Three US congressmen ask Ma to save radio towers
UNCENSORED:The towers are being used by a Falun Gong media organization to broadcast programs critical of the Beijing government and its human rights record
By William Lowther / Staff reporter in WASHINGTON
A shortwave radio tower in Greater Tainan.
Photo: Taipei Times
Three US congressional members have written to President Ma Ying-jeou
(馬英九) to protest plans to tear down two shortwave radio towers in
Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) and in Greater Tainan.
They say the towers — at least partly built with US funds — may still be needed to broadcast uncensored news into China.
The towers are being used by Falun Gong and its media organization, the Sound of Hope Radio Network, to transmit broadcasts that are critical of the Chinese government and its human rights record.
A statement issued by Falun Gong in Washington on Monday said that Radio Taiwan International (RTI) had already begun tearing down the towers in Greater Tainan and that requests from the US Congress to stop the demolition were being ignored.
The statement said that Beijing was putting “huge pressure” on Taiwan to stop shortwave broadcasts aimed at China.
It said that RTI had changed its mission from spreading “freedom and democracy to China” to marketing and promoting Taiwan.
The statement said the towers were built in the 1960s and 1970s, several with funding from the US military.
“RTI plans to close two major radio facilities, Huwei and Tainan substations,” it said.
It said the two radio stations had 28 shortwave radio towers equipped with antennae with a transmission power of at least 2,700 kilowatts and could cover all of China.
“The Chinese community is very scared about the power of these towers and they want the towers to be demolished,” the statement signed by Sound of Hope Radio Network president Allen Zeng said.
“Any plan to tear down these facilities is premature and should be suspended pending analysis of other potential use of the facilities,” US Representative Frank Wolf wrote in a letter to Ma.
“Any demolitions that would reduce the capability to transmit into China should be halted until alternatives can be fully explored,” US Representative Dana Rohrabacher wrote in another letter to Ma.
US Representative Christopher Smith has also written to the president to express his concern that “any teardown would undermine the purpose for which these facilities were built” and would deprive US broadcasters of a chance to save expenses.
“I believe that any plan to tear down the Tainan and Huwei facilities should be delayed until their strategic utilization by international shortwave broadcasters is fully studied,” Smith said.
RTI Tainan substation director Tseng Wen-san (曾文三) yesterday said the plan to demolish the Greater Tainan facility was made due to a river expansion project and had nothing to do with “the Chinese communists.”
“It is an established policy that the Tian Ma Radio Station [the Tainan substation] will be relocated to Yunlin County’s Baojhong Township (褒忠),” he said, adding: “After the relocation to Yunlin, no changes will be made to our international radio broadcasts.”
Additional reporting by Tsai Wen-chu
TAIPEI (AFP) – Several US legislators have urged Taiwan to stop tearing down shortwave radio transmission towers which have broadcast uncensored news to China since the 1960s.
The legislators have raised fears the move could reduce the range of the broadcasts by the state-funded Radio Taiwan International(RTI).
On Monday RTI began work to demolish towers at two radio stations in the southern cities of Tainan and Huwei.
The Tainan station, once one of the world's biggest, has 20 signal transmission towers which are each 75 metres (247 feet) high.
"I have been informed that Senators James Inhofe and Bob Corker are concerned about plans that may reduce pro-democracy shortwave broadcasts into mainland China by Radio Taiwan International," US Representative Dana Rohrabacher said in a letter to Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou.
Ma initiated the island's ongoing detente with China after being elected in 2008.
"These towers are powerful strategic assets that can broadcast uncensored news and information to all of mainland China," the letter said.
"Any demolitions that would reduce the capability to transmit into China should be halted until alternatives can be fully explored."
The move also raised eyebrows at the Sound of Hope Radio Network, a San Francisco-headquartered radio station which has entrusted RTI to broadcast Chinese-language shortwave programmes to the mainland 17 hours a day.
"Shortwave radio programmes are critical to the people in mainland China, where half of its 1.3 billion population don't know how to use keyboards. Many of them rely on shortwave radio to find the truth," Allen Zeng, president of the network, told AFP.
RTI insisted that despite the demolition of the ageing facilities, its shortwave broadcasts on behalf of clients which also include Radio Free Asia of the United States would continue.
"All the programmes transmitted through the two stations will be moved to other stations which have updated facilities and greater transmission power," an RTI publicity manager told AFP.
She said the demolition, aimed at reducing the number of RTI transmission stations to six, was in accordance with a resolution approved by parliament in 2010 to enhance RTI's efficiency.
Taiwan and China have remained technically at war since their split in 1949 at the end of a civil war, but tensions have eased markedly since Ma came to power. He was reelected in January 2012.
