Taipei prosecutors yesterday dismissed a defamation case brought by Want Want China Times Media Group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) against three media figures who said that his “colorless awakening” agenda was Chinese propaganda to force Taiwan to submit to Chinese rule.
Former National Assembly member Huang Peng-hsiao (黃澎孝), writer Wang Hao (汪浩) and political commentator Huang Chuang-hsia (黃創夏) were named as defendants in the case after in 2019 they said on political talk shows that Tsai’s ideas for a “colorless awakening” were straight out of China’s “united front” playbook, and said that Tsai allegedly had close ties to the leadership in Beijing.
The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that the case would not proceed, as “the defendants had a basis for their opinions, and the topic was of public interest.”
On ERA TV programs in June and September 2019, Wang and the two Huang’s said that Tsai’s 10-point agenda included “recognizing that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the same family, are from the same root and ethnicity, and that Taiwanese are Chinese.”
It also included “helping Taiwanese to understand the Chinese Communist Party”; “discussing a process and model for unification with China”; and “support for Chinese companies to directly invest in Taiwan,” they said at the time.
The agenda was lifted directly from China’s “united front” work, while Want Want’s support for then-Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) was because Han, who was Kaohsiung mayor at the time, in 2018 became the first politician to sign Tsai’s pledge, Huang Peng-hsiao told the TV show.
Wang and Huang Chuang-hsia expressed similar opinions on a later show, prompting Tsai to name the three as defendants.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
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The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
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