Big guns hurdle to Taiwan's press
Big guns hurdle to Taiwan's press
By James Kynge
TAIPEI (Reuter): Taiwan's press, exulted by the West as a
beacon of democracy in Asia, is under fire from big guns in
government.
Nearly eight years after the lifting of martial law heralded
unprecedented liberties here, Taiwan's leaders are saying that
media reports sometimes damage the national interest.
Scoops exposing sensitive issues merely deliver secrets into
the gleeful embrace of arch-rival China, officials are saying.
"If our news is very open, the Chinese communists will have
the opportunity to suppress us," President Lee Teng-hui said in a
rare news conference this week.
"If this suppression is successful...exposing the news in
advance is extremely bad. It can ruin the whole plan," he added.
He was talking about his recent trip to Jordan and the United
Arab Emirates (UAE), which Lee said would have been more
successful had it not been for the tip-off given Beijing by
Taiwan's media.
Lee said Beijing's diplomats had successfully pressured the
UAE to receive him at a lower level than originally planned and
had caused Israel to cancel Lee's planned visit there.
China and Taiwan have been rivals since Taiwan's ruling
Nationalist Party lost the Chinese civil war in 1949 and fled to
this island 220 km (137 miles) off China's southeast coast.
In contrast to China's muzzled press, Taiwan's media is among
the most free in Asia.
The number of newspapers mushroomed following the end of
martial law, rising to 251 by mid-1989 from just 31 before the
relaxation of controls.
In the drive to scoop each other and win a circulation war,
newspapers here have cast off most of the self-restraint they
used to practice.
The president is not the only one disenchanted with the
results.
In the recriminations that followed an embarrassing recall of
an armed patrol sent to the disputed Spratly Islands in the South
China Sea this week, the interior minister lashed out.
"We want to know how this big fuss happened," minister Huang
Kun-huei told reporters this week. "Was it done by our colleagues
or how did it happen? Or was it because of media reports?"
"Of course, we will impose punishments," he added.
Analysts said Huang and others were angry over the blaze of
publicity which accompanied the patrol's departure, a factor
which may have contributed to the quick censure which followed
from the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Earlier this year, Taiwan's top policymaker toward China, held
a luncheon for the press and urged journalists to relax a little
and not hype events out of proportion.
"I always answer my own telephone...but sometimes I will just
have to say that I cannot answer the question," said Vincent
Siew, chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council.
It seems unlikely, however, that the media will relax.
"The newspapers are very competitive for the sake of their
survival," said Antonio Chiang, publisher of a popular magazine,
The Journalist.
He said the government lacked skill in handling the media,
noting that officials were denying Lee's scheduled trip to the
Middle East just days before he left.
"We know that diplomats are paid to lie for their country. But
their lying should be more of an art," Chiang added.