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 restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
RSS