Journalists must be protected
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is writing to condemn the recent attack on the office of the Taiwan's Next (壹週刊) magazine, and to ask the Taiwan government to ensure that the police investigation into the attack is thorough and professional. Around midday on Aug. 22, a group of men wielding baseball bats charged into the downtown Taipei offices of Next, a popular tabloid-style news magazine, and smashed windows, computers, and office furniture. No one was injured in the attack. "The violence was apparently a warning to Next Media Ltd," said a police officer quoted by AFP. Next Media, the company that publishes Next, is owned by Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英). Though it has only been publishing for about three months, Next has developed a reputation for exposing scandals involving politicians, celebrities, and criminals. Pei Wei (裴偉), the magazine's executive editor, told reporters that while staffers had received many threatening phone calls in the past as a result of such coverage, "We have no idea who did this." As an organization of journalists dedicated to the defense of press freedom around the world, CPJ is alarmed by this criminal attack on Next. Authorities must ensure that those responsible for the attack are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, thereby sending a clear message that attacks against the press will not be tolerated. CPJ respectfully asks to be informed about the status of the police investigation into this case. Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
Committee to Protect Journalists,
New York
Permit US navy port calls
Your newspaper today (Aug 20, page 8) showed a large photo of jets landing on a US Navy aircraft carrier. Last year, Hong Kong citizens protested Beijing's port-of-call prohibition of the American Navy. Hong Kong merchants complained of the economic impact that the absence of 10,000 sailor-tourists from a single carrier battle group caused. The ROC government has prohibited these same port-of-call visits since US President Jimmy Carter normalized relations with the PRC in the 1970s. Several port-of-call visits from US carrier battle groups a year with each sailor spending US$100 -- not such a grand sum in 2001, could generate millions that could easily have a double or triple ripple effect. Now is not the time to rule out solutions that can create sustainable comparative advantages. Now is the time to think out of the box and do what hasn't been done before and evaluate with unbiased vision.
Warren Weappa
Yung-Ho City,
Taipei
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