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Opposition slams MAC's ban on Chinese reporters

"If the media is not objective, then that is the problem of a particular media agency. It is not for our government to decide."

Cheng Li-wen, KMT deputy spokewoman

The pan-blue camp yesterday slammed the Mainland Affairs Council's (MAC) decision to ban reporters from two Chinese media outlets from entering Taiwan in response to Beijing's cross-strait policies.

"The government is prohibiting reporters from China to protest its passage of the `Anti-Secession' Law. However, this kind of tactic will have no effect on China, and will instead make others feel they Taiwan doesn't have any bargaining chips," said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) spokesman Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭) yesterday.

Chang was responding to the announcement yesterday by MAC Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) that reporters from the state-run Xinhua News Agency and the People's Daily were now banned because of their inaccurate and biased portrayal of events in Taiwan.

Unless the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) uses tougher tactics such as cutting off cross-strait financial exchanges or forbidding Taiwanese businessmen from investing in China, then then banning their journalists will have little effect, Chang said.

The People First Party (PFP) also denounced the move yesterday and called on the government to reconsider the decision.

Media interaction across the Taiwan Strait over the past 10 years has been a positive element in the development of cross-strait relations, PFP spokesman Hsieh Kung-bin (謝公秉) said.

"This sort of strategy will not only go against the spirit of cross-strait interactions, but is also bad for the cross-strait reconciliation President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has been pushing," Hsieh said.

KMT deputy spokeswoman Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文) said that such negative actions and attitude from the government was not the way to solve cross-strait problems.

It is also not the responsibility of the government to censor the media, Cheng said.

"If the media is not objective, then that is the problem of a particular media agency. It is not for our government to decide," she said.

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) called the policy "unwise." To increase understanding between the people on both sides of the Strait, Ma said, both governments should allow press freedom.

Ma said that if there was more press freedom, then Beijing would not have the impression that the majority of Taiwanese people are for independence, and would not have enacted the law.
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