Beijing has intensified its infiltration of Taiwanese media by inviting reporters to attend events aimed at informing them about its “31 measures” and “26 measures,” which are designed to attract Taiwanese to work and invest in China, a democracy watchdog said yesterday.
“We urge lawmakers to consider including regulations on ‘red media’ — media promoting a pro-Beijing agenda — in the anti-infiltration bill,” Taiwan Democracy Watch specialist Sung Cheng-en (宋承恩) said.
The Chinese government wants to influence Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections, and promote the “26 measures” by increasing the frequency of tours for the Taiwanese media in China, Sung said.
Since 2008, Beijing has been operating a massive propaganda campaign designed to spin positive coverage about China to the world through the publication of paid content in Chinese-language media around the world, he said, adding that this is a long-term, systematic plan, not just a short-term phenomenon.
The government does not have an effective mechanism to combat Beijing’s infiltration of the media and the National Communications Commission regulates only the broadcast media, he said.
The anti-infiltration bill regulates political donations, lobbying and other activities, but not political propaganda, Sung said.
“If the government does not have the time to include such regulations in the bill, it should at least tell people about alternative solutions to the problem,” he said.
Statistics compiled by the watchdog showed that in the second half of this year, Beijing hosted an average of three cross-strait media events a month.
In July, 23 Taiwanese online media organizations allegedly posted articles published on Taiwan.cn, which launched attacks against the Taiwanese government, the watchdog group said.
These media organizations also posted a news release on the “26 measures” from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office immediately after they were announced last month, it said.
The group also said that China hosted a total of nine cross-strait media events in July and August.
One of the events, titled “A Colorful Tour in Guizhou Province,” invited Taiwanese and Chinese social media influencers along with staff from online and traditional news outlets, it said.
Taiwanese media representatives, as well as influencers on Sina Weibo, were in October invited to Hunan Province and 20 Taiwanese reporters purportedly attended a tour last month of Sanming County, it said.
Chinese media also reported that 20 Taiwanese media organizations — including the Chinese-language United Daily News and TVBS — last month attended a cross-strait media conference, at which participants discussed the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China and the 40th anniversary of the “Message to Compatriots in Taiwan,” the group said.
The group quoted New Party legislator-at-large nominee Chiu Yi (邱毅), who was invited to address the participants, as saying: “May the voices of reporters be heard across the Taiwan Strait so that the goal of unification can be reached soon.”
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS