Beijing has intensified its infiltration of Taiwanese media by inviting reporters to attend events aimed at informing them about its “31 measures” and “26 measures,” which are designed to attract Taiwanese to work and invest in China, a democracy watchdog said yesterday.
“We urge lawmakers to consider including regulations on ‘red media’ — media promoting a pro-Beijing agenda — in the anti-infiltration bill,” Taiwan Democracy Watch specialist Sung Cheng-en (宋承恩) said.
The Chinese government wants to influence Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections, and promote the “26 measures” by increasing the frequency of tours for the Taiwanese media in China, Sung said.
Since 2008, Beijing has been operating a massive propaganda campaign designed to spin positive coverage about China to the world through the publication of paid content in Chinese-language media around the world, he said, adding that this is a long-term, systematic plan, not just a short-term phenomenon.
The government does not have an effective mechanism to combat Beijing’s infiltration of the media and the National Communications Commission regulates only the broadcast media, he said.
The anti-infiltration bill regulates political donations, lobbying and other activities, but not political propaganda, Sung said.
“If the government does not have the time to include such regulations in the bill, it should at least tell people about alternative solutions to the problem,” he said.
Statistics compiled by the watchdog showed that in the second half of this year, Beijing hosted an average of three cross-strait media events a month.
In July, 23 Taiwanese online media organizations allegedly posted articles published on Taiwan.cn, which launched attacks against the Taiwanese government, the watchdog group said.
These media organizations also posted a news release on the “26 measures” from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office immediately after they were announced last month, it said.
The group also said that China hosted a total of nine cross-strait media events in July and August.
One of the events, titled “A Colorful Tour in Guizhou Province,” invited Taiwanese and Chinese social media influencers along with staff from online and traditional news outlets, it said.
Taiwanese media representatives, as well as influencers on Sina Weibo, were in October invited to Hunan Province and 20 Taiwanese reporters purportedly attended a tour last month of Sanming County, it said.
Chinese media also reported that 20 Taiwanese media organizations — including the Chinese-language United Daily News and TVBS — last month attended a cross-strait media conference, at which participants discussed the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China and the 40th anniversary of the “Message to Compatriots in Taiwan,” the group said.
The group quoted New Party legislator-at-large nominee Chiu Yi (邱毅), who was invited to address the participants, as saying: “May the voices of reporters be heard across the Taiwan Strait so that the goal of unification can be reached soon.”
‘OBNOXIOUS MAN’: The KMT’s Chen Ching-hui moved into Chung Chia-pin’s path atop the podium and reached for him before he grabbed at her legs with both hands Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) yesterday said he slipped and lost his balance, and did not know who was around him, after jumping onto the speaker’s podium at the legislature in Taipei. He apologized after a collision with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽), who moved to intercept him as he mounted the podium. There was pushing and shoving when the session started in the morning as KMT lawmakers attempted to block access to the podium to shield Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) so he could preside over the session. Video footage showed Chung step on a chair and
While it is common to see bumper stickers informing other drivers about important information, such as “baby on board” or “rookie driver,” some motorist in Taiwan are using creative statements to warn other drivers to keep a safe distance to avoid a collision. A photograph recently circulating on the Internet showed a van in Changhua City with a bumper sticker saying that the driver received their license after taking the test three times, so it is dangerous to drive close to the vehicle. The person who took the photograph said all vehicles behind the van appeared to “subconsciously” maintaining a safe distance. Some
Taipei police on Saturday arrested 24 female Thai tourists on suspicion of working as hostesses and engaging in illegal activities at an underground bar in Zhongshan District (中山), the distict’s police precinct said in a statement yesterday. The police also arrested five other people involved in the operation, including the 29-year-old bar owner surnamed Chiang (蔣), and 17 customers, the statement said. The 24 Thai women were fined an undisclosed amount in accordance with the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) by the police and transferred to a National Immigration Agency (NIA) special brigade in Taipei for repatriation to Thailand. The cases of
A female physician at New Taipei City’s Shuang Ho Hospital was bullied and made to work for 32 consecutive hours by a senior colleague while pregnant before later having a miscarriage, an internal investigation found, the hospital said on Monday. The perpetrator has been removed from his post, the hospital said. The attending physician in the hospital’s Medical Imaging Department, identified by the pseudonym Y, earlier on Monday told reporters that she had been bullied by a male senior colleague who arranged shifts in her department. In January, shortly after she became pregnant, Y asked the department director if she could avoid overnight