The Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ) accused Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) of violating freedom of the press by filing a lawsuit against reporter Lin Chau-yi (林朝億) of the Internet news source New Talk, who doubles as the association’s chairman, and applying for provisional seizure of assets in case he wins damages.
Lin was sued by Hsieh for a story last month about the National Communications Commission’s review of a proposed merger between Want Want Group (旺旺集團) and China Network Systems (CNS, 中嘉網路), a communications group that operates both cable TV and broadband Internet services.
Hsieh was unhappy that Lin had said Hsieh tried to pressure the commission into approving the merger. He filed a lawsuit against Lin, despite the fact that Lin also included comments from Hsieh’s assistant, who rejected the accusation.
Hsieh also applied for provisional seizure of NT$2.5 million (US$83,000), which was approved by the court. The court is taking a third of Lin’s monthly salary as part of the seizure.
In a statement issued on Tuesday night, the association said that while anyone mentioned in a news report may make a response to that report, no one should threaten journalists through lawsuits or provisional seizure measures “which may frighten individual journalists, leading to violation of freedom of speech and a shrinking freedom of the press.”
“Politicians are public figures whose behavior should be evaluated by the public, they should be more open-minded when facing criticism,” the statement said. “If they have a different opinion about a news report, they should ask for a correction, not resort to legal action.”
The association urged Hsieh to apologize to Lin and to withdraw the application for seizure.
As for Hsieh’s questioning the appropriateness of the association defending its head, Lin said on his Facebook page that it has been a tradition for the association to exclude a member from its decision-making process if that member was involved in a certain case.
“Although I’m the Association of Taiwan Journalists’ head, the secretariat only informed me that they were going to issue the press statement [after it was written],” Lin said. “I’m proud of this tradition.”
Meanwhile, Hsieh issued a statement saying he, after consulting with his lawyer over the matter, would revoke the sequestration order to “show respect for freedom of speech” and “to refrain from disrupting the reporter’s livelihood.”
The decision came after he read in the Chinese-language China Times yesterday a commentary critical of the legal action he pursued, Hsieh said.
Hsieh said he “had no intention” of suppressing freedom of the press by asking the court to seize NT$2.5 million of Lin’s property and that he did not want to see anyone economically affected by the legal action. However, Hsieh said he would continue to sue Lin for defamation unless Lin admits to his negligence.
“If Mr Lin admits to making a mistake, that he failed to carry out a thorough verification of the information, I will settle the case,” Hsieh said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
‘UNACCEPTABLE’: The foreign ministry said that China’s behavior broke international law, while Johnny Chiang was worried such balloons could be used against Taiwan A suspected Chinese surveillance balloon flying over the US was yesterday condemned by officials in Taipei and sparked calls for the government to plan countermeasures. The Pentagon on Thursday said it had detected a Chinese surveillance balloon flying over the country. Beijing has said the balloon is a civilian meteorological device that drifted into US territory after being blown off course. The National Security Bureau and Ministry of National Defense should investigate whether surveillance balloons could be used against Taiwan and prepare to respond to such acts, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s postponement
INTELLIGENCE VALUE: While the US was working on recovering the balloon’s remains, China said that it reserved ‘the right to make ... necessary responses’ US President Joe Biden’s administration lauded the Pentagon for shooting down an alleged Chinese spy balloon off the US Atlantic coast on Saturday, but China angrily voiced its “strong dissatisfaction” at the move, and said it might make “necessary responses.” The craft spent several days flying over North America before it was targeted off the coast of the southeastern state of South Carolina with a missile fired from an F-22 plane, Pentagon officials said. It fell into relatively shallow water just 14m deep. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin called the operation a “deliberate and lawful action” that came in response to China’s
RISK FACTOR: ASEAN issued a statement saying the cross-strait situation ‘could lead to miscalculation,’ but it is willing to facilitate dialogue to ensure stability in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday welcomed a joint statement by ASEAN leaders voicing concerns that the situation across the Taiwan Strait could affect regional stability. The statement was issued after the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat ended on Saturday in Jakarta. It was the first major meeting since Indonesia assumed chairmanship of ASEAN this year. Attendees of the meeting reiterated their determination to promote “sustainable peace, security, stability, and prosperity within and beyond the region,” the statement said. They expressed concerns about developments across the Taiwan Strait and their “implications on regional stability,” the statement said. The cross-strait situation “could lead to miscalculation, serious
THINK TANK VISIT: The former US Indo-Pacific official said that a capture of Taiwan’s outlying islands by China rather than a large-scale attack is a grave security concern The US and Taiwan can deepen their relations on many fronts, former head of the US Indo-Pacific Command Philip Davidson said yesterday while visiting President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office. Davidson is leading a six-member delegation from the National Bureau of Asian Research, a US-based think tank. They arrived on Monday and are scheduled to depart tomorrow. Tsai met with the delegation yesterday morning, welcoming the organization on its first visit to Taiwan since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the office said in a statement. She thanked Davidson, a retired admiral, for paying close attention to matters regarding the Taiwan
RSS