Monday was the 18th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Eighteen years is a long time, but the countless people who witnessed it on the television can still clearly imagine those bloody scenes.
Yet in China, many people don't believe there was a massacre on June 4, 1989, and a lot of young people have no idea that anything occurred at Beijing's Tiananmen Square on that date.
Chinese studying abroad have written that it was only when they went overseas that they learned there had been a massacre.
It is hard to believe when we hear it, but this is the result of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) monopolizing the media, destroying evidence and fabricating history.
The Chinese government has been able to obliterate an incident that happened before people's eyes.
In this respect, the CCP and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) are like brothers.
In Taiwan's 228 Incident, the KMT government also used the military to massacre civilians, later destroyed evidence and monopolized the media to change history.
Not long ago, SET-TV aired a special program about the 228 Incident.
The program's use of footage from a Shanghai massacre by the KMT caused a lot of debate, but SET-TV used the material because they had no footage of the actual incident.
It has been reported that there are only three photographs of the 228 massacre in existence.
Pictures and documentaries about World War II are widely available because by that time photography and filming were widespread.
It is odd that of the 228 Incident, which happened after World War II, hardly a photograph can be found, let alone documentaries.
Common sense
Common sense tells us that if little record of the 228 Incident can be found, the KMT must have destroyed all evidence of it.
In the more than half a century that has followed, the KMT acted just like the CCP after the Tiananmen Square Massacre: It fabricated history in order to prevent Taiwanese from knowing what really happened.
A few months ago, the KMT got together to demonstrate, dress someone up as Chiang Kai-shek (
They don't see him as the culprit responsible for the 228 Incident at all.
Although the KMT has not been the ruling party for years and can't rule like autocrats anymore, its reliance on the use of party power to suppress dissenting voices and its attempts to influence the media have not changed.
Underground radio
A week ago, Ocean Voice Radio, which is devoted to Taiwan's normalization, was closed by the National Communications Commission (NCC) because it was an underground radio station.
Ocean Voice Radio responded by saying it had not intended to broadcast illegally and had applied for a license several times, only to be refused.
According to an estimate by the Broadcasting Development Fund, six radio stations in Taiwan are controlled by the KMT's Broadcasting Corporation of China and four other stations are also predominantly controlled by the pan-blue camp.
The so-called "underground radio stations" have actually been created by the unfair system by which the pan-blue camp monopolizes radio channels.
The NCC also applies a double standard when dealing with underground radio stations.
The Broadcasting Development Fund has said that the NCC is not closing down a pan-blue radio station like Voice of the New Party, even though it is located right in Taipei, while traveling all the way to Taichung just to close down Ocean Voice Radio.
Furthermore, the NCC has not moved against TVBS even though it is funded by "100 percent foreign investment," despite a law that says foreign investment cannot account for more than half of the funding of a company.
Control
All of this serves to demonstrate that the KMT uses terms like "underground" or "illegal" as excuses to control the media -- the real reason it seeks to close such stations is because they support the pan-green camp.
Today the NCC, which is controlled by the KMT, is still monopolizing and controlling the media.
The KMT is well aware that monopolizing freedom of speech means that the monopolizers can control the understanding of history.
Taiwan is a democracy, but until the pan-blue camp's media monopoly is broken, there is still a long way to go.
Cao Changqing is a Chinese writer based in the US.
Translated by Anna Stiggelbout
US President Donald Trump created some consternation in Taiwan last week when he told a news conference that a successful trade deal with China would help with “unification.” Although the People’s Republic of China has never ruled Taiwan, Trump’s language struck a raw nerve in Taiwan given his open siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression seeking to “reunify” Ukraine and Russia. On earlier occasions, Trump has criticized Taiwan for “stealing” the US’ chip industry and for relying too much on the US for defense, ominously presaging a weakening of US support for Taiwan. However, further examination of Trump’s remarks in
It is being said every second day: The ongoing recall campaign in Taiwan — where citizens are trying to collect enough signatures to trigger re-elections for a number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators — is orchestrated by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), or even President William Lai (賴清德) himself. The KMT makes the claim, and foreign media and analysts repeat it. However, they never show any proof — because there is not any. It is alarming how easily academics, journalists and experts toss around claims that amount to accusing a democratic government of conspiracy — without a shred of evidence. These
China on May 23, 1951, imposed the so-called “17-Point Agreement” to formally annex Tibet. In March, China in its 18th White Paper misleadingly said it laid “firm foundations for the region’s human rights cause.” The agreement is invalid in international law, because it was signed under threat. Ngapo Ngawang Jigme, head of the Tibetan delegation sent to China for peace negotiations, was not authorized to sign the agreement on behalf of the Tibetan government and the delegation was made to sign it under duress. After seven decades, Tibet remains intact and there is global outpouring of sympathy for Tibetans. This realization
Taiwan is confronting escalating threats from its behemoth neighbor. Last month, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army conducted live-fire drills in the East China Sea, practicing blockades and precision strikes on simulated targets, while its escalating cyberattacks targeting government, financial and telecommunication systems threaten to disrupt Taiwan’s digital infrastructure. The mounting geopolitical pressure underscores Taiwan’s need to strengthen its defense capabilities to deter possible aggression and improve civilian preparedness. The consequences of inadequate preparation have been made all too clear by the tragic situation in Ukraine. Taiwan can build on its successful COVID-19 response, marked by effective planning and execution, to enhance
RSS