The owners of Kaohsiung news outlet China VTV Co (中華微視公司) are being investigated for having alleged financial connections with China, and for allegedly conducting a disinformation campaign to create social division and mistrust in Taiwan’s government.
Tsai Yue-ting (蔡岳廷) and his ex-wife, Chang Chiao-lin (張巧琳), were questioned by judicial investigators after evidence reportedly showed that the couple had received 3 million yuan (US$421,354) from its parent company’s offices in Beijing and Hong Kong.
The outlet provides news programming on social media sites including YouTube and Facebook.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau
Authorities determined that China VTV was attempting to induce public alarm in a posting titled “Japan readying evacuation of its citizens from Taiwan due to an emergency in the Taiwan Strait.”
Tsai was found to have signed a partnership agreement with China VTV Holding Co chairman Song Tijin (宋體金), who has been linked to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau said on Friday.
“The agreement called for the company’s entities in China and Hong Kong to provide 3 million yuan for Song’s representative companies to obtain 67 percent shares in Taiwan-registered China VTV Co, the bureau said.
Computers and communication records were seized, and nine people were summoned for questioning, including Tsai and Chang, who reside in New Taipei City.
Tsai was released on NT$90,000 bail and Chang on NT$50,000 bail.
Bureau officials said the two face charges of illegal company registration, illegal funding by a Chinese entity and tax evasion under the Company Act (公司法) and the Business Entity Accounting Act (商業會計法), and of contravening legal statutes governing relations between Taiwan and China.
After looking through computer and phone records, investigators alleged Tsai and Chang were taking instruction from executives in China to establish and operate programming for social media produced by outlets in Beijing and Hong Kong in what the bureau called “propaganda efforts."
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS