On Dec. 28 last year, Reuters reported that China has been pressuring Taiwanese rock band Mayday to make pro-China comments. It is alleged that Beijing wanted Mayday to declare their support for the so-called “1992 consensus,” but the band refused.
Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world and has a long-standing reputation for credibility. Reuters also attempted to fact-check the allegations, but Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials did not respond to requests for comment.
Even then, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) said that the Reuters report was “fake news from start to finish.”
Considering the presidential and legislative elections are in less than two weeks, some have said that the pan-blue camp, spearheaded by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), has cooperated with the TAO to spread rumors about the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
As of yet, Mayday has not made a public statement, without which no one can be sure of the truth.
Yet, evidence shows that the band has been coerced by the CCP.
After Mayday was accused of lip-synching, Chinese officials began investigating the incident, but after almost a month, the “investigation” is ongoing. Clearly, without Mayday’s “collaboration,” the CCP is unlikely to end its probe.
Moreover, it is well known that the CCP has been intervening in Taiwan’s elections through all sorts of channels. Beijing’s threats have become even more wanton of late. Some Chinese officials believe that their threats will work effectively. In their opinion, if they can pressure Mayday into making pro-China comments, they could influence Taiwan’s younger voters.
However, they are very much mistaken.
In the TAO’s public announcement, the Reuters report is fake news and the DPP government deliberately allowed the rumor mill to run wild, but it did not respond to Reuters immediately after the report. Instead, it rejected Reuters’ report only after witnessing a collective protest by Taiwan’s political parties.
The timing of the TAO’s response can be easily explained: After witnessing the protest, it realized that Beijing should not have pressured Mayday. In other words, Chinese officials realized that their scheme would only backfire on China; worse, it would allow the pan-green camp to make significant gains in the election.
Beijing’s political manipulation is so conspicuous that Taiwan and the international community have every reason to believe the Reuters report.
It is also more than obvious that the pan-blue camp went along with what the TAO said. The blue camp did not verify the rumors and news, nor did they criticize the ways in which Taiwanese were coerced by the CCP, which wanted them to swear their allegiance to China.
Pan-blue politicians have avoided challenging China’s interference in Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections. Beijing is already known for its interventions in other countries, as well as spreading fake news. Every democratic country knows that China’s purpose is to harass democracies and disturb their domestic affairs.
For decades, Taiwan has been targeted the most, but KMT members and pan-blue politicians in general have refrained from talking about China’s interventions — if not ignored the matter entirely. As can be seen throughout their election campaigns, the KMT and the pan-blue camp are only capable of spreading hatred against the ruling party. In this sense, the election is their means to put their ideology into practice by disparaging the DPP.
Liu Shih-ming is an adjunct associate professor in the Graduate School of Taiwanese Culture at the National Taipei University of Education.
Translated by Emma Liu
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