China’s Phoenix TV faces closure in Taiwan

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s government declared Phoenix TV a Chinesefunded company on Wednesday, a move that will force the network to close its office on the island.

Taipei has imposed tighter restrictions on Chinese companies seeking to invest on the island amid lingering political and military tensions between the two sides.

Beijing has ramped up pressure since Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, as she rejects its stance that the island is part of “one China”.

China views self-ruled democratic Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.

On Wednesday, the Mainland Affairs Council — Taiwan’s top China policy-making body — said “stock transfers and personnel changes” had turned Phoenix TV into a de facto state-controlled entity.

Authorities have demanded the company either stop operating in Taiwan, pull its investment or “rectify” the situation, the statement said.

Phoenix TV’s offices in Taipei and Hong Kong did not respond to requests for comment.

Headquartered in Hong Kong, Phoenix TV is partially stateowned and offers Mandarin and Cantonese language programming including news that hews to Beijing’s government.

Its audience is mostly Chinese speakers in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan as well as the overseas ethnic Chinese diaspora.

Filings with the Hong Kong stock exchange show its largest shareholder is Bauhinia Holdings, a Chinese government-owned company.

Taiwan’s Liberty Times newspaper reported Wednesday that Phoenix TV was planning to close its office in Taipei next month and lay off all 25 Taiwanese employees after a six-month-long negotiation with regulators made no headway.

Under Taiwan’s regulations, a company is considered a Chinese investment if a Chinese entity owns more than 30 percent of its shares or has “effective control” over its operations.

Online marketplace Taobao Taiwan, registered as a foreign firm through its operator — a UK venture investment company — was forced to close in 2020 after the government ruled that it was controlled by Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba.