《TAIPEI TIMES》 Culture ministry cuts threaten Taiwan’s voice

Minister of Culture Li Yuan, center, speaks to reporters in Taipei on Saturday. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times

PRECEDENTED TARGET: To destroy a nation, first erase its history; to destroy a people, first destroy its culture,’ the culture minister quoted as opposition budget cuts hit

By Hsu Yung-ching and Fion Khan / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Minister of Culture Li Yuan （李遠） on Saturday lamented the erosion of Taiwan’s cultural sector, saying that opposition parties used cuts to the ministry’s funding, saying that, “to destroy a people, first destroy its culture.”

The Ministry of Culture’s proposed publicity budget of NT$47.38 million （US$1.48 million） was deleted in the budget cuts passed in the legislature on Friday, while funding for the Public Television Service （PTS） was reduced by NT$21.85 million and Taiwan Plus saw its budget cut by NT$200 million.

Li on Saturday said the ministry’s publicity budget has been slashed for a second consecutive year.

The ministry’s proposed publicity budget of NT$59.43 million was also deleted from last fiscal year’s general budget, while an additional NT$280 million budget request was rejected, he added.

Li said he initially found it hard to understand why the ministry has been targeted in the past few years, as the ministry’s budget accounts for less than 1 percent of the general budget.

He said he believes it is part of the opposition parties’ plan to “eliminate the nation by eliminating its culture,” he said, quoting poet Gong Zizhen （龔自珍）, who wrote: “To destroy a nation, first erase its history; to destroy a people, first destroy its culture.”

“To silence a nation’s voice, first cut its media communications budget,” Li said, calling it a “horrendous” plan by the Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） and the Taiwan People’s Party （TPP）.

About NT$1 billion from the ministry’s budget was cut, which undermines Taiwan’s ability to communicate with the international community and harms local cultural workers and organizations, he said.

A budget cut for two consecutive years has severely impacted subsidized people and organizations, while freezing and slashing the already modest PTS budget would mean funding cuts for struggling production teams that rely on PTS grants, he said.

Taiwan Creative Content Agency had already signed contracts for all activities in the second half of the year, he said, questioning how it could continue operating after its funding was slashed.

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Rosalia Wu （吳思瑤） said the KMT suppressed Taiwanese culture during the martial law era, and now KMT and TPP lawmakers have become Chinese collaborators by acting as “executioners of culture.”

In response, KMT Legislator Lo Chih-chiang （羅智強） yesterday questioned whether Li was defending public policy or his job.

Saying that the PTS-affiliated English-language channel TaiwanPlus was set to receive almost NT$10 billion in funding over eight years, calling its performance lackluster, “shouldn’t such a disaster be subject to review?” he asked.

Rather than reform plans and demonstrating the effectiveness of ministry programs, Li had chosen to politicize the issue by accusing lawmakers of seeking to “destroy the nation and erase its history,” Lo said.

KMT Legislator Lo Ting-wei （羅廷瑋）, who serves as the convener of the legislative Education and Culture Committee, criticized Li for calling the budget cuts an attempt to “‘destroy the country, people and culture,’ as if questioning the Ministry of Culture were equivalent to harming Taiwan’s culture.”

“The culture ministry is not synonymous with culture itself, nor is the DPP the sole representative of Taiwan,” he said. “The responsibility of those in power is to create a better environment for culture to thrive, not to claim ownership of it. Nor should they hide behind culture whenever they face scrutiny and portray all critics as enemies of culture.”

TPP caucus whip Jacky Chen Ching-lung （陳清龍） called Li’s remarks “fearmongering,” saying that the legislature reviewed the budget and exercised oversight lawfully.

The ministry still has more than NT$28 billion under the latest budget allocation, he said, adding that Li should step down if the ministry could not deliver results.