Clipped video of Taiwan's top China policymaker shared with out-of-context claim about Chinese tourists
The 14-second clip of Chiu Chui-cheng, head of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) was shared on Weibo on December 30, 2024. The MAC manages China-related issues.
He can be heard saying: "We do not hope for huge numbers of Chinese tourists, it will lower the quality of tourism and cause chaos. Chinese tourists are part of low-priced tours that cause our high-quality tourism industry to disappear. Would they use Chinese tourists to punish Taiwan."
The simplified Chinese post repeats his statement, adding: "Taiwan does not need Chinese tourists, it only needs, and will only understand, China's missiles."
The video was also shared elsewhere on Facebook and Weibo, as well as on TikTok sister app Douyin, garnering over one million views.
While Taiwan calls itself a sovereign nation, China claims the island and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.
Leaders from both sides have maintained travel restrictions on travel across the strait, even though their populations share strong social, cultural and family ties (archived link).
Beijing stopped issuing individual travel permits for Taiwan in 2019, while group travel was suspended in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since 2023, Taiwan has lifted restrictions on some individual mainland tourists, but large-scale group tours have yet to resume.
China's culture and tourism ministry said in January some group tours will resume for residents of Shanghai and Fujian province -- which lies just across the strait from Taiwan -- but has not given a specific timeline (archived link).
In response, the MAC said that Taiwan "welcomes mainland tourists to travel," adding it was waiting for China to announce "specific measures".
"We... will communicate on the safety, quality, and stability of tourism as soon as possible via the two (tourism) agencies to facilitate the smooth implementation of resuming tourism exchanges in the future," MAC said.
Meanwhile, keyword searches on Google and YouTube found that the video of Chiu's interview was shared out of context.
Taiwanese broadcaster Formosa Television (FTV) uploaded the interview segment to YouTube on December 24, 2024 in a report about how Chiu had handled a visit to Taipei by Shanghai officials that month (archived links here and here).
The full video shows Chiu was in fact referring to calls made to the MAC regarding Chinese tourists in Taiwan. "We received over 100 phone calls saying 'to ensure the quality of Taiwanese tourism we do not wish for large numbers of Chinese tourists and causing chaos'," Chiu said at the video's 1:16-mark.
"The mainlanders come in with low-priced tours, which makes a lot of high-quality tourism disappear... We in Taiwan have different views on these external problems," he continued.
FTV later uploaded Chiu's full interview on December 29, 2024 (archived link). In it, Chiu further discussed Taiwan's attitude towards Chinese tourists visiting the island.
"Of course, Chinese tourists are an important channel for promoting understanding between people on both sides of the strait and is an important diplomatic policy that will help ease cross-strait relations," Chiu went on to say at the video's 7:55-mark.
However, he also stressed that the relationship needed to be based on order and mutual respect, without one side threatening the other with military action or with "policies that punish Taiwan".
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
My father helped create public media. He'd say we need it now, more than ever
Now the Trump administration is not only trying to end public media but also attempting to claw back more than $1 billion in public media funds that Congress has already approved. Those who support this move Advertisement But there are problems with that argument. First, commercial media executives understand that attention is currency, and Advertisement Second, paid subscriptions are expensive, and many Americans simply can't afford them. Public media is a bargain by comparison. Third, commercial media companies don't have the incentive to operate in the public's best interest; they do have the incentive to convert eyeballs into revenue sources. For example, in youth programming, the focus is often on the commercials, selling toys and sugary snacks to kids. And content for kids on platforms such as YouTube can range from vapid to dangerous at a time when busy parents often use screen time to supplement entertainment or education. For these parents, it has become exhausting to choose what's OK for their children, and even more exhausting to know which platforms are trustworthy. The truth is, at a time when half of kids don't have access to preschool, federally funded, responsible content is a great investment in the next generation. Lastly, the commercial market has also collapsed for news. According to the Advertisement Access to reliable information is crucial in a democracy. As Bill Moyers once Like libraries and schools, public media offers access to knowledge and critical thinking, which is essential for learning and for democracy. The government should strengthen — not undermine — nonprofit educational media, especially now. I hope that my Dad's call for 'public interest' media prevails, rather than the alternative: an expensive wasteland even more vast — and dangerous — than he could have ever imagined.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump says Xi agreed to restart flow of crucial minerals, but analysts say China won't give up its ‘rare earth card'
