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🇹🇼 Taiwan /Culture & Society

Taiwanese AI founder slams media for 'hate Japan' drama over PM's thank-you list

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Taiwanese AI Lab founder Du Yi-chin criticized media outlets for sensationalizing a perceived "omission" of Taiwan in Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's initial thank-you list after an earthquake.
  • Takaichi later issued a complete list that included numerous countries and international organizations, refuting claims that Taiwan was deliberately excluded.
  • Du accused some media of fabricating a diplomatic slight to incite anti-Japanese sentiment and damage Taiwan's international reputation and bilateral trust.

Taiwanese AI Lab founder Du Yi-chin has strongly criticized local media for what he describes as a fabricated "hate Japan" drama, accusing them of deliberately misrepresenting Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's initial social media post acknowledging international support following a strong earthquake in Kumamoto.

Taiwan staged a rotten 'omitting Taiwan' hate-Japan drama.

— Du Yi-chinDescribing his view of how some Taiwanese media outlets framed the initial social media post by Japan's Prime Minister.

Many Taiwanese media outlets initially reported that Takaichi's post, issued on July 30, "completely omitted Taiwan" in its list of thank-yous. This sparked a wave of online commentary and coordinated social media activity alleging that Japan was "looking down on Taiwan" or that "Taiwanese subservience was rejected." Du characterized these claims as a cognitive warfare tactic, often employed by Chinese accounts, to create emotional leverage by questioning who donated or expressed gratitude.

However, Takaichi subsequently issued a more comprehensive list that included a wide array of countries and international organizations. Du pointed out that if one were to interpret "omission" strictly based on not naming every single entity individually, then dozens of countries and organizations, not just Taiwan, were not explicitly listed in the initial, more general acknowledgment. He argued that the original post was a broad expression of gratitude for widespread support, not a deliberate exclusion of any specific nation.

If one insists on using 'not naming individually' to operate 'omission,' then it wasn't only Taiwan that was 'omitted,' but dozens of countries and international organizations.

— Du Yi-chinExplaining that the initial list was general and not an intentional exclusion of Taiwan.

Du accused some Taiwanese media of "bloodthirsty" opportunism, deliberately cropping the original message and creating sensational headlines like "Omitting Taiwan" without providing the original context or link. He believes these outlets exploited the public's limited awareness of diplomatic issues to foster anti-Japanese sentiment and exaggerate non-existent rifts between Taiwan and Japan. This, he contends, ultimately harms Taiwan's international media reputation and the mutual trust between the people of Taiwan and Japan.

Some Taiwanese media outlets' bloodthirsty opportunism, seeing a gap and inserting themselves, deliberately cropped a general thank-you message into a headline of 'omitting Taiwan.'

— Du Yi-chinAccusing media of sensationalizing the story for clicks and to incite negative sentiment.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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