In March, Lu Chien-yi (盧倩儀), a research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, and other academics caused a stir by forming an “anti-war” group, which called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine; an end to “American militarism and economic sanctions” against Russia; and for Taiwan to maintain positive and “equidistant” relations with the US and China, and focus on social welfare and climate change mitigation, rather than on military and war spending.
A few days ago, Public Television Service’s (PTS) Theme Night Show (公視主題之夜Show) hosted a debate between Lu and author Wang Hao (汪浩) on war issues and cross-strait relations. Lu asked people to consider NATO’s expansion and the West’s role in causing the Ukraine war.
The last thing that a small nation next to a large nation, which is a bad actor, should do is provoke its neighbor, she said.
Wang said that if Ukraine had not bolstered its military prowess and prepared for war after Russia annexed Crimea eight years ago, it would have been annihilated within a week.
Wang said that Taiwan, for its situation, should boost its national defense and seek support from the global community.
Lu said that she is not an expert on the topic, but would ask that China “leave Taiwan alone,” a flimsy solution based on wishful thinking that seemed ludicrous for a top researcher to put forward on such a high-profile show.
What is more disconcerting is that she touted her “objectivity” by tapping into ideals such as that war has only losers and small nations piling up weapons for defense is usually seen as a provocation by the other side.
By pointing out flaws in the democratic process, she is speaking up for aggressors such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). For her, opposing the US and opposing democracy are two sides of the same coin, while democracies serve the interests of “certain groups” rather than benefiting everyone.
To people in Lu’s camp, the US is the leader in a bloc that foments unrest and war to benefit weapons manufacturers.
While Taiwan is a democratic society that protects freedom of speech, there must be limits on powerful media entities amplifying bad ideas. Taxpayer-funded PTS has a responsibility to ensure it has an unequivocal stance on national security and national identity.
Media firms seek eye-catching content to boost viewership, so PTS made the right business decision by inviting Lu on to the show, given the response it drew from the public.
However, as a public entity, it must stick to its mission of serving the public, not vying for attention.
The anti-war narrative was condemned and largely sidelined in March, which should have shown that it was a minority view, but PTS put it back in the limelight and turned an unequivocal issue into a debate. Allowing an anti-democratic narrative airtime was negligence of its social responsibility. It was not embracing diversity, but sought to bolster its viewership.
As a public organization, PTS should ensure that its content is for the public good and based on universal values, and not be a tool to undermine democracy.
A series of strong earthquakes in Hualien County not only caused severe damage in Taiwan, but also revealed that China’s power has permeated everywhere. A Taiwanese woman posted on the Internet that she found clips of the earthquake — which were recorded by the security camera in her home — on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu. It is spine-chilling that the problem might be because the security camera was manufactured in China. China has widely collected information, infringed upon public privacy and raised information security threats through various social media platforms, as well as telecommunication and security equipment. Several former TikTok employees revealed
At the same time as more than 30 military aircraft were detected near Taiwan — one of the highest daily incursions this year — with some flying as close as 37 nautical miles (69kms) from the northern city of Keelung, China announced a limited and selected relaxation of restrictions on Taiwanese agricultural exports and tourism, upon receiving a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) delegation led by KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁). This demonstrates the two-faced gimmick of China’s “united front” strategy. Despite the strongest earthquake to hit the nation in 25 years striking Hualien on April 3, which caused
Two sets of economic data released last week by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) have drawn mixed reactions from the public: One on the nation’s economic performance in the first quarter of the year and the other on Taiwan’s household wealth distribution in 2021. GDP growth for the first quarter was faster than expected, at 6.51 percent year-on-year, an acceleration from the previous quarter’s 4.93 percent and higher than the agency’s February estimate of 5.92 percent. It was also the highest growth since the second quarter of 2021, when the economy expanded 8.07 percent, DGBAS data showed. The growth
In the 2022 book Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, academics Hal Brands and Michael Beckley warned, against conventional wisdom, that it was not a rising China that the US and its allies had to fear, but a declining China. This is because “peaking powers” — nations at the peak of their relative power and staring over the precipice of decline — are particularly dangerous, as they might believe they only have a narrow window of opportunity to grab what they can before decline sets in, they said. The tailwinds that propelled China’s spectacular economic rise over the past