An online talk show produced by STR Network, named The Night Night Show with Hello (賀瓏夜夜秀), invited Chinese investigative journalist Wang Zhian (王志安), who is now living in Tokyo after being blacklisted by Beijing, to discuss Taiwan’s election. Wang said that the election was nothing but a spectacle, and the ruling party used disabled people as a tool to win more votes.
He even mimicked Chen Chun-han (陳俊翰), a DPP legislator-at-large candidate and human rights lawyer who has spinal muscular atrophy. Having caused an uproar, Wang initially refused to apologize.
The controversy can be discussed from two aspects: the nature of The Night Night Show with Hello, and the nature of Wang Zhian.
The Night Night Show with Hello has become quite popular due to its racy content and the ways that it talks about politics with sarcasm. The show caters to younger viewers. Each episode is rather short and as a result, the issues discussed on the show cannot be explored in depth. Lacking a significant idea and profound values, the content of The Night Night Show with Hello somewhat resembles short-form videos on TikTok. Additionally, given that it discusses political issues and politicians in a carefully designed manner, the show is sensationalist in the extreme.
I used to enjoy an online show produced by Chen Tzu-chien (陳子見), also known as “Retina” (視網膜). At that time, I believed that Chen was a thoughtful young man capable of challenging the constitutional system and perceived reality. Through his show, he defended Taiwan’s democratic system while opposing the authoritarianism of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Although Chen did not mention these ideological values explicitly, the audience could still catch on his ideas organically.
The Night Night Show with Hello is not entirely an entertainment program, nor is it a political talk show. It is simultaneously entertainment and political, and the reason that it tries to be both is to make more profit. In this sense, the show is similar to the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), which attempts to obtain as much benefit as possible under the banner of social justice. The TPP aims to gain more political advantages, whereas the show satisfies its audience by denigrating a certain event or person. Their objective is the same: maximizing profit.
After the show ends, the issues discussed by the show’s guests are left to the public. Nothing has been resolved. Sometimes, as in Wang’s case, the show would damage Taiwan’s democracy.
Inviting Wang as a guest to talk about Taiwan’s election is an act that exploits Taiwanese society. It reminds us of how the CCP would criticize Taiwan’s democracy by publicizing the merits of an authoritarian system. The CCP has ordered a number of “defectors” and “betrayers” to live in democratic countries. They are arranged there to criticize democratic systems, and their presence has become one of several toxic elements that might lead to the disintegration of democratic solidarity.
Wang’s appearance on the show was unexpected. His remarks and behavior were shocking as he displayed his contempt for Taiwan’s democracy. Through Wang, the CCP has successfully intervened in Taiwan’s online talk shows. While The Night Night Show with Hello is pathetic, Taiwanese should be aware of the CCP’s moves and concerned about Taiwan’s democratic future.
The production team of the show must be aware of what they can do. If the show is produced entirely on a profit-making basis without offering any meaningful content, it could eventually lose its audience.
Chen Chi-nung is principal of a junior high school.
Translated by Emma Liu
The image was oddly quiet. No speeches, no flags, no dramatic announcements — just a Chinese cargo ship cutting through arctic ice and arriving in Britain in October. The Istanbul Bridge completed a journey that once existed only in theory, shaving weeks off traditional shipping routes. On paper, it was a story about efficiency. In strategic terms, it was about timing. Much like politics, arriving early matters. Especially when the route, the rules and the traffic are still undefined. For years, global politics has trained us to watch the loud moments: warships in the Taiwan Strait, sanctions announced at news conferences, leaders trading
The saga of Sarah Dzafce, the disgraced former Miss Finland, is far more significant than a mere beauty pageant controversy. It serves as a potent and painful contemporary lesson in global cultural ethics and the absolute necessity of racial respect. Her public career was instantly pulverized not by a lapse in judgement, but by a deliberate act of racial hostility, the flames of which swiftly encircled the globe. The offensive action was simple, yet profoundly provocative: a 15-second video in which Dzafce performed the infamous “slanted eyes” gesture — a crude, historically loaded caricature of East Asian features used in Western
Is a new foreign partner for Taiwan emerging in the Middle East? Last week, Taiwanese media reported that Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) secretly visited Israel, a country with whom Taiwan has long shared unofficial relations but which has approached those relations cautiously. In the wake of China’s implicit but clear support for Hamas and Iran in the wake of the October 2023 assault on Israel, Jerusalem’s calculus may be changing. Both small countries facing literal existential threats, Israel and Taiwan have much to gain from closer ties. In his recent op-ed for the Washington Post, President William
A stabbing attack inside and near two busy Taipei MRT stations on Friday evening shocked the nation and made headlines in many foreign and local news media, as such indiscriminate attacks are rare in Taiwan. Four people died, including the 27-year-old suspect, and 11 people sustained injuries. At Taipei Main Station, the suspect threw smoke grenades near two exits and fatally stabbed one person who tried to stop him. He later made his way to Eslite Spectrum Nanxi department store near Zhongshan MRT Station, where he threw more smoke grenades and fatally stabbed a person on a scooter by the roadside.
RSS