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Beijing using free
market to influence Taiwanese media, US symposium told
By William Lowther / Staff reporter in WASHINGTON
China is using the capitalist system and the free market to influence the media
in Taiwan, a symposium at the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at George
Washington University was told on Thursday.
Even though China is a socialist country, it does not hesitate to use capitalism
to exert its influence, Graduate Student Association of National Taiwan
University president Lin Fei-fan (ªL¸¦|) said, one of the organizers of the Youth
Alliance Against Media Monsters.
He said that companies with strong pro-China ties had been heavily investing in
Taiwanese media. The result, he said, had been a ¡§silencing effect¡¨ on those who
oppose Beijing¡¦s policies and critics of China in Taiwan had been
¡§marginalized.¡¨
Lin said that Taiwanese laws had left a ¡§gaping hole¡¨ for Beijing to exploit. He
said Taiwan needs to establish legislation, anti-trust laws and ¡§a clear
mechanism¡¨ to keep Chinese influence of the media in check.
Louis Chiang , senior East Asia officer at the National Endowment for Democracy,
told the symposium on ¡§Media Freedom in Taiwan¡¨ that outside of the Internet,
the media environment within China itself is a ¡§wasteland.¡¨
She said that many Chinese are ¡§censored, controlled and brainwashed¡¨ and that
if she were inside China herself she could be ¡§put behind bars¡¨ simply for
saying so.
Nevertheless, Chiang said, ¡§cracks are developing¡¨ and Taiwan still serves as an
inspiration for those in China seeking freedom of speech.
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