In its 19th National Congress, which started on Wednesday, the Chinese Communist Party is to extend Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) term by another five years and incorporate his “Chinese dream” doctrine into the constitution of the People’s Republic of China.
China’s “New Helmsman” is an enemy of constitutional democracy, universal human rights, civil society and media freedom, but how does he see journalism’s role?
While visiting the state television broadcaster’s headquarters last year, he urged journalists to relay “the party’s propaganda” and to “love the party, protect the party and closely align themselves with the party leadership in thought, politics and action.”
In China — ranked 176th out of 180 nations in this year’s Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders — dozens of journalists and bloggers are in prison for resisting orders from the party central committee’s propaganda department. A digital censorship system dubbed the “Great Firewall” keeps China’s 750 million Internet users apart from the rest of the world. Article 35 of the constitution vainly proclaims “freedom of expression and the press.”
After he demanded these freedoms, Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) paid with his life as the result of a lack of medical care in prison.
The party’s goal is not just controlling news and information domestically. China wants to establish a “new world media order.”
Li Congjun (李從軍), who used to run the Chinese state news agency Xinhua and is now a member of the party central committee, explained the strategy in 2011.
He said the goal was to overturn an obsolete world order in which information flowed solely “from West to East, North to South, and from developed to developing countries.”
Citing a 1980 UNESCO recommendation, he called for the world’s media to become “an active force for promoting social progress” — progress with “Chinese characteristics,” obviously.
In 2009, the Chinese government created the World Media Summit, sometimes called the “Media Olympic Games,” an initiative entirely designed, organized and funded by Xinhua. In 2014, China also launched the World Internet Conference, to which thousands of businessmen from hundreds of nations flock every year. China even canvassed this year for the post of director-general of UNESCO.
Beijing is succeeding in influencing the media world beyond its borders. The Communication University of China is working with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government to open a “journalism university” in India.
China spends a lot of money on inviting journalists from Africa, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region to come to “develop their critical spirit” in Beijing.
Economic pressure forces content providers worldwide to censor themselves to access the Chinese market. Even the Cambridge University Press got sucked in when it purged its China catalog of about 100 articles that would offend Beijing. It backtracked after an outcry, but other less prestigious publishers are not in a position to do this.
China is stingy with the press visas it issues to foreign reporters, but Xinhua plans to have opened 200 international bureaus by 2020.
Xinhua is much appreciated by the world’s autocrats, because of its policy of “non-interference” in the domestic policies of the countries it covers. Such leading international broadcast media as TV5, VOA and the BBC are unavailable in China outside of luxury hotels, but the English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian-language broadcasts of China Global Television Network reach 85 million viewers in more than 100 nations.
Finally, China exports its censorship and surveillance tools. A Portuguese-language version of China’s leading search engine, Baidu, was launched in Brazil under the name of Busca. Content regarded by Beijing as “sensitive” was clearly blocked by Busca although, after protests, this censorship was apparently lifted. China is also trying to promote international adoption of its unencrypted instant messaging service, in which it can access all the data, including conversation details.
If the democracies do not resist, China will not only never be able to enjoy press freedom, but will also gradually extend its own lid on free speech to the rest of the world. This is why it is important to change China before it changes us.
Christophe Deloire is secretary-general of Reporters Without Borders and Cedric Alviani is the head of the group’s East Asia bureau.
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