Taiwan's constitution offers strong free speech protections. But a recent case, in which a Chinese influencer advocating for unification with China had her residency revoked, is revealing the boundaries to those protections. TaiwanPlus spoke to Jimmy Chia-Shin Hsu, research professor of law at Academia Sinica, to learn more about the limits of Taiwan's free speech laws and how Chinese citizens in particular are regulated.
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00:00In general, what kind of free speech protections does Taiwan have compared to other democracies?
00:05Well, in general, Taiwan enjoys a high level of free speech protection,
00:12not unlike other advanced liberal democracies.
00:16I think Taiwan enjoys consistently high scores on Freedom House, on civil and political liberties.
00:23Taiwan's constitutional protection has been influenced a lot by the U.S. First Amendment jurisprudence.
00:31Basically, the government is discouraged to regulate speech directly targeting its content.
00:39When it comes to content-neutral regulations...
00:44There's been a recent case of a Chinese social media influencer
00:48who is married to a Taiwanese citizen and living in Taiwan,
00:52but is herself not a Taiwanese citizen, getting her residency revoked for making videos supporting unification with China.
01:01Would free speech protections in Taiwan extend to someone like that?
01:06There is actually a gray area in terms of this free speech protection enjoyed by resident aliens.
01:15Mainlanders constitute a category of itself
01:20because it is regulated under a special statute.
01:25Given the current circumstances, it actually would afford them even less civil rights protection
01:34in contrast to other foreigners because the administration can always say that
01:39we're regulating a group of people who come from an enemy state.
01:47I have serious reservations about its constitutionality, but it is the reality on the ground.
01:54But when does political speech become a security threat?
01:57You know, it's often said that free speech doesn't protect yelling fire in a crowded theater.
02:02Is that the kind of standard that's in use in Taiwan?
02:06You know, as a free speech scholar, I think it's not a particularly good idea just to target a political speech like this.
02:16Free speech is often counterintuitive because it is precisely because we hear things offensive.
02:25We hear things that we hate, that we need free speech protection.
02:30And we need it because a democratic society should be tolerant.
02:35So you just mentioned, you know, a shouting fire in a crowded theater.
02:40And that has to do with a clear and present danger, not just speech.
02:45Try to win over their hearts and mind instead of just shut them up.
02:53Because other than those, you know, mainlander resident aliens,
02:59there could well be a group of people in Taiwan who thinks the same thing.
03:04How do you win them over? How do you build a stronger Taiwan?
03:09You don't act like the mainland.