The Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ) yesterday protested China’s refusal to issue visas to two Taiwanese journalists who had planned to accompany Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) on his visit to China, while urging the council to take action to defend the freedom of the press.
Wang is scheduled to meet with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) in Nanjing, China, tomorrow.
A total of 89 journalists from 43 media outlets in Taiwan have signed up to cover the upcoming Wang-Zhang meeting, according to MAC statistics.
According to a statement released by the ATJ yesterday, among Taiwanese media outlets accompanying Wang, visa applications from reporters from for the Chinese-language Apple Daily and Radio Free Asia were turned down by Chinese authorities without explanation.
“China’s unilateral restriction of reporters’ access is a serious violation of the freedom of the press,” the statement said. “If Wang cannot express the deepest regrets over the issue, he would be, in fact, agreeing to negotiate with China in an unjust way, and should explain to the public the reason behind his decision.”
The statement added that, since 2008, Taiwan has never rejected any visa application by Chinese journalists, but China has not treated reporters from Taiwan the same way.
“Prior to any talk about mutually creating representative offices, Taiwan should negotiate with China to better protect the freedom of news gathering, the freedom of movement, the freedom of reporting, the freedom of the Internet, the freedom of communications and the personal safety of journalists from Taiwan,” the statement said. “In addition, journalists should stay free of government intervention.”
There was no response from the council as of press time.
The Wang-Zhang meeting will be the first-ever meeting between the incumbent cross-strait policymakers of the two sides.
MAC officials said a key goal of the encounter was to institutionalize regular communications between the MAC and TAO, but added that it has nothing to do with paving the way for a meeting between President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) as has been speculated.
During his four-day trip in China, Wang will expect “reciprocal and dignified” treatment from his hosts, officials added. They said that China will not give Wang “red carpet” treatment, but is likely to expedite customs and immigration procedures for him and provide him with a police motorcade.
Wang, who is heading a delegation of close to 20 Taiwanese officials, is to be received by TAO Vice Director Chen Yuanfeng (陳元豐) upon arrival in Nanjing tomorrow, and will meet with Zhang in the afternoon. The following day, Wang is scheduled to visit the mausoleum of Republic of China founding father Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) in Nanjing and speak at Nanjing University.
Wang is to head to Shanghai on Thursday and visit think tanks there, including the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, before winding up his trip on Friday.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft