Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Chinese Psych Warfare via ESWN?


ESWN links to a story about a photo from TVBS that shows a Chinese soldier standing in front of mock F-16s. ESWN writes:

This particular news report ends with stating that the release of such allegedly personal photographs may be part of a campaign of psychological warfare by China against Taiwan. Alternately, it could be staged by the Taiwan government to hype up the threat from China. Who am I to tell you which is true?

TVBS is a pro-KMT station 100% owned by Hong Kong Chinese; it is unlikely to be a purveyor of DPP propaganda. Nor does the DPP need to propagandize on this matter, as everyone here in Taiwan is very aware that China is currently pointing 700 missiles at Taiwan -- it is hard to out-hype that sad reality (you'll live a long time, though, before you see that number on ESWN). As part of its habit of pointing out the threat from China, the DPP is apt to mention that now and again. Why anyone would be frightened knowing that China practices attacking Taiwanese airfields is a mystery to this writer. Any intelligent person can figure out that if you plan to attack a place someday, you should probably go about practicing first. Just last year China and Russia staged exercises obviously aimed at Taiwan, which received full publicity in Taiwan. No, Roland at ESWN is simply engaging in a little anti-DPP agitprop under the guise of appearing "balanced", as usual. Well, "staged by the Taiwan government" sure beats calling Chen Shui-bian a serial liar....

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

One can only assume then that TVBS is attempting to demoralize the both Taiwan's civilian population and it's military, on behalf of the PLA.
Can you imagine if Lord Haw-haw had broadcast from London, or Tokyo Rose from Washington? :-0

Anonymous said...

Not that I know much on the matter, but it is known that the PLA does have mock up ROCAF bases for practice, so I don't see the issue.
Also, isn't he a member of the police reserves (PAP), not a "regular"? Hardly a front line soldier if so, and most likely just a guard. Why it is Psywar, I don't understand.