During a newscast Wednesday morning on the Chinese government-affiliated television system (CTS), part of the public Taiwan Broadcasting System, the network ran several fictional news tickers about China firing missiles at the capital, Taipei.
“New Taipei City was hit by communist military rockets; the port of Taipei has exploded, facilities and ships have been damaged,” one of the news tickers said. “It is suspected that enemy agents set arson and explosives at the Banqiao railway station.”
Another ticker said: “The Chinese communists have stepped up their war preparations and (Taiwan’s) president has issued an emergency order.”
Communist authorities in Beijing have refused to rule out the use of force to gain control of Taiwan and have militarily pressured the island, flying warplanes into its air defense identification zone and conducting naval drills around it.
Last week, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted joint combat readiness exercises across Taiwan as a group of six bipartisan United States lawmakers met Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei.
US support for Taiwan, particularly through arms sales, has angered Beijing.
Taiwan claims it is determined to defend itself against all forms of aggression. Last week, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry released a Civil Defense Handbook detailing how residents should respond in the event of a military conflict.
On Wednesday, after the false reports surfaced on screen, CTS issued a public apology, saying the messages were created for use during fire drills and were not intended for broadcast to the public.
The network had also run news tickers falsely claiming that there had been panic buying across Taiwan due to the military conflict and that a magnitude 7 earthquake had struck New Taipei City.
In a public apology released later on Wednesday, CTS said: “In addition to urgent clarification and apologies to our audience through our presenters, CTS has also aired our apology on our various channels. We have also penalized relevant staff, supervisors and managers for dereliction of duty.”
The flawed report was widely circulated on social media platforms, with some calling for an investigation into the TV station.
Taiwan’s National Communications Commission said in a statement that CTS is suspected of violating public disorder laws. It announced that it would launch an investigation into the incident.
The commission said it had received 10 complaints from viewers, adding that the network could be fined up to NTD 2 million ($68,530) for its violations.
Taiwan’s Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said in parliament on Wednesday that he was “surprised” by the incident and urged the public to verify the information before commenting.
“This is a good lesson for our friends in the media industry,” he said.