Radio Taiwan International (RTI)

Radio Taiwan International traces its origins to the Central Broadcasting Station established by the Kuomintang in Nanjing on 1 August 1928. During the Second Sino-Japanese War its operations relocated with the Nationalist government, through Hankou and then Chongqing, and the broadcaster moved to Taiwan with the Kuomintang in 1949. It used the Voice of Free China identity from 1949; launched Voice of Asia as an additional service in 1979; and, following its reorganisation as a statutory foundation, began operating as Radio Taipei International in 1998. RTI’s current historical presentation dates the Radio Taiwan International and Voice of Taiwan identity to 2005. Today it provides international media services in twenty languages across radio and digital platforms. RTI has also been designated a level-one national critical infrastructure facility since 2018.

Media assets

Core radio and programme services: Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, Cantonese, English, Japanese, German, French, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian and Korean

Additional digital-language services: Arabic, Burmese, Filipino, Khmer, Ukrainian and Malay

RTI distributes content through terrestrial and shortwave radio, internet streaming, its website and app, podcasts, video and social-media platforms. Its current corporate materials describe an overall international service in twenty languages reaching audiences across more than 140 countries.

Ownership and governance

The present RTI was established under the Radio Taiwan International Establishment Act, enacted in 1996, and formally reorganised as a statutory foundation in 1998. The Act originally placed it under the Government Information Office; when that office was abolished in 2012, supervisory responsibility transferred to the Ministry of Culture.

The Act defines RTI as a foundation and sets out an explicitly international public mission: disseminating news and information abroad, strengthening international understanding of Taiwan, serving overseas communities and broadcasting information to mainland China to promote communication and understanding across the Taiwan Strait. Its funding may come from government budget subsidies, donations, service income and other revenue.

RTI has a Board of Directors of 11 to 15 members and a Supervisory Board of three to five. All are selected by the Ministry of Culture from categories specified in law and implementing regulations.

Five board positions are reserved for government representatives: one each from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of National Defense, Overseas Community Affairs Council, Mainland Affairs Council and Ministry of Culture. A further two to four directors come from the media sector, two or three are scholars or experts and two or three are designated as impartial or respected members of society. No single political party may account for more than half of the board.

The Supervisory Board contains one Ministry of Culture representative and between two and four members with legal or accounting backgrounds. It supervises RTI’s operations and financial position and reviews its final accounts.

The Board of Directors exercises substantial institutional authority. Under the Establishment Act it determines RTI’s operating policy, approves annual plans, budgets and accounts, determines programme policy and development direction, supervises implementation and appoints the president.

The tenth board took office in February 2025 with fifteen directors and five supervisors. Five of the fifteen directors are statutory government representatives. At its first meeting on 4 February the board re-elected Cheryl Lai as chair. On 13 February it approved the continuation of Chang Jui-Chang as president together with the broadcaster’s vice-presidents. Both remained in their positions during the 2026 review period.

RTI has an authorised establishment of 260 positions organised across seven departments: Chinese Language Programming, International Language Programming, News, Engineering and Information, Administrative Management, Public Service and the RTI Academy. For 2026 it budgeted personnel costs for 250 positions rather than the full authorised establishment.

The board has set four institutional operating principles: using RTI’s multilingual capacity to communicate Taiwan’s values internationally; adapting to technological change and developing as a new-media organisation; monitoring cross-strait developments and reporting conditions in China; and developing additional sources of value and revenue to strengthen the organisation’s finances.

Source of funding and budget

RTI is predominantly financed by the state. The Radio Taiwan International Establishment Act expressly provides for funding through appropriations from its supervisory authority, alongside donations, service income and other revenue.

RTI’s 2024 final accounts recorded total revenue of TWD 550.45 million and expenditure of TWD 616.07 million, producing a deficit of approximately TWD 65.62 million. The basic government operating subsidy was TWD 450.42 million, equivalent to 81.83 per cent of total revenue. Service income and financial and other non-operating income accounted for the remainder.

Its published 2026 corporate budget again provides for a basic government operating subsidy of TWD 450.42 million. Against planned total income of TWD 534.06 million, that represents approximately 84.34 per cent. Planned expenditure is TWD 678.25 million, producing a projected deficit of approximately TWD 144.19 million. The widening projected deficit has consequently become a significant financial issue.

The Ministry of Culture’s 2026 budget documentation likewise included TWD 450.42 million for RTI, unchanged from the preceding year. Taiwan’s central government budget was not finally passed until 14 August 2026 after an unprecedented delay. State Media Monitor did not identify sufficiently clear post-passage documentation establishing whether general cuts or freezes adopted during the final parliamentary process subsequently altered the amount ultimately available to RTI. The TWD 450.42 million figure should therefore be understood as RTI’s published 2026 budgeted government subsidy rather than a confirmed final cash transfer for the year.

The most recent final accounts located by State Media Monitor are for 2024. The Ministry of Culture’s public disclosure page listed RTI’s 2025 and 2026 budget books but had not published a 2025 final account in the material reviewed for this update.

RTI also generates service-related income through activities including content cooperation, programme and transmission arrangements, licensing and facility rental. Material produced by external partner broadcasters under relay or cooperation arrangements should be distinguished from RTI-originated editorial output; State Media Monitor did not establish a basis for treating such content as evidence of government control over RTI journalism.

