{"id":1113851,"date":"2021-12-13T08:58:53","date_gmt":"2021-12-13T13:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1113851"},"modified":"2021-12-13T08:58:55","modified_gmt":"2021-12-13T13:58:55","slug":"reuters-biden-censored-taiwan-map-at-digital-authoritarianism-panel-on-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/reuters-biden-censored-taiwan-map-at-digital-authoritarianism-panel-on-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"Reuters: Biden Censored Taiwan Map at &#039;Digital Authoritarianism&#039; Panel on Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Freuters-biden-censored-taiwan-map-at-digital-authoritarianism-panel-on-purpose%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1113851&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">The abrupt disappearance of a live feed showing Taiwan\u2019s digital minister occurred because the White House panicked over a map showing Taiwan in a different color than China, Reuters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/curious-case-map-disappearing-taiwan-minister-us-democracy-summit-2021-12-12\/\">claimed<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Audrey Tang, formally a \u201cminister without portfolio\u201d in the Taiwanese government, was speaking during President Joe Biden\u2019s \u201cSummit for Democracy,\u201d a series of video addresses from some of the world\u2019s states. Biden included the island nation of Taiwan despite the fact that the American government does not recognize Taiwan\u2019s sovereignty as doing so would immediately sever all diplomatic ties with communist China.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Taiwan is a free, democratic sovereign nation. The Chinese Communist Party falsely claims that Taiwan is a rogue \u201cprovince\u201d of China and that its president, Tsai Ing-wen, and her administration are dangerous separatists with no legitimacy, despite being freely elected by their own people, unlike anyone in the communist Chinese government. Beijing, which has historically never ruled Taiwan, automatically cuts all diplomatic ties to any country that recognizes Taiwan\u2019s sovereignty. Xi Jinping has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2019\/10\/14\/bones-ground-to-powder-xi-jinping-threatens-gruesome-death-for-hong-kong-taiwan\/\">threatened<\/a>&nbsp;that anyone who acknowledges that Taiwan is a country will have their \u201cbones ground to powder.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tang attended the virtual summit to discuss how Taiwan uses the internet and emerging technologies to improve its diplomatic governance. In doing so, Tang showed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.civicus.org\/index.php\/media-resources\/media-releases\/5501-civicus-monitor-2021-report\">map<\/a> of Asia created by the South African human rights organization Civicus showing Taiwan as the freest country on the continent. Civicus uses various shades of green, yellow, and red to rate freedom around the world, using bright green to mean freest and bright red to mean most repressive. Taiwan received the NGOs only bright green rating in Asia; China appeared in bright red.<\/p>\n<p>Tang\u2019s feed momentarily cut off when the map appeared on screen and returned in audio-only form. The White House aired a Disclaimer reading, \u201cany opinions expressed by individuals on this panel are those of the individual, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States government\u201d as Tang described Taiwan correctly as a \u201ccountry.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>Ironically, Tang\u2019s statement was part of a panel discussion on \u201ccountering digital authoritarianism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Biden\u2019s State Department <a href=\"https:\/\/focustaiwan.tw\/politics\/202112130009\">called<\/a> the disturbance a \u201ctechnical issue\u201d and an \u201chonest mistake.\u201d The State Department has uploaded the full video, including the map, onto YouTube and shared a link to it on the State Department website.<\/p>\n<p>Much of Tang\u2019s statement urges the maintenance of a fully open internet and emphasizes access to the internet to foster democratic participation. Tang calls broadband access \u201ca human right\u201d and explains how Taiwan has used popularly sourced contract tracing systems \u2013 rather than a centralized government database of private medical information \u2013 to contain the Chinese coronavirus, which Taiwan was the first nation to warn the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) about outside of China (the agency \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2020\/03\/23\/taiwan-world-health-organization-mostly-ignored-coronavirus-warnings-in-december\/\">mostly ignored<\/a>\u201d Taiwan as, at China\u2019s behest, it does not recognize Taiwan as a country or allow it to participate in global health initiatives).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe believe that a completely open environment with free speech uncensored is perfect for letting democracy flourish,\u201d Tang said.<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"2021-12-10 Summit for Democracy \u2014 Affirming Democratic Values with Technology\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BkewUzZKanU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThey choked,\u201d an unnamed source said of the White House to Reuters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was completely an internal overreaction,\u201d a second anonymous source confirmed.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>According to the Reuters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/asia-pacific\/curious-case-map-disappearing-taiwan-minister-us-democracy-summit-2021-12-12\/\">report<\/a>, White House officials feared the different colors on the map were meant to highlight the fact that Taiwan is a different country from China \u2013 despite the fact that China, Laos, and Vietnam are all the same color.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne source said the map generated an instant email flurry among U.S. officials and the White House National Security Council angrily contacted the State Department, concerned it appeared to show Taiwan as a distinct country,\u201d Reuters reported. \u201cWashington complained to Taiwan\u2019s government, which in turn was angry that Tang\u2019s video had been cut.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among the concerns from Biden officials was the fact that the map apparently \u201chad not appeared in \u2018dry-run\u2019 versions of the presentation before the summit.