ENOUGH FUNDING? Lawmakers questioned whether government subsidies to cultural production industries are enough to keep up with China and South Korea

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 20, 2018
By: Shelley Shan  /  Staff reporter

Lawmakers at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee yesterday questioned the government’s plan to invest NT$10 billion (US$342.45 million) in the nation’s film and television industries to counter 31 incentives China announced last month, which target Taiwanese businesses, civic groups, cultural workers and artists, saying that the fund would merely be a “snack” rather than a “nutritional supplement.”

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) said the incentive program would lift the limits imposed on the number of Taiwanese working on TV programs, TV series and films in China.

It would also remove the cap on the number of Taiwanese produced films and TV series that Chinese film studios, radio stations, television stations, Internet service providers and cable television networks were allowed to import, he said.

China previously imposed various limits on films and television series jointly produced by Taiwan and China, including ratios for Taiwanese to Chinese staff and Taiwanese to Chinese funding, Yen said, adding that it also stipulated how much of the storyline should involve China.    [FULL  STORY]