China’s media frequently use remarks by Taiwanese commentators in Douyin (抖音) — the Chinese version of TikTok — posts to propagate negative images of Taiwan, a Taiwan Information Environment Research Center report said.
In October and November last year, the months before and after the US presidential election, the 20 most cited Taiwanese figures were Alex Tsai (蔡正元), Li Cheng-chieh (栗正傑), Julian Kuo (郭正亮), Herman Shuai (帥化民), Lu Li-shih (呂禮詩), Hsieh Han-ping (謝寒冰), Lai Yueh-chien (賴岳謙), Dale Jieh (介文汲), Chang Yen-ting (張延廷), Yuan Chu-cheng (苑舉正), Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), Ho Han-ting (侯漢廷), Eric Chu (朱立倫), Lee Sheng-feng (李勝峰), Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), Tang Hsiang-lung (唐湘龍), Tung Chih-sen (董智森), Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄) and Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌), the report said.
Ho is a New Party Taipei city councilor, Chu is chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Hsu is a KMT lawmaker and Huang is now acting chairman of the Taiwan People’s Party. The other 16 are commentators.
Photo: Screen grab from the Web site of the Taiwan Information Environment Research Center
Commentators specializing in military affairs such as Li, a retired major general, Shuai, a former KMT legislator, Lu, a former navy lieutenant commander, and Chang, a retired air force lieutenant general, made the top 10, marking a sharp rise from the same period in 2023, the report said.
The most covered topics were Chinese military power or cross-strait warfare (51.69 percent), “US skepticism theory” (24.83 percent) and “cross-strait familyhood” (13.77 percent), it said, adding that war-related quotes made up the majority.
Quotes on “US skepticism theory” mainly claimed that China has greater national power than the US, the report said.
Huang was cited because he accused the Democratic Progressive Party of being corrupt, it said, adding that the remarks aided Beijing’s effort to build negative images of Taiwan’s government.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS