Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: 毛貓大少爺/WikiCommons/CC-BY-SA 2.0
FOLLOWING QUESTIONING by KMT legislators, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng stated that around 20 Taiwanese entertainers are under investigation for efforts to amplify Chinese state propaganda during military exercises directed at Taiwan.
According to Chiu, it is within the parameters of free speech for Taiwanese entertainers to work in China and to choose business interests that are with China. However, Chiu stated that the limit was advocating unification by armed force or amplifying Chinese state propaganda or disinformation in a coordinated manner. Chiu cited Article 33-1 of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area as a potential area of violations. The phenomenon of Chinese entertainers applying for business travel to Taiwan when they, in fact, seek to carry out fan activities was also cited as a point of violation that the government intended to crack down on.
In particular, the MAC is likely looking to crack down on several related phenomena. One is when Taiwanese influencers are paid by the Chinese government for content in line with China’s preferred political messaging. This was already known to take place in Taiwan, after influencers such as Potter King, R-Chord, and others reported being approached by Chinese individuals who hoped that they would form a pro-unification political party. As such influencers are known for their pro-Taiwan stances, that they were approached by United Front efforts was unusual.
Later on, however, the phenomenon became more widely discussed after a two-part YouTube exposé by former pro-China nationalist rapper Chen Po-yuan and anti-CCP YouTuber Pa Chiung. The video attracted 2.4 million views in about a week, a number that is close to 10% of Taiwan’s population, and showed a subsidized trip to China by Chen to produce content intended to extoll the benefits of closer ties and political unification with China for young Taiwanese people. What seems to have struck a chord with the Taiwanese public was that the YouTube exposé showed the wide-ranging nature of Chinese United Front activity, in that this comes to form a commercial ecosystem that Taiwanese entertainers working in the Chinese market become economically reliant on.
The MAC is also likely looking to curb the phenomenon of Taiwanese influencers reposting messages from Chinese state-run media outlets around major holidays or political events, such as the Lunar New Year, or Chinese National Day. Each year, around the time of such significant dates, it is always a matter of controversy as to which Taiwanese celebrities reposted Chinese state-run media. Public sentiment stands to be affected, especially if individuals previously known as pro-Taiwanese are found to have turned this year.
Still, it is probable that the KMT will dig its heels in against any such efforts with the MAC. The MAC’s expulsion of three Chinese Douyin influencers supportive of the unification of Taiwan and China by force earlier this year was framed by the KMT as an assault on free speech. The KMT has reacted similarly against efforts by the National Communications Commission (NCC) to regulate Chinese streaming providers, by banning Taiwanese companies from acting as their intermediaries–even if Chinese streaming services continue to be accessible in Taiwan and the NCC made no moves to block access to such services, as within the parameters of freedom of press and media.
In past years, the KMT leaned heavily into criticisms that pan-Blue CtiTV failing to have its broadcast license renewed over news reporting that exaggerated minor actions by pan-Blue politicians or focused disproportionately on positive coverage for CtiTV owner Tsai Eng-meng’s preferred KMT political candidates. The KMT alleged that this was the DPP censoring media unfavorable to it. Even so, CtiTV and other media outlets owned by Tsai’s Want Want Group had been reported on by the Apple Daily and Financial Times as accepting Chinese funding or even direct say in the editorial direction from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office. Similar forms of political contention continue in Taiwan.