Leaders of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists and the Paris-based Reporters without Borders will be invited to visit Taiwan to learn about the country's efforts to defend press freedom after they criticized the Taiwan authorities for revoking the licenses of seven cable TV stations, Government Information Office Minister Pasuya Yao (
According to Yao, the two international organizations, both of which have years of wide-ranging experience of press curtailment all over the globe, have "obviously misunderstood" the withdrawal of licenses and the reasons behind the move. Yao said the groups don't understand the environment in which local TV stations operate, which is different from that of the US.
Instead of trying to bring the TV stations to heel, Yao said, the government is simply pushing them to live up to their responsibility to the public.
He made the statement after the Committee to Protect Journalists joined Reporters Without Borders in condemning the Taiwanese government's suspension of licenses to the news stations ETTV-S and six other entertainment-based cable stations, and its placing of all other cable news stations under a three-month probationary period.
The committee said in a news release Thursday that it is deeply concerned by the Taiwan government's censorship of ETTV-S and its chilling effect on other news stations.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
China has reserved offshore airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts that are usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Sunday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. The alerts, known as notice to air missions (NOTAMs), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert
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