The government would stop issuing permits for correspondents from Strait Herald and other newspapers in the Fujian Daily Newspaper Group, after Strait Herald was found to have intervened in political elections in Taiwan by releasing false polling results, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday.
“The newspaper was part of China’s ‘united front’ tactics against Taiwan, and its director, Lin Jingdong (林靖東), received funding and instructions from the Chinese government to intervene in Taiwan’s political elections by fabricating polling results,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told reporters at the council’s weekly news conference.
“We think that the Strait Herald ... is not an ordinary news agency. The newspaper as well as other publications in the group will not be permitted to have correspondents stationed in Taiwan,” Liang said.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
Strait Herald has one correspondent in Taiwan, who is allowed to stay until Jan. 23, Liang said, adding that no new correspondents could be allowed in after that date.
In a YouTube video on China’s “united front” tactics produced by Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源) and YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯), Lin told Chen that she had contacted Taiwanese YouTuber A-jia (阿嘉) and told her that she can apply for funding from the Chinese government if she were to run for office in Taiwan.
The documentary also interviewed Lin Jincheng (林金城), head of the Taiwan Youth Entrepreneurship Park in Quanzhou in China’s Fujian Province, who said that 200,000 Taiwanese have obtained Chinese ID cards.
With the cards, Taiwanese can apply for loans from Chinese banks without adhering to Chinese regulations of credit limits, Lin Jincheng said.
Liang said that whether Lin Jincheng’s claim was true requires further investigation.
Article 9-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) bans Taiwanese from having Chinese passports or having a registered household in China, or their Taiwanese household registration papers, ID cards and passports would be invalidated, Liang said.
Only 679 Taiwanese have contravened the regulation in the past 10 years, he said.
“Before receiving Chinese ID cards, Taiwanese must turn in their Taiwanese household registration documents, ID cards and passports as per Chinese law,” Liang said.
“If what Lin Jingcheng said was true, that one can get a Chinese ID card without turning in their Taiwanese card, then either local government workers colluded with banks to commit fraud, or Beijing tacitly allows these illegal matters to continue. Either way, we need to look into that,” he said.
Liang said that it is likely that such matters were able to proceed through organized crime groups, adding that national security officials are investigating the claims.
“These are potentially ‘business opportunities’ generated through ‘united front’ tactics, but it is the money of the Chinese people that is at stake,” he said.
In other news, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said that it would fine the contractors broadcasting its New Year’s Eve concert for showing a China Central Television program on a large outdoor screen near the event’s end.
Aside from the program, the screen showed images of the Chinese national flag, fighter jets and TV commercials.
“The incident is similar to one in August last year, in which Chinese propaganda commercials were shown on a bus in Taichung carrying military conscripts. It is really inappropriate,” Liang said, adding that organizers should rectify the situation.
Article 34 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area regulates Taiwanese media outlets airing Chinese programs, but it does not apply in this situation, Liang said.
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