A refusal by Eslite Corp (誠品) to screen a China Television System (CTS) documentary that includes footage of the Tiananmen Square Massacre might be yet another sign that the bookstore is avoiding becoming entangled in political issues due to Chinese pressure, critics said.
The documentary features footage of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989, Taiwan’s Wild Lily Movement in 1990, the 2014 Sunflower movement and the “Umbrella movement” in Hong Kong in 2014.
The screening has been relocated to Spot Huashan.
Photo: Liu Li-ren, Taipei Times
CTS had originally arranged to screen the documentary at the Eslite Art House in Taipei on Tuesday next week and had arranged tickets for members of the board of state-sponsored Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS), as well as other guests.
CTS said it was notified by Eslite just prior to signing the contract that the company would not be able to provide a location for the screening, as the political nature of the documentary clashed with the movie theater’s intended purpose to espouse art and the humanities.
TBS board member Tsai Tsung-lung (蔡崇隆) said Eslite’s self-censorship is a profligate waste of the nation’s freedom of speech and publication, which were secured with the blood and lives of many.
Eslite’s self-professed distance from politics is a farce, as CTS was simply renting the establishment and not asking the firm to host a Tiananmen Square Massacre-related event, Tsai added.
“If Eslite is afraid of China, say so; we don’t need its hypocrisy,” Tsai said.
Campaign for Media Reform executive Chiu Chia-yi (邱家宜) said that she was surprised at Eslite’s self-censorship and its refusal to screen the documentary.
Discussion of the Tiananmen Square Massacre has always been open and unrestricted in Taiwan and Hong Kong, Chiu said, adding that Hong Kong media outlets have visited Taiwan to report on a seminar regarding the incident.
There have been many seminars and meetings on the subject in Hong Kong as well, Chiu added.
The incident is not an isolated case of the bookstore chain practicing self-censorship since it expanded into China.
In June 2014, the company pulled books about human rights in Tibet from the shelves of its Hong Kong store.
As a result of employees speaking out against its removal of the books, Eslite reportedly introduced a clause in its employment contract forbidding its employees to voice or write detrimental commentary about company policies.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS