Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

CTi News’ six-year broadcasting license is set to expire on Dec. 11. It remains unclear whether it will be renewed, and many are calling on the National Communications Commission (NCC) not to renew it due to the channel’s pro-China leanings.

Beijing is worried, but dares not say anything for fear of making the case for the critics of the news channel. However, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is throwing its full weight behind a campaign for CTi News’ license to be renewed, decrying damage to freedom of expression in its opening salvo. If the situation were not so serious, it would have been comical.

On July 23, in a speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in California, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized China, saying: “We opened our arms to Chinese citizens, only to see the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] exploit our free and open society. China sent propagandists into our press conferences, our research centers, our high schools, our colleges, and even into our PTA [parent-teacher association] meetings.”

On Oct. 14, Pompeo and US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos sent a joint letter to state commissioners of education, saying that Confucius Classrooms — a subset of China’s Confucius Institutes — are a government influence operation masquerading as a cultural and language organization, and that they should not be allowed in the US’ educational system.