“Red Media” in Taiwan
Over 100 thousand of Taiwanese people participated in the anti-red media protest on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei on June 23rd. (Red signifies the Communist Party of China, and red media is pro-CPC news.) The nationals were angry about the control of media from China over the years. The Taiwanese red media includes China Television Company, CTI Television, and China Times newspaper. They are owned by Want Want, the food manufacturer from Taiwan. The company hopes that China annexes Taiwan because the trade is mainly in China and is sponsored by the Chinese government.
Tsai Eng-meng, the chairman of Want Want, spent 20.4 billion NT dollars to purchase China Television Company, CTI Television and China Times newspaper in 2008. Before buying China Times newspaper, Tsai Eng-meng met China’s Taiwan Affairs Office director, Wang Yi. He told Wang Yi that he wanted to use the force of media to improve cross straits relations. Wang Yi responded to him that if the company needs anything like strengthening its food industry, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office will fully support it. From 2007 to 2018, Want Want received subsidiary approximately 15.2 billion NT dollars from the Chinese government. Since the Chinese administration helped the finances of Want Want, the company has taken advantage of its media to spread the viewpoint of integrating Taiwan into China.
The media managed by Want Want, promotes pro-China politicians, such as Han Kuo-yu. For China Television Company and CTI Television, the news about Han Kuo-yu is more than half of the total broadcast time. He is the Kaohsiung mayor, who approves the “1992 Consensus”. (The meaning of the 1992 Consensus is “One China Principle” that Taiwan belongs to China.) Now, he prepares to run for the Taiwanese presidential election in 2020. When he becomes the president of Taiwan, he will give Taiwan’s sovereign right to China. Besides, the red media do not cover the anti-CPC news. On the website of China Times, the records of Tiananmen Square Massacre were all deleted. Additionally, the newspaper rarely reported Hong Kong’s anti-extradition movement; on the contrary, other media put the news of the protest on their front pages. Moreover, the political programme on CTI Television broadcasted the idea, “one country, two systems”, the formula created by China. (One country signifies China, two systems means two ways of ruling a country.) The channel proposed that one country, two systems is the best way for peaceful union of Taiwan and China. It claimed that Taiwanese people would have the same liberty if China ruled Taiwan. Nevertheless, one country, two system is not going to work in Taiwan because the system in Hong Kong has already turned out to be a failure that Hong Kong people have fought for liberty. The viewers of red media do not perceive the defeat of the scheme and they may be brainwashed into thinking that Taiwan should be unified into China.
Red media in Taiwan try to build a positive image of the Chinese government and propagate the idea of unification of the country. However, anti-red media citizens are afraid that Taiwan will lose the freedom of speech and vote following the rule of CPC. Therefore, they ask pro-CPC media to leave Taiwan. The Taiwanese government ought to restrain red media in order to protect the independence of Taiwan.
