Taiwan - Media

Telecommunications services are owned by the government. By 2000 there were 12.5 mainline telephone subscribers in Taiwan with an additional 16 million cellular phone subscribers. Nearly all telephone service is automatic. The postal service is managed by the Directorate General of Posts under the Ministry of Communications.

Radio broadcasting stations in Taiwan are under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications. As of 1999 there were 218 AM and 333 FM radio stations and 29 television stations. The largest network is the Broadcasting Corp. of China, which operates three systems: an overseas service, known as the Voice of Free China; the mainland service, known as the Central Broadcasting Station, aimed at the Chinese mainland; and the domestic service. These stations broadcast in 14 languages and dialects. Television was introduced in 1962. In 1997 there were 386 radios and 48 television sets per 1,000 population. In 2001, there were 11.6 million Internet subscribers served by about eight service providers.

The leading newspapers and estimated 2002 daily circulation are as follows:

	CIRCULATION
T ' AIPEI
United Daily News 1,200,000
China Times 1,200,000
Central Daily News 600,000
Min Sheng Daily	556,640
Liberty Times	500,000
Taiwan Hsin Sheng Pao	460,000
China Times Express	400,000
TAINAN
China Daily News	670,000

The Central News Agency was established on the mainland by the KMT in 1924.

Though authorities generally respect constitutionally provided rights to free speech and free press, these rights are formally circumscribed by a law excluding the advocacy of communism or division of national territory. Controls over radio and television are said to be under a process of liberalization and privatization.