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Taiwan To Block Tencent and Baidu Streaming Sites, Citing National Security and Propaganda Concerns (nikkei.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the better-safe-than-sorry dept.

Taiwan is blocking video streaming services of Chinese tech giants Baidu and Tencent Holdings, citing national security and propaganda concerns ahead of a presidential election next year. "Chiu Chui-Cheng, deputy minister of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, [said] that Taiwan is likely to ban Baidu's popular iQiyi platform, and block Tencent's plan to bring its streaming service to the island later this year," Nikkei Asian Review reports. From the report: "We are concerned that streaming media services that have close ties with Beijing could have cultural and political influences in Taiwan... and even affect Taiwan's elections," Chiu said. "If Tencent's streaming video service is trying to enter the Taiwanese market, it's very likely that it's a part of Beijing's propaganda campaign," he said. "What if the company inserts some content that Beijing hopes to advertise? What if it implements messages linked to the Communist Party or its army? We should treat this seriously and carefully at a national security level."

The official said that Beijing has stepped up its "cultural infiltration" into Taiwan after Chinese President Xi Jinping used a speech in January to push for an accelerated reunification process. Taiwan does not allow any Chinese Netflix-like streaming services to operate locally, but search engine giant Baidu has been operating in Taiwan through an agent, OTT Entertainment, after Taipei blocked the platform in November 2016. The company's data shows iQiyi's Taiwan site -- one of the most popular video streaming platforms on the island, has 2 million active daily users.

38 comments

  1. Apple and Google ban Alex Jones... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Citing National Security and Propaganda Concerns!

  2. Good for them! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They should also go out of their way to encourage people to use Winnie The Pooh as much as possible, as well.

    1. Re:Good for them! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Twitter autobans Pepe the Frog!

  3. Re:FUCK CHINA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He says as he types his prejudiced "FUCK CHINA" message using equipment made in China, while wearing clothing made in China, while sitting on a chair made in China.

  4. The USA should do the same by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They would have to block CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox and Disney

    See all our publicly traded media conglomerates are largely owned by China. They have the USAian populace fighting each other over bullshit while China finances endless Wars on Terror (tm).

    R.I.P. USA. The only country where it is racist to have national borders

    1. Re:The USA should do the same by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      USAian

      What the fuck is that word, and why do you keep fingerprinting yourself with it? It kind of defeats the purpose of being an AC if people can still distinguish you from others.

  5. Let's be honest... by msauve · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Taiwan" is the Republic of China (RoC). The article is more easily understood by knowing about the history, going back to the 1950's. Communist/socialist/dictatorial China (PRC) wants to own RoC/Tibet/south sea ("nine-dash line"). Fuck them, none of those are legitimately part of them.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    1. Re:Let's be honest... by Brett+Buck · · Score: 3

      Precisely. The Communist Chinese are working up to a possible military takeover of the ROC, where they may (or may not) have to confront the USA to get it done.

    2. Re:Let's be honest... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's be honest, you probably actually don't know much about Chinese history. "Taiwan" is the Republic of China (RoC). The RoC legitimately owned mainland China, Tibet, HK, etc. They still continue to maintain that they own all these areas, including the South China sea. They just don't have the power to enforce such a stance, but it's still part of their constitution and history.

    3. Re:Let's be honest... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong. Taiwan has been part of China for longer than most countries in the world have existed.

    4. Re:Let's be honest... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The only reason Taiwan is a separate country is because the American navy's 7th fleet blocked Mao from capturing the fleeing rogue Chiang Kai Shek. Taiwan is an artifact of American imperialism much like Hong Kong was an artifact of British imperialism.

    5. Re:Let's be honest... by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      I think the Government of China has slowed down on bringing Taiwan back into the fold and are more comfortable with a natural transition, that will occur as soon as mainland China is a 'Democratic' as Taiwan, not that Taiwan has a particularly stellar record for being democratic, so the gap is not really that big and will occur sooner now, that the mainland China Government is easing back on trying to force it, it will happen, so might was well do it in such a way as to produce the best possible social and economic outcomes.