US President Donald Trump said Chinese leader Xi Jinping has agreed to restart the flow of crucial rare earth materials, after announcing a new round of US-China trade talks will be held in London on Monday. Trump made the comments a day after holding his long-awaited phone call with Xi, during which the two leaders agreed to resume negotiations stalled over mutual accusations of violating the truce reached in Geneva last month. For Washington, a major sticking point has been China's export restrictions on rare earth minerals and magnets, which are essential for everything from cars to fighter jets, and critical to American industries and defense. In the weeks since the fragile detente, Washington has accused Beijing of slow-walking approvals for rare earth exports and reneging on its promise made in Geneva, with Trump expressing increasing urgency to speak to his Chinese counterpart to iron things out. After a 90-minute call on Thursday, Trump said he and Xi had 'straightened out' some points related to rare earth magnets, describing it as 'very complex stuff.' But he did not specify what exactly had been agreed upon. Asked Friday if Xi had agreed to restart the flow of rare earth minerals and magnets, Trump told reporters abroad Air Force One: 'Yes, he did.' He did not further elaborate on how fast that would happen, or the volume of the materials that would be released. The Chinese readout of the call did not mention rare earths. Instead, it quoted Xi as saying that China had 'seriously and earnestly' complied with the trade truce agreement. Asked about it at the Chinese foreign ministry's daily briefing on Friday, a spokesperson sidestepped the question, saying it was a matter for other agencies to address. China, which controls 90% of the global processing of rare earths, imposed export restrictions on some minerals and magnets on April 4 at the height of the tariff war, after Trump slapped 'reciprocal' levies on Chinese goods. The new system does not ban exports outright, but requires government approval for each shipment. Chinese scholars who advise the government suggested on Thursday that Beijing is not ready to give up the powerful leverage bestowed by its dominance on the rare earth supply chain – and may seek to use it to get Washington to ease its own export controls aimed at blocking China's access to advanced US semiconductors and technologies. While American businesses are likely to see more shipments approved in the next couple of weeks, the export licensing regime is here to stay, said Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. He noted that, according to official rules set by China's Commerce Ministry, applications for export licenses can take up to 45 working days to be approved. 'In principle, I can agree to export to you, but I can speed things up or slow them down. In reality, on a technical level, it also depends on the overall bilateral trade and economic atmosphere,' he said. 'If the bilateral relationship is good, then I'll go a bit faster; if not, I'll slow down. But you can't say I'm violating the agreement – I'm still following the standard procedures.' Some Chinese suppliers of US companies have recently received six-month export licenses, the American Chamber of Commerce in China said Friday, but it noted that uncertainty remains amid a large backlog of license applications. Jin Canrong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, said the importance Trump attaches to rare earths shows how effective China's 'rare earth card' is. 'I hadn't realized just how important this rare earth card was before. Now the US side is clearly anxious and eager to resolve this issue,' he said in a video on social media on Thursday. 'But of course, we'll link this issue to others – the US is restricting China on chips and jet engines, then China certainly has every reason to make use of this card.' 'As for whether China will change its rare earth export control policy, that probably still needs to be negotiated in more detail' Jin added. Some Chinese scholars have expressed hope that US technology restrictions on China may now be up for negotiation, after Trump announced that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick – whose department overseas US export controls – will join Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in the next round of trade talks. 'The issue of US export controls may no longer be an area that is completely non-negotiable in the future,' Cui Fan, an economics professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing and advisor to the Chinese Commerce Ministry, wrote in a social media post. Beijing has insisted that its export controls are in line with international practices, non-discriminatory and not targeted at any specific country. Hours before the two leaders jumped on the phone on Thursday, a spokesperson for China's commerce ministry reiterated that stance at a regular news conference, citing the 'clear dual-use attributes' of rare earth materials. Dual-use items refer to those with both civilian and military applications. 'The Chinese government reviews export license applications for dual-use items in accordance with laws and regulations, and for applications that meet the requirements, China will grant approval to promote and facilitate compliant trade,' spokesperson He Yongqian said. The strict licensing system has significantly disrupted the global supplies of these materials and triggered production turmoil across industries in America and Europe, raising alarms among officials and businesses alike. A survey of member companies conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in China late week found that, among those affected by rare earth export controls, 75% say their stock would run out within three months. CNN's Kit Maher contributed to reporting.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
How the Vatican manages money and where Pope Leo XIV might find more
