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Three US congressmen
ask Ma to save radio towers
UNCENSORED: The towers are being used by a Falun
Gong media organization to broadcast programs critical of the Beijing government
and its human rights record
By William Lowther / Staff reporter in WASHINGTON
A shortwave radio tower in
Greater Tainan.
Photo: Taipei Times
Three US congressional members have
written to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to protest plans to tear down two
shortwave radio towers in Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) and in Greater
Tainan.
They say the towers — at least partly built with US funds — may still be needed
to broadcast uncensored news into China.
The towers are being used by Falun Gong and its media organization, the Sound of
Hope Radio Network, to transmit broadcasts that are critical of the Chinese
government and its human rights record.
A statement issued by Falun Gong in Washington on Monday said that Radio Taiwan
International (RTI) had already begun tearing down the towers in Greater Tainan
and that requests from the US Congress to stop the demolition were being
ignored.
The statement said that Beijing was putting “huge pressure” on Taiwan to stop
shortwave broadcasts aimed at China.
It said that RTI had changed its mission from spreading “freedom and democracy
to China” to marketing and promoting Taiwan.
The statement said the towers were built in the 1960s and 1970s, several with
funding from the US military.
“RTI plans to close two major radio facilities, Huwei and Tainan substations,”
it said.
It said the two radio stations had 28 shortwave radio towers equipped with
antennae with a transmission power of at least 2,700 kilowatts and could cover
all of China.
“The Chinese community is very scared about the power of these towers and they
want the towers to be demolished,” the statement signed by Sound of Hope Radio
Network president Allen Zeng said.
“Any plan to tear down these facilities is premature and should be suspended
pending analysis of other potential use of the facilities,” US Representative
Frank Wolf wrote in a letter to Ma.
“Any demolitions that would reduce the capability to transmit into China should
be halted until alternatives can be fully explored,” US Representative Dana
Rohrabacher wrote in another letter to Ma.
US Representative Christopher Smith has also written to the president to express
his concern that “any teardown would undermine the purpose for which these
facilities were built” and would deprive US broadcasters of a chance to save
expenses.
“I believe that any plan to tear down the Tainan and Huwei facilities should be
delayed until their strategic utilization by international shortwave
broadcasters is fully studied,” Smith said.
RTI Tainan substation director Tseng Wen-san (曾文三) yesterday said the plan to
demolish the Greater Tainan facility was made due to a river expansion project
and had nothing to do with “the Chinese communists.”
“It is an established policy that the Tian Ma Radio Station [the Tainan
substation] will be relocated to Yunlin County’s Baojhong Township (褒忠),” he
said, adding: “After the relocation to Yunlin, no changes will be made to our
international radio broadcasts.”
Additional reporting by Tsai Wen-chu
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