A Central Television (CCTV) anchor, a state-run broadcaster in China, made a mistake by mispronouncing 'the motherland' as 'the two countries' while reporting on Taiwan news. Concerns have been raised online that “his appearance may soon disappear from the news.”
According to Hong Kong's Sing Tao Daily and others on the 21st, the problematic scene occurred during the broadcast of the 'Joint Attention' program the previous day, where the position of the China State Council on the 1st anniversary press conference of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te was conveyed.
The statement originally said, 'No matter what the Taiwanese leader (Lai Ching-te) says, the status and fact that Taiwan is part of China will not change. The unification of the motherland cannot be prevented.' However, the female anchor reading this statement mispronounced 'the motherland' as 'the two countries,' which means 'the two countries.'
Realizing the mistake immediately, the anchor stammered and corrected herself, saying, 'The unification of the motherland cannot be prevented.' Even afterward, possibly due to the impact of the slip, her pace noticeably slowed, and she often appeared anxious and stammered as well. The video is currently not available on the CCTV website.
The CCTV anchor's verbal slip was widely reported in Taiwan media and became a topic among Taiwanese netizens. Netizens expressed concerns, saying, 'He may disappear from the CCTV news channel' and 'His life is ruined.'
Some argue that not only the anchor may be punished but also superiors. In fact, a former CCTV anchor once stated through the media that CCTV categorizes evening main news broadcast incidents into four levels: A, B, C, and D, with an A-level mistake requiring immediate resignation. A representative example of an A-level mistake he cited was mispronouncing 'West Bank' as 'the Taiwan Strait's two sides' (the two sides: China and Taiwan).