors for Taiwan’s public elementary and junior-high schools, the office said. Seventy-seven teachers and 11 teaching assistants from the Philippines have been hired to teach in Taiwan in the coming school year, office data showed. Among the first group is 57-year-old
Police have detained a Taoyuan couple suspected of over the past two months colluding with human trafficking rings and employment scammers in Southeast Asia to send nearly 100 Taiwanese jobseekers to Cambodia. At a media briefing in Taipei yesterday, the Criminal Investigation Bureau presented items seized from the couple, including alleged victims’ passports, forged COVID-19 vaccination records, mobile phones, bank documents, checks and cash. The man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and his girlfriend, surnamed Tsan (詹), were taken into custody last month, after police at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport stopped four jobseekers from boarding a flight to Phnom Penh, said Dustin Lee (李泱輯),
‘ORDINARY PEOPLE’: A man watching Taiwanese military drills said that there would be nothing anyone could do if the situation escalates in the Taiwan Strait Many people in Taiwan look upon China’s military exercises over the past week with calm resignation, doubting that war is imminent and if anything, feeling pride in their nation’s determination to defend itself. After a visit to Taiwan last week by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, China has sent ships and aircraft across an unofficial buffer between Taiwan and China’s coast and missiles over Taipei and into waters surrounding the nation since Thursday last week. However, Rosa Chang, proudly watching her son take part in Taiwanese military exercises that included dozens of howitzers firing shells into the Taiwan Strait off
RSS