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.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
RSS