German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (德國之聲) found itself in the middle of a hot mess after it was discovered to have used interview clips from the PRC’s state-run China Global Television Network (CGTN), the international arm of China Central Television (央視), with no attribution whatsoever. Posted on April 10, the segment featured three Taipei residents expressing pro-unification views. The footage originally appeared on CGTN days before China’s recent aggressive military exercises in the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese-language Facebook page Translation Matters (翻譯有要緊) first exposed the issue, prompting Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to lodge a formal protest. DW later acknowledged the error, removing the contested footage. “This content was not produced by the Taipei team,” it said in its apology.
The People’s Liberation Army (解放軍) began joint military exercises around Taiwan on Tuesday this week, calling Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-Te a “parasite” in the latest escalation of Beijing’s months-long pressure campaign against Taiwan that is also a test for the United States. According to PLA Eastern Theater Command spokesman Shi Yi (施毅), the drills involve army, navy, air force and rocket forces conducting “multi-directional approaches to Taiwan island,” focusing on sea-air combat readiness, control of key areas, and land and sea strikes.
State-run Xinhua News Agency (新華社) said the exercises aim to test joint combat capabilities while serving as a serious warning to “Taiwan independence separatist forces” (台獨分裂勢力). This follows two previous military exercises conducted in the Taiwan Strait (台海) in March. The PLA described the action as “legitimate and necessary to safeguard national sovereignty and maintain national unification.”
The military maneuvers come amid heightened tensions following President Lai’s labeling of China as a “hostile foreign force” and recent shifts in U.S. diplomatic language regarding Taiwan. Beijing has consistently declared Taiwan a “red line” in China-U.S. relations and views Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party with particular hostility for what China insists on calling its “pro-independence agenda.”
Last week, Taiwan’s Commonwealth Magazine (天下) launched a free interactive data tool that maps PLA activities around Taiwan. The “Map Explorer” (地圖探索) function displays real-time trajectories of Chinese military aircraft and vessels, revealing PLA hotspots. Users can filter dates, play/pause movement tracking, and click on red dots to examine detailed maps.
