A number of China Central Television (CCTV) programs from the other side of the Taiwan Strait have been aired in Taiwan over the past decade. But, recently, Taiwan's Government Information Office (GIO) banned them. According to the GIO, it had previously allowed the airing of such programs in Taiwan to meet demand from the more than 41,000 Chinese nationals residing in Taiwan. The GIO also indicated that it had decided to finally ban these programs because China has not reciprocated by granting Taiwan similar treatment. Taiwan's satellite channel operators have been unable to receive permission to air their programs in China.
Given such animosity, the fact that it took more than 10 years before CCTV programs were banned in Taiwan is itself a fact demanding scrutiny. Why were the enemy government's propaganda media allowed to air their programs freely in Taiwan, facilitating China's efforts to indoctrinate the people of Taiwan?
The mere mention of the possibility in the past would have incurred prison time for the unfortunate speaker. Yet, over the past decade such programs have aired without any concerns about legal liability? While this may demonstrate the democracy and pluralism of Taiwan society, it also highlights the unique manipulative tactics of the pro-unification media in Taiwan.
First, having undergone its baptism in democracy, Taiwan has progressed enormously in terms of human rights. The government appears to have its hands tied even when Chinese arrive in Taiwan to solicit investments and spread political propaganda. Fortunately, most of the people of Taiwan are too smart for these tricks. There is no market for China's propaganda gimmicks in Taiwan.
But, there are still those who are deceived by the political and economic propaganda of China. They see China as an investors' haven and blindly march west. They gradually lean toward identifying themselves with Chinese nationality. Leaders of the opposition and lawmakers have been coming down with this China fever, echoing support for the unification propaganda of China. In the process, the pro-unification media hides under the protective umbrella of press freedom as it secretly plays the role of advocate for China. In recent years, Taiwan's policy of blindly opening up investments to China has had much to do with this.
Moreover, as a result of the end of the Cold War, and the opening of the Chinese market, many people in Taiwan became obsessed with the "China myth." They went from loudly opposing communism and chanting "retake the motherland" doctrines to the contradictory stance of pandering to and working for the Chinese communists.
The pro-unification media is a classic example of all this. As a result, China, a developing country, has been able to keep up its image of a country undergoing rapid economic development. In fact, its status has been exaggerated out of all proportion into that of an economic superpower. In the process, the country's internal problems have been completely ignored.
In the past half century, Taiwan has endeavored to catch up with Europe, the US and Japan. But, now, a strong Chinese force is pulling Taiwan toward backwardness. It is truly worrisome that as a result of the misguided rantings of the pro-unification media, Taiwan faces a sinicization and marginalization crisis, even though as an island nation, it should be receiving many global influences.
Further, to counter the popular will of Taiwan, which supports "Taiwan first" ideology, the pro-unification media has made a lot of effort to introduce Chinese-propaganda mouthpieces to Taiwan as well as to host investments tours to China, in order to indoctrinate the people of Taiwan with "Great China" thinking. Their motives are largely not ideological, but financial: They want to secure for themselves a piece of the Chinese market. The pro-unification media has never stopped trying to get into the Chinese market, greedily eyeing its 1 billion-plus population. But, the ideological domain is a restricted zone in China, with no room for outsiders. Yet, China has been able to use the pro-unification media's lust for the Chinese market to get them to serve as its propaganda mouthpiece for free.
Since cross-strait exchanges began, inequality between the two sides of the Strait has become increasingly obvious. Most noteworthy of all is that Taiwan long ago made the concession of recognizing the status of the PRC, but the PRC continues to emphasize that it will never renounce the use of force against Taiwan. But Chinese leaders, past masters at materialist dialectics, have not forgotten to deliberately twist the truth, saying that it is Taiwan that has constantly impeded China.
Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen (錢其琛), for example, complained to Taiwanese media that Taiwanese reporters were free to cover news in China, but that Chinese reporters were not free to do the same in Taiwan. This twisted statement deliberately ignores the fundamental reality that Taiwan's pro-unification media are free to speak openly on behalf of China, while Chinese reporters in Taiwan simply deliver exaggerated reports that present Taiwan in a negative light, and deliberately lie through their teeth that the hearts of Taiwanese people "long for the motherland." Frankly, we would do better not to conduct media exchanges if this is all they produce.
The fact that CCTV programs have been on air in Taiwan for more than a decade prompts one to doubt whether the Taiwan government has been fulfilling its "supervisory" duties. We are all only too well aware that both the opposition and ruling camps press hard for further rights to invest in China while neglecting the need for regulation of the privileges granted by these rights.
This is key to many of Taiwan's current problems. For the past three years, the government's so-called "active opening" policy has progressed to the point at which it would be best described as a "total opening" policy. But is this any good for Taiwan's political and economic stability? At the same time, one often hears reports of Chinese capital being involved in elections and in the pro-unification media, further cutting away at viewers' sense of national identity.
The GIO's decision to ban CCTV programs in Taiwan can be considered belated justice. The GIO should consider the possibility of once again forbidding Chinese reporters from reporting from Taiwan. Such practices have departed from the goal of urging cross-strait understanding, and instead opened the door for China to manipulate the popular will of Taiwan.
It is time to stop the active opening policy. It is also to be hoped that until China ends its animosity toward Taiwan, the GIO will stop assisting Taiwanese businesses to enter the Chinese media market. Otherwise, they will continue to cheer for China in Taiwan.
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