A foreign news report that China has been paying Taiwanese media firms for positive news coverage confirms Beijing’s widespread infiltration of Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a visit to a temple in Kaohsiung, Tsai said that China’s infiltration of Taiwan was “ubiquitous” and that concerns over Beijing’s influence in the nation were not unfounded.
She was talking about a Reuters report that Chinese government agencies, including the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), have paid at least five Taiwanese media companies for favorable coverage in print and broadcast media.
These included two feature articles about a Chinese government program aimed at attracting Taiwanese businesspeople and winning the hearts of Taiwanese, Reuters said.
The articles, for which the TAO paid 30,000 yuan (US$4,248), lauded the program, saying that China “treated Taiwanese businessmen like its own people,” it said.
Prosecutors would launch an investigation into the reports if it is determined that the deals between the Taiwanese companies and China contravened the law, Tsai said.
Taiwanese should be aware of China’s influence and learn to distinguish real news from fabricated reports, she said.
“Getting rid of and stopping the circulation of false news is critical to protecting democracy” in Taiwan, Tsai said.
She urged the nation’s news media to provide fair and objective coverage to gain credibility with readers and viewers.
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