Foreign media workers and academic experts said yesterday that Taiwan's media have more trouble dealing with the name of the country than foreign media.
"Only Taiwanese media have the Taiwan-naming issue. When covering news related to Taiwan, all major foreign news agencies simply refer to Taiwan as `Taiwan' and China as `China,' and yet certain Taiwanese news agencies still refer to Taiwan as `Republic of China,'" said Laurence Eyton, deputy editor in chief at the Taipei Times.
Eyton, speaking at a seminar on media monitoring, said the state-owned Central News Agency still refers to Taiwan as `Republic of China' and China as `mainland China.'
"The Taipei Times was founded in 1999 to project a real Taiwanese perspective in English, not only in Taiwan but, very importantly, also overseas. At the time there was almost no news available in English overseas except for the highly distorted propaganda, stressing Taiwan's Chineseness and zeal for unification, of the then KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party] government," he said.
Eyton was responsible during the launch of the Taipei Times for coming up with the terms for Taiwan-related matters.
"What I had decided on was that the general rule of thumb would be calling Taiwan `Taiwan' and China `China.' If there are special circumstances, such as a direct quote, we might also include `Republic of China' but then we would add a sentence to say that this was Taiwan's formal name," he said.
Linda Gail Arrigo, international affairs officer for Green Party Taiwan, offered an explanation for Taiwan's identity crisis.
"On the one hand, Taiwanese may be confused by the historical events that led to the Taiwan of today; on the other hand, it is also a habit that is hard to let go of," Arrigo said.
She said only 3 percent of the world's population acknowledges Taiwan as the Republic of China.
"These 3 percent are people in the few countries with which Taiwan has diplomatic ties. For instance, US electronic media refer to Taiwan as `Taiwan,'" Arrigo said.
Arrigo said that if "Republic of China" appears in an article, it usually appears in an appendix or at the end of a long article.
"In such a case, `Republic of China' is there just as a supplementary explanation," Arrigo said.
Stephane Corcuff, a lecturer at Sciences Po (The Institute of Political Studies) in Paris, said French media make a clear distinction between Taiwan and China.
"When describing cross-strait situations, French media call Taiwan `Taiwan' and China `China,' not `ROC' and `PRC,'" Corcuff said.
Corcuff, who specializes in the study of the identity issue, personally refers to "China" as "Asian Mainland" to deviate from any political associations.
"I am probably the only one in France to use this special term to refer to China. Indeed, even many intelligent French individuals are confused by the different names representing Taiwan," Corcuff said.
A magnitude 4.9 earthquake struck off Tainan at 11:47am today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 32.3km northeast of Tainan City Hall at a depth of 7.3km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Tainan and Chiayi County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and County, and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Kaohsiung, Nantou County, Changhua County, Taitung County and offshore Penghu County, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of
Weather conditions across Taiwan are expected to remain stable today, but cloudy to rainy skies are expected from tomorrow onward due to increasing moisture in the atmosphere, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). Daytime highs today are expected to hit 25-27°C in western Taiwan and 22-24°C in the eastern counties of Yilan, Hualien, and Taitung, data on the CWA website indicated. After sunset, temperatures could drop to 16-17°C in most parts of Taiwan. For tomorrow, precipitation is likely in northern Taiwan as a cloud system moves in from China. Daytime temperatures are expected to hover around 25°C, the CWA said. Starting Monday, areas
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
Taiwan has recorded its first fatal case of Coxsackie B5 enterovirus in 10 years after a one-year-old boy from southern Taiwan died from complications early last month, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. CDC spokesman Lo Yi-chun (羅一鈞) told a news conference that the child initially developed a fever and respiratory symptoms before experiencing seizures and loss of consciousness. The boy was diagnosed with acute encephalitis and admitted to intensive care, but his condition deteriorated rapidly, and he passed away on the sixth day of illness, Lo said. This also marks Taiwan’s third enterovirus-related death this year and the first severe
RSS