They say the towers — at least partly built with US funds — may still be needed to broadcast uncensored news into China.
The towers are being used by Falun Gong and its media organization, the Sound of Hope Radio Network, to transmit broadcasts that are critical of the Chinese government and its human rights record.
A statement issued by Falun Gong in Washington on Monday said that Radio Taiwan International (RTI) had already begun tearing down the towers in Greater Tainan and that requests from the US Congress to stop the demolition were being ignored.
The statement said that Beijing was putting “huge pressure” on Taiwan to stop shortwave broadcasts aimed at China.
It said that RTI had changed its mission from spreading “freedom and democracy to China” to marketing and promoting Taiwan.
The statement said the towers were built in the 1960s and 1970s, several with funding from the US military.
“RTI plans to close two major radio facilities, Huwei and Tainan substations,” it said.
It said the two radio stations had 28 shortwave radio towers equipped with antennae with a transmission power of at least 2,700 kilowatts and could cover all of China.
“The Chinese community is very scared about the power of these towers and they want the towers to be demolished,” the statement signed by Sound of Hope Radio Network president Allen Zeng said.
“Any plan to tear down these facilities is premature and should be suspended pending analysis of other potential use of the facilities,” US Representative Frank Wolf wrote in a letter to Ma.
“Any demolitions that would reduce the capability to transmit into China should be halted until alternatives can be fully explored,” US Representative Dana Rohrabacher wrote in another letter to Ma.
US Representative Christopher Smith has also written to the president to express his concern that “any teardown would undermine the purpose for which these facilities were built” and would deprive US broadcasters of a chance to save expenses.
“I believe that any plan to tear down the Tainan and Huwei facilities should be delayed until their strategic utilization by international shortwave broadcasters is fully studied,” Smith said.
RTI Tainan substation director Tseng Wen-san (曾文三) yesterday said the plan to demolish the Greater Tainan facility was made due to a river expansion project and had nothing to do with “the Chinese communists.”
“It is an established policy that the Tian Ma Radio Station [the Tainan substation] will be relocated to Yunlin County’s Baojhong Township (褒忠),” he said, adding: “After the relocation to Yunlin, no changes will be made to our international radio broadcasts.”
Additional reporting by Tsai Wen-chu
Taiwan urged to keep radio broadcasts into China
-
A man eats a meal as he listens to the radio in front of the Fujiang river in China's southwestern province of Sichuan on June 3, 2008. Several US legislators have urged Taiwan to stop tearing down shortwave radio transmission towers which have broadcast uncensored news to China since the 1960s. (AFP/File)
TAIPEI (AFP) – Several US legislators have urged Taiwan to stop tearing down shortwave radio transmission towers which have broadcast uncensored news to China since the 1960s.
The legislators have raised fears the move could reduce the range of the broadcasts by the state-funded Radio Taiwan International(RTI).
On Monday RTI began work to demolish towers at two radio stations in the southern cities of Tainan and Huwei.
The Tainan station, once one of the world's biggest, has 20 signal transmission towers which are each 75 metres (247 feet) high.
"I have been informed that Senators James Inhofe and Bob Corker are concerned about plans that may reduce pro-democracy shortwave broadcasts into mainland China by Radio Taiwan International," US Representative Dana Rohrabacher said in a letter to Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou.
Ma initiated the island's ongoing detente with China after being elected in 2008.
"These towers are powerful strategic assets that can broadcast uncensored news and information to all of mainland China," the letter said.
"Any demolitions that would reduce the capability to transmit into China should be halted until alternatives can be fully explored."
The move also raised eyebrows at the Sound of Hope Radio Network, a San Francisco-headquartered radio station which has entrusted RTI to broadcast Chinese-language shortwave programmes to the mainland 17 hours a day.
"Shortwave radio programmes are critical to the people in mainland China, where half of its 1.3 billion population don't know how to use keyboards. Many of them rely on shortwave radio to find the truth," Allen Zeng, president of the network, told AFP.
RTI insisted that despite the demolition of the ageing facilities, its shortwave broadcasts on behalf of clients which also include Radio Free Asia of the United States would continue.
"All the programmes transmitted through the two stations will be moved to other stations which have updated facilities and greater transmission power," an RTI publicity manager told AFP.
She said the demolition, aimed at reducing the number of RTI transmission stations to six, was in accordance with a resolution approved by parliament in 2010 to enhance RTI's efficiency.
Taiwan and China have remained technically at war since their split in 1949 at the end of a civil war, but tensions have eased markedly since Ma came to power. He was reelected in January 2012.
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