Concern over the nation’s retreat on human rights has been growing at home and abroad. A number of international human-rights groups, including Freedom House and the International Federation for Human Rights, have issued stern statements over the condition of Taiwan’s human rights status.
Sadly, these words of caution appear to have fallen on deaf ears. Not only has the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government failed to respond to such apprehension, it is brazenly proceeding with its agenda. The latest act of chutzpah was the promotion of several Taipei City police chiefs who were accused of using illegal tactics against protesters during the visit of Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) earlier this month.
Now the National Communications Commission (NCC) has announced plans to amend the Satellite Broadcasting Law (衛星廣播電視法). The council is reportedly mulling the introduction of the concept of provisional disposition, stipulated in the Civil Procedure Code (民事訴訟法), to the Satellite Broadcasting Law, to allow people or agencies who feel they have been the victim of erroneous or biased reporting to sue TV outlets and/or commentators.
Some media professionals have criticized the proposal, saying the commission should focus on how to strengthen the media and TV commentators’ roles in correcting erroneous reports or comments instead of bludgeoning media outlets and journalists with the threat of legal action.
The NCC’s proposal comes hard on the heels of the Financial Supervisory Commission barring market analyst Allen Chu (朱成志) from appearing on TV talk shows for one month because it said his article, “A lesson in credit transactions for a stupid president,” contained statistical errors. The NCC proposal, under the pretense of ensuring journalistic accountability, could be used to eliminate TV commentary it deems unfriendly.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) need to be reminded of the campaign pledges they made earlier this year.
In a campaign TV spot aired during the presidential campaign, Siew said that the nation under Democratic Progressive Party rule had lost many things: “We lost the economy, national competitiveness … Taiwan can no longer be hollowed out, Taiwan can no longer be lost. This is not an issue of whether the KMT must come back to power, but an issue of safeguarding Taiwan from tumbling further into a pit.”
It appears, however, just six months into the KMT’s return to power, that Taiwan has not only lost its economic momentum, but also its commitment to freedom of speech and the rule of law.
During the campaign, Ma and Siew issued a “Declaration of Human Rights,” pledging to “thoroughly implement [Taiwan’s] pledge made in the ‘International Bill of Human Rights,’ make Taiwan a model for the international community on human rights and consign ‘White Terror’ and ‘Green Terror’ to the history books forever.”
The past few weeks have shown that while the KMT may think the White Terror is over, a new Blue Terror could well be in the pipeline.
I came to Taiwan to pursue my degree thinking that Taiwanese are “friendly,” but I was welcomed by Taiwanese classmates laughing at my friend’s name, Maria (瑪莉亞). At the time, I could not understand why they were mocking the name of Jesus’ mother. Later, I learned that “Maria” had become a stereotype — a shorthand for Filipino migrant workers. That was because many Filipino women in Taiwan, especially those who became house helpers, happen to have that name. With the rapidly increasing number of foreigners coming to Taiwan to work or study, more Taiwanese are interacting, socializing and forming relationships with
Whether in terms of market commonality or resource similarity, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co is the biggest competitor of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). The two companies have agreed to set up factories in the US and are also recipients of subsidies from the US CHIPS and Science Act, which was signed into law by former US president Joe Biden. However, changes in the market competitiveness of the two companies clearly reveal the context behind TSMC’s investments in the US. As US semiconductor giant Intel Corp has faced continuous delays developing its advanced processes, the world’s two major wafer foundries, TSMC and
We are witnessing a sea change in the government’s approach to China, from one of reasonable, low-key reluctance at rocking the boat to a collapse of pretense over and patience in Beijing’s willful intransigence. Finally, we are seeing a more common sense approach in the face of active shows of hostility from a foreign power. According to Article 2 of the 2020 Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法), a “foreign hostile force” is defined as “countries, political entities or groups that are at war with or are engaged in a military standoff with the Republic of China [ROC]. The same stipulation applies to
The following case, which I experienced as an interpreter, illustrates that many issues in Taiwan’s legal system originate from law enforcement personnel. The problem stems not so much from their education and training, but their personal attitude — characterized by excessive self-confidence paired with a lack of accountability. One day at 10:30am, I was called to a police station in New Taipei City for an emergency. I arrived an hour later. A man was tied to a chair, having been arrested at the airport due to an outstanding arrest warrant. It quickly became apparent that the case was related to
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