Michael Turton argues that international media’s crass exploitation of cross-Strait tensions plays right into Beijing’s hands.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/04/10
By: Michael Turton

Knowing that sex sells, the international media routinely sexes up stories about Taiwan by exploiting the idea of (constantly rising) tensions to drive clicks.

Central to this apparatus is the ideological construct that China-Taiwan relations are a site of tensions driven by Taiwan’s actions, to which China reacts without any agency of its own, as if its reactions are involuntary reflexes rather than policy choices. For example, earlier this month Associated Press (AP) ran a story on phone scammers from Taiwan leagued with Chinese criminal gangs, who operate in many countries, and their efforts to con Chinese citizens.   [FULL  STORY]