The Mainland Affairs Council's recent decision to temporarily ban reporters from China's state-run Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily has sparked a storm of derision from the pan-blue media. They have criticized the council for taking a regressive step for the nation's democracy. The two media outlets were reluctant to be outdone by their pan-blue soulmates and accused the government of obstructing cross-strait media exchanges. The council's decision need not be discussed here, but an old joke from the Cold War sums up the situation nicely.
The joke goes: an American and a Russian are having an argument over whose country is more liberal. "In America, we can stand in front of the White House and call President Reagan a bastard," the American says proudly. "That is nothing," the Russian responds, "in the Soviet Union we can also stand in front of the Kremlin and call Reagan a bastard."
The Cold War is no more, but the joke is still as pertinent as ever, for the Soviet Union has simply been replaced by China.
Following this line of reasoning, China may well be the world's freest country. Its media are free to criticize any world leader and President Chen Shui-bian (
A demonstration against Japan is patriotic, but one aimed at the government is a revolt: this is freedom with Chinese characteristics. It is the same with the media. Its role is to act as a weapon in the hands of the Chinese leadership, to praise political orders and attack dissent. Strong countries like the US or Japan can easily laugh off China's inferior weapons, but how can Taiwan, which has suffered for so long from Beijing's threats, allow it to deploy its human weapons on Taiwan's soil?
Currently, the pan-blue media are making much of "freedom of the press," much in the same way as the pre-World War II British government allowed Nazi media to station reporters in the UK, believing that news exchange would promote mutual understanding. But the idea that this would plant the seeds of democracy in Germany was naive and ridiculous. The way to deal with the Nazi regime was to destroy it, not to reform it.
Taiwan has only recently left the authoritarian era, and the memory of the media controls during that era is still vivid. Perhaps one should ask the pan-blue media whether their reporters were reformed by American democracy when stationed in the US, and whether they were able to publish professional and objective reports on US public opinion.
We hope that the council's decision to temporarily close the offices of the two Chinese media outlets will serve as a wake-up call to Chinese reporters, and that it will lead to some soul-searching. If it does, the council will have helped the progress of media freedom in China. If not, Chinese correspondents may continue to serve as if they are frontline troops in China's united front -- but not here.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under