      The only question is, 'So who does Tencent and Baidu compete with in Taiwan', very unlikely to have anything to do with propaganda and much more likely that some insiders in Taiwan profit by this. Lets not forget, the mention of force related to against âoeintervention by external forces.â and had everything to do with bickering with the US government and nothing to do with Taiwan.

      Diplomatic styles need to be improved all over, everyone hears every thing now and making statements at one country without paying attention to how it is heard by other countries is really clumsy and causes a lot of harm. All diplomatic statements, are now heard by all countries and by people all over the globe and on the internet they last forever, stop saying crap, like only your target can hear it, the old rules are done and gone. A diplomatic statement to one nation, is a diplomatic statement to all nations and all the people of those nations and it does not die in the next news cycle but goes on and on and on the internet.

      Two countries really need to sharpen up their diplomatic game, the worst offenders, the USA and China. China does badly by trying to copy the USA in it's arrogant mistakes.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    6. Re:Let's be honest... by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Now Taiwan is free.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    7. Re:Let's be honest... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Taiwan is an artifact of resisting imperialist China faggots.

    8. Re:Let's be honest... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck. Off. Ivan.

    9. Re:Let's be honest... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let's be fair. Communist China is an Empire in all but name. Accusing others of imperialism is a bit rich and I crack up every time I read CPC propagandists like yourself try to justify it.

    10. Re:Let's be honest... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean your arbitrary definition of "imperialism" where neighboring tribes join and have cultural exchange over thousands of years? No. Imperialism in this context is about the sudden military invasion of European powers to entirely separate continents and their straight out possession of lands and imposition of laws over people they refused to see even as people. European concessions in Chinese territory exempted them from all local law, while subjecting Chinese to slavery and murder on a whim by any European. Do you even know what the Opium wars were?

    11. Re:Let's be honest... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      China, especially the Qing Dynasty and all the claim legitimacy after that, are the byproduct of imperialism due in large part to hubris. Both Mao and Chiang Kai Shek fought to overthrow this, ironically with imperial support (both East and West powers didn't like the very system they created). Having said that, Mao was more the puppet than the other side was. I just find it ironic that anyone would try to defend Mao's expansionism to overthrow the legitimate government of China and then begrudge others who tried to do the same thing and were protected by similar interests to continue to exist. This is especially true given how it was imperial forces that saved China from Japan.

    12. Re: Let's be honest... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      None of you know anything about Chinese history. China rightfully belongs to Dong Zhuo and all who support the false emperor and Lu Bu are traitorous! Don't even get me started on Cao Cao or the rest of the coalition. Actually I'm wrong, go far enough back and China belongs the prokaryotes!

    13. Re:Let's be honest... by larryjoe · · Score: 1

      I think the Government of China has slowed down on bringing Taiwan back into the fold and are more comfortable with a natural transition, that will occur as soon as mainland China is a 'Democratic' as Taiwan

      My feeling is that the main purpose of China's saber rattling toward Taiwan is to create a boogeyman that is detested more than the Communist Party, a la 1984. Aside from the 1984 effect and feel-good patriotism, China has very little to gain with a takeover/annexation/destruction of Taiwan. In fact, its economy is likely to take a hit, resulting in greater social instability and a greater threat to the party. The party is not stupid and realizes that the vilification of Taiwan and the rallying of patriots is more useful than the actual unification. This is the same diversionary tactic that Trump uses in villifying Mexicans, as the unifying cry is more important politically than the actual security threat.

      not that Taiwan has a particularly stellar record for being democratic

      I suppose that there are various way to gauge the democratic record of a country, but Taiwan's democracy is quite good, at least in the last few decades after the end of martial law. The key metric of a working democracy is the peaceful transition of power among opposition parties, which has happened several times already in Taiwan. If there is a part of the Taiwanese political process that is non-democratic, it's perhaps the up to 1 million Taiwanese businessmen living in China that China encourages/pays/extorts to fly back to Taiwan to vote in the elections.

