TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Culture Minister Li Yuan (李遠) on Thursday pledged to reform the Taiwan Creative Content Agency's (TAICCA) film investment review process after apologizing for the government's losses on the film “Kung Fu.”
During a legislative committee meeting, KMT Legislator Lo Chih-chiang (羅智強) said the culture ministry provided about NT$5.3 million (US$165,000) in subsidies for the film, while TAICCA invested NT$100.7 million through the National Development Fund, per ETtoday. He noted that despite the film's NT$265 million production budget, it earned only NT$46.9 million at the box office, resulting in substantial losses.
Lo argued that the investment diverted resources from emerging directors and production teams. He proposed freezing 20% of the ministry's operations and development budget, or about NT$150 million.
KMT Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋) added that more comprehensive reviews before and after investments could reduce the concentration of resources in individual projects and strengthen public confidence in government-backed cultural investments.
Li said the ministry's decision was based on novelist and filmmaker Ke Jing-teng's (柯景騰) previous box-office success, along with the long absence of martial arts films from Taiwan's film industry, per UP Media. He apologized to taxpayers and supporters of Taiwan's film industry for what he described as the investment's "jaw-dropping" performance.
Li said the ministry would shift away from making high-risk investments in individual projects and instead invest through funds or investment firms, per Liberty Times. He also said the ministry would establish a new review process for the NT$10 billion investment program funded by the National Development Fund.
Lo later revised his proposal, seeking instead to freeze NT$11.5 million of TAICCA's budget until the ministry submits a written report and receives legislative approval to use the funds.
Li later clarified that his apology was for the system that resulted in the government's financial losses, not for the decision to invest in “Kung Fu,” per Tai Sounds. He said he was not criticizing either the investment itself or the review panel that approved it.
Lo also questioned the operations of Taiwanplus, arguing that the government's roughly NT$1 billion investment had not produced results that justified its budget, per UDN. He proposed freezing half of Taiwanplus' budget and cutting NT$20 million.
Li said Taiwanplus' biggest challenge was its positioning. He said the platform was originally intended to communicate Taiwan's story to the world, leading it to hire foreign journalists before later undergoing internal changes following criticism. He described Taiwanplus' current situation as "a disaster."
After Li's remarks, Lo urged the ministry to focus on addressing Taiwaplus' structural problems. Li later clarified that he had used the term "disaster" as "a more literary description."
TPP Chair Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) also commented on the issue, questioning whether Taiwan should continue investing in what Li had described as "a disaster," per Storm Media. Huang alleged that Taiwanplus had become a DPP propaganda outlet, citing the departure of a former editor who said they resigned because of “political interference.”