\u201d One of the anonymous sources speaking to Reuters noted, however, that the map was not a political one \u2013 meaning it was not showing the borders of sovereign states \u2013 and that little dispute exists that Taiwan is a significantly freer society than China, the point the map was made to show.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>The National Security Council (NSC) denied the claim that the White House cut the feed intentionally in a statement to Reuters. Tang told Reuters of the incident, \u201cNo, I do not believe this has anything to do with the Civicus map in my slides, or US allies in Asia for that matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>On Twitter, Tang applauded the event as \u201cstellar.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"11.169398907104\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SummitForDemocracy?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SummitForDemocracy<\/a> was stellar. \ud83c\udf87<\/p>\n<p>I urge all free countries to invest like <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Taiwan?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Taiwan<\/a> in civic technologies to strengthen democracy. \ud83c\uddf9\ud83c\uddfc<\/p>\n<p>Reliable infrastructure makes our lives simpler &amp; more convenient. Public digital infrastructure does the same for democracy. \ud83d\udcbb<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LLAP?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LLAP<\/a> \ud83d\udd96 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/E76tn0997x\">pic.twitter.com\/E76tn0997x<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Audrey Tang \u5510\u9cf3 (@audreyt) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/audreyt\/status\/1469213565785894912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 10, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Chinese Communist Party repeatedly complained that Biden had not invited it, arguably the world\u2019s most repressive regime, to the \u201cSummit for Democracy.\u201d On Taiwan\u2019s invitation, however, Chinese state media outlets appeared unimpressed, calling the invite a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/11\/24\/china-joe-biden-invite-to-taiwan-for-democracy-summit-wimpy\">wimpy<\/a>\u201d move to anger Beijing.<\/p>\n<p>The bizarre video feed incident adds to a rapidly growing catalog of confusing Biden administration messages on Taiwan. Biden himself has repeatedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/10\/22\/backflip-white-house-contradicts-joe-bidens-promise-to-defend-taiwan\/\">asserted<\/a> that the United States has a \u201csacred\u201d commitment to go to war with China if it invades Taiwan, at one point this year comparing that alleged duty to the obligations established by the North Atlantic Treaty, which created NATO. In reality, America has not treaty bound itself to defend Taiwan with military action, as it does not even recognize its basic existence as a country.<\/p>\n<p>The White House has eagerly urged the world to disregard Biden\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe U.S. defence relationship with Taiwan is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act. We will uphold our commitment under the act, we will continue to support Taiwan\u2019s self-defence, and we will continue to oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo,\u201d a White House spokesperson said in October.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19109818\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"34\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1235794518-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-19109818\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/GettyImages-1235794518-1-1024x681-1.jpg\" alt width=\"990\" height=\"658\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>A CH-47 Chinook helicopter carries a Taiwan flag during national day celebrations in Taipei on October 10, 2021. (SAM YEH\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Beijing has crafted an image of not taking Biden seriously. Notoriously misogynistic Chinese government propagandist Chen Weihua <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/10\/22\/chinese-propagandist-dismisses-taiwan-defense-biden-too-old-to-think-clearly\/\">said<\/a> in October, the last time Biden claimed America had a commitment to militarily defend Taiwan, that the president was \u201cjust too old to think clearly.\u201d The state-run&nbsp;<em>Global Times<\/em> newspaper asserted, \u201cBiden does not have the political authority to announce that the U.S. military will \u2018defend Taiwan\u2019 when a war breaks out, nor does he have the confidence to have a strategic collision with [China] in the Taiwan Straits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>During a video conversation with Biden, Xi threatened the United States just in case Biden did consider acting on Taiwan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuch moves are extremely dangerous, just like playing with fire,\u201d Xi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/asia\/2021\/11\/16\/worlds-worst-human-rights-criminal-xi-jinping-threatens-to-burn-biden-over-taiwan\/\">said<\/a>, according to Chinese government media. \u201cWhoever plays with fire will get burnt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Xi\u2019s threat was notably absent from White House summaries of the conversation.<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Frances Martel on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1639477690157000&amp;usg=AOvVaw29dcNSTYT5McWfbdfXl5JK\">Facebook<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1639477690157000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1ztzc_Dkjf0WYaZCcDSFkr\">Twitter.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The abrupt disappearance of a live feed showing Taiwan\u2019s digital minister occurred because the White House panicked over a map showing Taiwan in a different color than China, Reuters claimed &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1113851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1113851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1113851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1113851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1113851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1113851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}