      The only question is, 'So who does Tencent and Baidu compete with in Taiwan', very unlikely to have anything to do with propaganda and much more likely that some insiders in Taiwan profit by this.

      Of all East Asian countries, Taiwan is perhaps the most accepting of foreign media and entertainment, with Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and American media being easy to find. I doubt this has much to do with economic competition, as there are simply too many other media sources that compete with indigenous media.

    14. Re:Let's be honest... by luis_a_espinal · · Score: 1

      Wrong. Taiwan has been part of China for longer than most countries in the world have existed.

      And the people of Taiwan do not give a shit about that. And I don't know about you, but people's will is supreme, and states that crush it do not have much of a soapbox in which to stand and criticize other nations.

      * Mind you that here in the West do not have much of a soap box in which to stand, either, and that Taiwan is facilitating loans to the Nicaraguan regime (which has been found have committed "crimes against humanity" against its population - google "Mother's Day Massacre.")

    15. Re:Let's be honest... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0

      More warmongering Americans. Just assuming the world wants your help. Have you even ASKED the Taiwanese if they want reunification? No, of course you didn't. You love using your military, so naturally you assume everyone else is just as evil as you are.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    16. Re:Let's be honest... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It goes both ways. The PRC claims both China and Taiwan while the ROC claims Taiwan and China. They both claim the same lands under different governments.

    17. Re: Let's be honest... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or even eukaryotes, of some stripe:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    18. Re:Let's be honest... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think we're all aware of 19th century English Imperialism. The White West has been all about giving up its conquered territories in the latter half of the 20th century.

      No one is bringing that up for a reason, which makes me question why you are.

      I really wish Slashdot showed us an IP trail. Proxies aside, this doesn't sound like the normal russian troll and there are very few PRC apologists outside of the PRC...

  6. Re: FUCK CHINA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Fuck the slavemaster!" He says while wearing clothes provided for by the slavemaster and eating gruel given by the slavemaster.

  7. Popper's Paradox by js290 · · Score: 0

    Total nonsense: the idea in #SkinIntheGame about the Popper-Godel metaproblem: those whose platform is against democracy should not be allowed to get there using democracy ...much like Salafis in Europe. Shd not be an argument to exclude pple you demonize as “Nazis”.

    Gabish? https://t.co/9DFsX4cgqZ

    — Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) September 5, 2018

    Godel-Popper rule:
    No freedom to the enemies of freedom
    No rights to the enemies of rights
    No democracy to the enemies of democracy
    Kapish?

    — Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) August 14, 2016

    --
    "Tempers are wearing thin. Let's just hope some robot doesn't kill everybody." --Bender
  8. Taiwan by AHuxley · · Score: 0

    The real China where people are free to read and talk about:
    1984, Animal Farm.
    Books from South Korea and Japan.
    Books with cartoon bears.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    1. Re:Taiwan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The real China where people are free to read and talk about

      how they are no longer permitted to enjoy hugely popular streaming services from Tencent and Baidu ??

      Hey dude, can't you see the irony?

  9. Blocked Baidu about a decade ago here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Blocked Baidu about a decade ago here. They were sucking bandwidth but never, ever, sending any useful traffic.

    I think the only Tencent traffic I recall was their servers probing my servers. Probably already blocked with the other 10K subnets in my ipset rules.

  10. No way! by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 1

    It's totally illegitimate for other countries to regulate social media platforms because of concerns about elections!

  11. Baidu by jbmartin6 · · Score: 1

    If their streaming service is anything like the search portal it is so full of ads it is almost impossible to use. Probably ads overlaid on the screen while the show is on, based on what I have seen, not just commercial interruptions like we are used to in the US.

    --
    This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
  12. Now why would the RoC ever be suspicious? by sgt_doom · · Score: 2

    https://www.zerohedge.com/s3/f...

  13. Re: FUCK CHINA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Logic fail.

    A slave master forces her slaves to wear the clothing. Nobody put a gun to your head and made you buy Chinese-made products. You did it because it was a good value and now you're whining about it to be a contrarian douchebag.

  14. Chiu Chui-Cheng by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A/K/A The Little Engine that Could.