I think because the Taiwanese government is taking the "responsible for public safety and security" role to a natural conclusion for the 21st century - fake news is dangerous, the government is doing its role to combat that.

The free press still exists and can fact check away. And, since Taiwan is democratic, if a minister takes the piss, the press can report on it, and the public can elect someone else.

> But the minister herself indicates the government did just that in the past

In that more autocratic era, the people who called out the government would have been arrested and imprisoned. That has now changed and that the public and press are now more freely allowed to challenge what is being said by their government.

In the "past" that the minister is referring to, Taiwan was a military dictatorship; other than a few brave souls sitting in jail, there was no political opposition, and there was no free press. There was no (legal) alternative to government propaganda. Even publications from overseas were censored (by ink and scissors) as they entered Taiwan.

The article suggests that today's government, under the careful supervision of the opposition parties and the independent press (both of which now exist), has resources that allow it to detect propaganda, and preemptively respond to it, in a way that individuals cannot.

Let’s just say the KMT (blue) and the DPP (Green Party) have differing takes on some things.

KMT being basically pro unification means the PRC is more Chiang Kai-Shek style than DPP I guess?

Conservativism trumps historical rivalries.