Skip to main content

Pro-China Snack Attack

At the Beijing Cross-Strait summit, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council condemned Want Want China Times Media Group for sovereignty-damaging comments.
|

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit in Beijing that it said damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China and contravened cross-strait regulations. “We are Chinese,” Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭) said at the May 28 summit, referring to China as the “motherland” and Taiwan as “China Taiwan.”

The MAC said the media group, which frequently conveys what critics in Taiwan regard as pro-China positions, had become “a pawn in the CCP’s united front work against Taiwan.” It said it would examine whether Want Want’s actions violated regulations prohibiting cooperation with China’s party, government, or military apparatus. Tsai Wang-ting is the third son of firm founder Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), who succeeded his father as chairman of the snack food company Want Want China in 1987.

Lingua Sinica is an interactive online resource under the China Media Project (CMP) that explores the capacity and sustainability of Chinese-language media environments globally in their full domestic context and traces the lines of impact and engagement by PRC media and institutions.

More Stories from this Region

Dynastic Differences

Beijing’s film celebrating the 1683 conquest of Taiwan backfires,prompting authorities to censor criticism.

Bullying Bylines

Beijing’s official news agency pushes “one country, two systems” talks for Taiwan.

Imperious Interviews

KMT chair’s Russia remarks spark debate, but the interviewer’s confrontational style draws criticism from veteran Taiwan journalists.

Attention Hogs

Oversimplified social media posts— even if the reporting behind them is sound — can land professional media in the muck.

Manufacturing Dissent

AI-generated protest videos on TikTok blur reality, showing how disinformation cuts in many directions.

Talking Heads in Taiwan

A Japanese political scientist accuses a paper in Taiwan of fabricating quotes in its coverage of Taiwan’s KMT leadership election.

Country and Regional Context

BACK TO MAP