Editorial independence

RTI operates within a strongly state-managed institutional structure but available evidence supports substantial editorial autonomy in practice.

The principal structural vulnerability lies in governance. The Ministry of Culture appoints all directors and supervisors, five directors are representatives of government bodies, and the board itself has statutory authority to determine programme policy and appoint the broadcaster’s president. Unlike the Public Television Service Foundation, RTI has no cross-party parliamentary review mechanism insulating board appointments from the executive.

Its statutory mandate also places RTI directly within Taiwan’s international communication architecture. The Establishment Act requires the broadcaster to communicate information abroad, contribute to Taiwan’s international image and provide services directed towards mainland China. The board’s current operating principles similarly include communicating Taiwan’s values and reporting conditions in China.

Institutional cooperation with government bodies reflects this role. In March 2025 RTI signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of National Defense’s Political Warfare Bureau covering national-defence education, media-resource sharing and international strategic communication. Such cooperation is relevant to understanding RTI’s external-communication function but does not by itself establish governmental direction of its routine newsroom decisions.

State Media Monitor identified no credible evidence during the review period that government officials directly instructed RTI journalists on individual stories or dictated routine editorial output.

There is also positive evidence concerning professional newsroom standards. RTI was certified under Reporters Without Borders’ Journalism Trust Initiative on 29 January 2025, becoming the first Taiwanese and first Chinese-language news organisation to obtain the certification. JTI assesses institutional transparency and professional editorial processes rather than political independence itself, but the certification provides relevant independent evidence about RTI’s newsroom governance and accountability standards.

RTI’s position is therefore best understood as one in which state authorities exercise substantial institutional and strategic control over governance, financing and mission while available evidence does not show that this has translated into direct control of day-to-day journalism.

AI and digital policy

RTI has begun substantial operational use of artificial intelligence, particularly in multilingual services, but State Media Monitor did not locate a comprehensive publicly accessible RTI policy document governing all editorial uses of AI.

Its AI transformation work includes machine-assisted translation aimed particularly at migrant workers and new residents. In 2026 RTI publicly described the use of AI to make content available in Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese and Filipino and subsequently launched RtiTalk, a multilingual information and participation platform using generative AI to operate across Chinese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Thai and Filipino and English interfaces.

In a public presentation at National Chengchi University in 2026, RTI vice-president Chris Liu described four principles governing the broadcaster’s approach: transparency, authorisation, non-maleficence and human involvement in decision-making. He said AI-generated or AI-assisted content should be clearly labelled, data and intellectual-property licences respected, harmful applications avoided and human judgment retained.

These statements establish an organisational approach to responsible AI use, but State Media Monitor did not identify a publicly accessible governance document setting out mandatory RTI-wide requirements concerning human verification, model provenance, record-keeping or disclosure in every relevant editorial circumstance.

Three wider national frameworks are relevant.

Taiwan’s Artificial Intelligence Basic Act passed the Legislative Yuan in December 2025, was promulgated on 14 January 2026 and entered into force that day. It establishes general principles including human autonomy, transparency and accountability and requires sectoral authorities to develop governance appropriate to the risks of AI applications.

The National Science and Technology Council also maintains reference guidelines for generative AI use by Executive Yuan bodies. These are expressly non-binding but require covered government bodies to retain professional judgment, protect sensitive information and disclose AI use when it assists in official duties or public services. Their direct application to a statutory foundation such as RTI should not be assumed beyond their stated scope.

On 10 June 2026, the National Communications Commission adopted Guidelines for the Use of AI in Broadcast Media News Production. These constitute administrative guidance for broadcaster self-regulation rather than a separate binding statute. They call for human verification of AI-assisted news, clear and continuous labelling of AI-generated material, disclosure of third-party AI sources where relevant, consent for AI-replicated voices and particular caution in highly sensitive public-interest reporting.

Classification rationale

RTI remains classified Independent State Funded and State Managed (ISFM).

Its funding is predominantly public. The basic government operating subsidy accounted for 81.83 per cent of 2024 revenue, and RTI’s 2026 budget again envisages TWD 450.42 million in basic public subsidy, equivalent to approximately 84.34 per cent of planned income. The state-funding condition is clearly met.

Its governance is state-managed. The Ministry of Culture selects the entire Board of Directors and Supervisory Board from statutory categories. Five of the current fifteen directors are formal representatives of government bodies, and the board has legal authority over operating and programme policy and appoints the president. RTI therefore lacks the degree of institutional separation from executive appointment found in Taiwan’s Public Television Service Foundation.

Its editorial independence is nevertheless maintained in practice on the evidence available. State Media Monitor identified no credible evidence of government officials directing individual stories or controlling day-to-day news decisions. RTI’s Journalism Trust Initiative certification provides additional evidence of formal professional and accountability processes within the newsroom.

The independent finding carries substantial qualifications. RTI’s statutory purpose explicitly places it within Taiwan’s external communication system; its board includes representatives of the foreign affairs, defence, overseas-community, cross-strait and culture authorities; and it collaborates directly with government agencies on international communication. These features demonstrate state management and strategic alignment but do not, without evidence of intervention in editorial decisions, establish state control of journalism.

The classification therefore rests on a clear distinction between institutional control and editorial control: the former is extensive and is reflected in the State Managed component; the latter was not established during the review period, supporting retention in the independent family.

August 2026