Taiwan | Internet celebrity calls for ‘Red Media’ rejection

Last weekend, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Taiwan to oppose the island’s pro-Chinese Party “Red Media”, local news outlets reported.

The protest was initiated by Internet celebrity Holger Chen and Taiwanese legislator Huang Kuo-chang, who denounced the infiltration of Chinese interests in Taiwan’s media.

According to Taiwan News, during the protest, Chen called on the people of China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau to oppose rule by the Chinese Communist Party.

Protesters criticized the “Red Media” for distorting their coverage of mainland China and Taiwan, attacking the island’s democratic political system, and painting a rosy picture of China’s ‘one country, two systems’ framework. According to the protesters, these media organizations seek to indoctrinate the Taiwan public.

They held up placards that read, “reject red media, defend Taiwan’s democracy.”

Sedition, or calling for insurrection against the established order, is a crime in mainland China and the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. In Macau, article 23 of the Basic Law requires the local government to “enact laws, on its own, to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, [or] subversion against the Central People’s Government.”