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EDITORIAL: China
tunes in airwave propaganda
Driving around Pingtung County in a blue delivery truck, one could be forgiven
for thinking that all you would hear on the radio would be Hoklo (commonly known
as Taiwanese) talk shows and Taiwanese folk songs. In Pingtung and Greater
Kaohsiung, you don’t expect to hear radio programs from China, so what are they
doing on the air?
In a move that hearkens back to the propaganda wars of the 1960s and 1970s, but
with a twist, China is invading the AM radio frequencies in southern Taiwan with
programs that push Beijing’s agenda — unification, economic interdependence,
cultural exchanges and friendly sentiment aimed at President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
These programs are being beamed from Fujian Province and although they are
mostly from private stations, there is no doubt that Chinese officials have a
say about their content.
This type of radio onslaught is to be expected from an aggressive neighboring
country with territorial designs, but where are Taiwan’s countermeasures? What
is the National Communications Commission (NCC) doing about this? The answer is
that commission officials and the government-at-large are doing nothing, while
southern Taiwanese are subjected to pro-unification propaganda.
Not so long ago, an invasion of high-powered broadcasts from Chinese radio
stations would not have been tolerated. The commission or the military would
have taken the propaganda threat seriously and adopted technical countermeasures
rather than let Chinese radio waves blanket the south and west of the nation
unopposed.
NCC acting spokesperson Wong Po-tsung (翁柏宗) threw cold water on this idea,
saying interference could only be conducted via legal means, a difficult thing
to obtain in a clandestine propaganda war.
Under the Ma government, the commission does not bat an eye at this type of
propaganda. No wonder, considering how some of the so-called news radio programs
originating in China push the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with
China that Ma championed and discredit reports that his popularity is declining.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) was right when
she described the large-scale influx of Chinese radio programs across the AM
frequencies in Taiwan as “cultural unification.”
However, what is more deplorable is the government and the commission’s lack of
attention regarding this issue, which borders on outright collusion. Even worse
is the attitude of former Radio Taiwan International president Cheryl Lai (賴秀如),
who dismissed Taiwanese radio stations in the south as platforms for quack
health products and implied that they need to compete with Chinese stations on
an equal playing ground if they want to succeed — this is not fair considering
that their competitors in Fujian Province are likely backed with government
money.
From the look of things the Ma government has not only thrown in the towel in
the propaganda war, it is actively colluding with China to allow pro-Beijing
content onto the radio waves, especially in the south where pro-DPP sentiment
runs high. Although many people will dismiss these programs, others will listen,
especially when they are also subjected to a barrage of pro-China media outlets
in TV and print form.
Ma’s so-called policy of detente with China is nothing but a smokescreen used by
Beijing to mask an outright cultural and economic blitzkrieg of Taiwan for the
purpose of integration. Given the government’s clear lack of enthusiasm for
dealing with this threat, this is a battle China looks set to win.
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