Without fuss or ceremony representatives of New Tang Dynasty Asia Pacific and Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) inked a new contract on June 27, assuring that NTD AP will continue broadcasting via satellite to Asia, including mainland China. Backers of the station say the new deal closes one chapter on the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ongoing attempts to cut off NTD AP’s influence on the Chinese people.
The contract signing ended a controversy that began in early April when CHT abruptly informed NTD AP it would not renew the station’s contract to broadcast on CHT’s satellite—a refusal that NTD AP characterized as illegal under Taiwan telecommunications law. NTD, the global network to which NTD AP belongs, is a media partner of The Epoch Times.
Before CHT would relent, Taiwan’s premier, the head of its Legislature, and the leaders of both political parties spoke out supporting NTD AP, along with U.S. congressmen, a vice president of the European Parliament, and international human rights and media watchdog groups.
Theresa Chu, spokesperson for NTD AP, said in an e-mail that a “massive, grass-roots call from all walks of life in Taiwan helped move the executive and legislature to support NTD AP’s contract renewal.” Ms. Chu cited “thousands of letters” sent from Taiwanese citizens to the offices of the president, the premier, and legislators around the island.
Taiwan’s people may have felt that the battle to renew NTD AP’s contract was not only about that independent TV station’s rights, but also about their own rights.
Chuang Feng-chia, deputy editor-in-chief of the Taiwan-based Central News Agency, was quoted by the Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) website Clearwisdom.net as saying that if CHT did not renew NTD AP’s contract, that refusal would have a chilling effect on the media, which would try not to cover negative news on China or news related to Falun Gong. According to Clearwisdom, Chuang stressed that the possibility of not renewing NTD AP’s contract was a crisis for all the media and people in Taiwan.
Although the Taiwan government holds a controlling interest in CHT and governmental leaders had backed NTD AP’s demand for a new contract, the company resisted pressure to make a deal for weeks.
CHT tried to frame its decision as an issue of technological capability. It insisted to the end that its refusal was simply due to a lack of bandwidth on its new satellite, which goes into service on Aug. 9.
NTD AP and many of its backers said CHT’s refusal had nothing to do with bandwidth and everything to do with the wishes of the CCP.
NTD’s Viewers
A recent viewer of NTD’s call-in show Focus Talk, showed why the CCP has focused so strongly on stopping the station’s broadcasts.
The caller said, “"If NTD TV can broadcast freely into China, the CCP will be out of power."
The format of Focus Talk is for viewers, including viewers from mainland China, to call live to the station and discuss their concerns with an expert panel.
“People in China have no place to express themselves,” said the show’s host, Anna Chang. “As an independent media we deeply look at all the information and its background and explain it to people—this is what we do.”
Viewers from inside China tell NTD they love what it is doing.
Another recent caller to Focus Talk said, “I thought I knew a lot about China, but after watching NTD I realized I did not really know China. Now NTD is the source for me to know what is going on in China.”
A viewer with the surname Zhang e-mailed NTD from the mainland to say, “I have finally heard a different voice. I now want my brain back from its having been washed.”
Someone with the pen name “common person from Shanghai,” e-mailed, “I write to convey my highest respects to the station’s staff. You are not buying rope and being lassoed by the communists.”
Continued on the next page: Seeking to Close ‘Little Ears’