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The world's smallest country has a big budget problem. The Vatican doesn't tax its residents or issue bonds. It primarily finances the Catholic Church's central government through donations that have been plunging, ticket sales for the Vatican Museums, as well as income from investments and an underperforming real estate portfolio. The last year the Holy See published a consolidated budget, in 2022, it projected 770 million euros ($878 million), with the bulk paying for embassies around the world and Vatican media operations. In recent years, it hasn't been able to cover costs. That leaves Pope Leo XIV facing challenges to drum up the funds needed to pull his city-state out of the red. Withering donations Anyone can donate money to the Vatican, but the regular sources come in two main forms. Canon law requires bishops around the world to pay an annual fee, with amounts varying and at bishops' discretion 'according to the resources of their dioceses.' U.S. bishops contributed over one-third of the $22 million (19.3 million euros) collected annually under the provision from 2021-2023, according to Vatican data. The other main source of annual donations is more well-known to ordinary Catholics: Peter's Pence, a special collection usually taken on the last Sunday of June. From 2021-2023, individual Catholics in the U.S. gave an average $27 million (23.7 million euros) to Peter's Pence, more than half the global total. American generosity hasn't prevented overall Peter's Pence contributions from cratering. After hitting a high of $101 million (88.6 million euros) in 2006, contributions hovered around $75 million (66.8 million euros) during the 2010's then tanked to $47 million (41.2 million euros) during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when many churches were closed. Donations remained low in the following years, amid revelations of the Vatican's bungled investment in a London property, a former Harrod's warehouse that it hoped to develop into luxury apartments. The scandal and ensuing trial confirmed that the vast majority of Peter's Pence contributions had funded the Holy See's budgetary shortfalls, not papal charity initiatives as many parishioners had been led to believe. Peter's Pence donations rose slightly in 2023 and Vatican officials expect more growth going forward, in part because there has traditionally been a bump immediately after papal elections. New donors The Vatican bank and the city state's governorate, which controls the museums, also make annual contributions to the pope. As recently as a decade ago, the bank gave the pope around 55 million euros ($62.7 million) a year to help with the budget. But the amounts have dwindled; the bank gave nothing specifically to the pope in 2023, despite registering a net profit of 30 million euros ($34.2 million), according to its financial statements. The governorate's giving has likewise dropped off. Some Vatican officials ask how the Holy See can credibly ask donors to be more generous when its own institutions are holding back. Leo will need to attract donations from outside the U.S., no small task given the different culture of philanthropy, said the Rev. Robert Gahl, director of the Church Management Program at Catholic University of America's business school. He noted that in Europe there is much less of a tradition (and tax advantage) of individual philanthropy, with corporations and government entities doing most of the donating or allocating designated tax dollars. Even more important is leaving behind the 'mendicant mentality' of fundraising to address a particular problem, and instead encouraging Catholics to invest in the church as a project, he said. Speaking right after Leo's installation ceremony in St. Peter's Square, which drew around 200,000 people, Gahl asked: 'Don't you think there were a lot of people there that would have loved to contribute to that and to the pontificate?' In the U.S., donation baskets are passed around at every Sunday Mass. Not so at the Vatican. Untapped real estate The Vatican has 4,249 properties in Italy and 1,200 more in London, Paris, Geneva and Lausanne, Switzerland. Only about one-fifth are rented at fair market value, according to the annual report from the APSA patrimony office, which manages them. Some 70% generate no income because they house Vatican or other church offices; the remaining 10% are rented at reduced rents to Vatican employees. In 2023, these properties only generated 35 million euros ($39.9 million) in profit. Financial analysts have long identified such undervalued real estate as a source of potential revenue. But Ward Fitzgerald, the president of the U.S.-based Papal Foundation, which finances papal charities, said the Vatican should also be willing to sell properties, especially those too expensive to maintain. Many bishops are wrestling with similar downsizing questions as the number of church-going Catholics in parts of the U.S. and Europe shrinks and once-full churches stand empty. Toward that end, the Vatican recently sold the property housing its embassy in Tokyo's high-end Sanbancho neighborhood, near the Imperial Palace, to a developer building a 13-story apartment complex, according to the Kensetsu News trade journal. Yet there has long been institutional reluctance to part with even money-losing properties. Witness the Vatican announcement in 2021 that the cash-strapped Fatebenefratelli Catholic hospital in Rome, run by a religious order, would not be sold. Pope Francis simultaneously created a Vatican fundraising foundation to keep it and other Catholic hospitals afloat. 'They have to come to grips with the fact that they own so much real estate that is not serving the mission of the church,' said Fitzgerald, who built a career in real estate private equity. ___ AP reporter Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed. ___
