A Chinese dissident living in the US has warned that Taiwan’s freedom of the press is being lost to “Chinese elements,” which are using media outlets in Taiwan to distort facts.
In her book Red Infiltration (紅色滲透), published on March 6, He Qinglian (何清漣) cites National Taiwan University professor Flora Chang (張錦華) as saying that Taiwanese media companies are being “paid off” by China.
The situation has already become a national security issue, she quoted Chang as saying.
Prior to 2008, Beijing used a roundabout way to permeate Taiwanese media, buying stocks through overseas Chinese firms, He wrote, adding that China began using a more direct approach to spreading propaganda after 2008.
“Through this propaganda, it creates this wonderful image of China that convinces Taiwanese that everything about China and the Chinese government is good,” she wrote.
“What Taiwanese do not know is that China has very serious problems with human rights and its environment,” He wrote.
Many people do not believe the truth about China when it is pointed out to them, while many harbor fantasies about the nation, she wrote, adding that the situation could end with China annexing Taiwan without needing its military.
Want Want China Times Group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) has made huge investments in China and has made the nation the core of his business development model, she wrote.
Tsai, who is staunchly pro-unification, has on numerous occasions given orders to the China Times in regard to its reporting, she added.
For example, Tsai has told the newspaper to boost reporting on China, and has told it to paint it in the role of a “hero” in news stories related to the 228 Incident, He wrote.
Tsai has also required news stories on former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to be strongly supportive of him and has sent back for “review” stories supportive of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), she wrote.
Tsai once berated and disciplined a news anchor who had called Ma the “geeky president” on a news program after a local newspaper used the term in a headline that day, she wrote.
“After this, the China Times Group took on a very amusing style, occasionally criticizing pro-localization groups, but mainly acting as a mouthpiece for the Chinese government, wholeheartedly inflating China,” He wrote.
Numerous legal loopholes exist in regard to cross-strait media exchanges, and a number of Taiwanese media outlets were taking advantage of them to engage in “rent-seeking” behavior to increase profits, she wrote.
In doing so these outlets were selling the fourth estate to the nation’s detriment, she added.
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