The Presidential Office on Tuesday thanked the US House of Representatives for passing two Taiwan-related bills. One of them, the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the representation of Taiwan or its people in the UN or related organizations. UN Resolution 2758 has become something of a watchword for Chinese Communist Party (CCP) disinformation on Taiwan.
The CCP’s messaging is centralized, coordinated and organized, with the goal of shaping a narrative that was determined long ago and which is designed to benefit China’s national interests and the CCP’s distortion of reality.
This disinformation and narrative-formation is conducted at all levels, from international organizations such as the UN to communities in state-enforced misinformation bubbles under the CCP’s authoritarian rule — such as in Tibet and Xinjiang — to Taiwan, which is subject to constant and overwhelming distortions, lies and omissions perpetrated by pro-Chinese figures or social media influencers on the CCP’s payroll. To counter these, independent, reliable non-agenda driven journalism is key.
Up until now, local communities have relied on news provided by services including Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia (RFA).
The Taipei Times has published op-ed articles outlining how much the Tibetan community, within Tibet and overseas, has relied on reporting by VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan. Former RFA Dharamshala bureau chief Yeshi Dawa wrote (“VOA, RFA vital in countering China,” April 23, page 8) how the VOA and the RFA were strong countermeasures to China’s lies, quoting American political scientist John Arquilla, who said that “in today’s global information age, victory may sometimes depend not on whose army wins, but on whose story wins.”
Former member of the Tibetan parliament in exile Khedroob Thondup wrote (“VOA closure a setback for Tibetans,” March 24, page 8) that many in the Tibetan diaspora rely on the VOA and the RFA to stay connected to the struggles of their compatriots in Tibet.
In March, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order reducing the operations of the RFA’s parent agency, the US Agency for Global Media, to the legal minimum as part of cost-cutting efforts.
A press release on Friday last week announced that by the end of this month RFA Tibetan and RFA Uyghur, among other local RFA services, would no longer publish new content, and that the Asia Fact Check Lab, which focuses on the false narratives seeded by the CCP, would cease operations.
It would appear that the CCP has been handed a win, to continue spreading its lies unchecked.
The Trump administration, in Europe militarily and in the information space, is essentially saying that the US has been providing protection and funding news services for decades, and would no longer do so.
In the absence of these services, perhaps it is time for other countries to step up to the plate, just as Europe is now preparing to take more responsibility for its own military defense.
The government could express gratitude to the US House of Representatives for passing legislation to counter the CCP’s false narratives in the UN, but Taiwan could do so much more to push back on other levels. This could include encouraging the production of reporting countering the CCP’s pervasive agenda-driven distortions.
On Sunday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote (“RFA off-air: crisis and opportunity,” May 4, page 8) that “the fall of RFA and the VOA should be seen not just as a tragedy, but as an opportunity,” and that the government should support independent, non-state agenda driven journalism by creating the right ecosystem and offering tax incentives, but not controlling the content.
The government must do all it can to encourage and spearhead the push back against the CCP’s distortions.
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
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