Chinese pressure exerted on Taiwanese beverage shops operating in Hong Kong and China is part of efforts aimed at “creating fear and dividing Taiwanese,” Democratic Progressive Party spokeswoman Lee Yen-jong (李晏榕) said yesterday.
The pressure on Taiwanese shops was just the latest in a series of moves by Beijing, including military aggression and economic pressure by restricting visits by individual Chinese travelers to Taiwan, she said.
China’s “red infiltration” of Taiwan has included comprehensive efforts to “enter the island, enter homes, enter minds and enter hearts” through the Internet and the nation’s media, among other avenues, she added.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Suspicions of Chinese influence in local media were corroborated by a Financial Times report on July 17 alleging that Want Want China Times Group (旺旺中時) received funding and instructions from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Lee said.
Another report by Reuters on Friday alleged that five other media companies in Taiwan were also receiving funds and instruction from Beijing, she said.
Taiwanese must unite against the threat China poses to the nation’s freedoms and democracy, she added.
Pressure from Chinese competitors was likely behind the sudden increase in the number of Taiwanese beverage shops declaring their political stances, National Taiwan Normal University politics professor Fan Shih-ping (范世平) said on Facebook.
Attention has been focused on Taiwanese shops in Hong Kong due to ongoing protests in the territory against a controversial extradition bill that have morphed into calls for greater democratic freedoms, Fan said, adding that the companies would have faced this pressure even if the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was in power.
Following local media reports that Taiwanese beverage company Yifang Taiwan Fruit Tea (一芳水果茶) had declared its stance on the Hong Kong protests, Chinese users of the WeChat messaging app went on a witch hunt of Taiwanese beverage shops, he said.
As a result, Taiwan Gong Cha (台灣貢茶) and other companies were forced to declare a pro-Beijing stance to avoid being blacklisted in China, he added.
Chinese competitors have long been trying to push Taiwanese companies out of China and the current circumstances have given them an excellent opportunity to do so, Fan said.
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