The Government Information Office (GIO) denied allegations yesterday that it had provided foreign reporters observing next month's presidential election with tough questions to ask Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
"The Government Information Office has never demanded that foreign journalists ask certain types of questions," said Manfred Peng (
"How is it possible that they would obey our orders?" he said.
Yesterday's Chinese-language China Times said the GIO and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had provided financial support to some foreign news agencies and election observers for visits to Taiwan ahead of the election and had helped some draw up "tough interview questions" for Ma.
The newspaper said the GIO had provided a pan-European TV news channel, Euro News, with questions for correspondent Sergio Cantone to ask Ma.
Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (
The paper quoted anonymous sources in Ma's camp as saying the government had violated administrative neutrality.
Peng, however, said that it was established practice to invite foreign news agencies to cover election campaigns.
Such invitations were "not inappropriate" as they can improve the country's international visibility and help Taiwan's image abroad, he said.
Many major news outlets pay for their own trips, but for those that do not have a major interest in Taiwan, the government will cover the cost of their trips, Peng said.
He said Euro News had come up with its own questions for the candidates, and the GIO, through one of its overseas offices, had only helped translate the questions into Mandarin.
Approached for comment outside the Legislative Yuan, Cabinet Spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) defended the GIO, urging the Ma camp to present evidence to back its claims.
"How could you allege that the GIO provided the questions ... [Ma] is like a little flower growing up inside a greenhouse that cannot stand more than a little sunlight," Shieh said.
"Not every question you dislike should be called an `anti-Ma' question," Shieh said, adding that the foreign media had prepared "equally harsh" questions for Hsieh.
The foreign ministry also denied the allegations yesterday. Spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) said the ministry's role in the matter was solely that of a "messenger," relaying questions that Corcuff had proposed to the candidates.
"The ministry would never dictate the moves of foreign press," she said.
Yeh, holding up copies of the correspondence between Corcuff and the two camps, said it was clear Corcuff was in charge of the interview.
However, Luo Chih-chiang (
"The GIO has been playing the vanguard role in the anti-Ma troop. We are not surprised," Luo said yesterday.
Corcuff used to live in Taiwan, first as a Chinese-language student and then as a press officer for the French Institute in Taipei.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang, Jenny W. Hsu, Mo Yan-chih and staff writer
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
RSS