An independent media watchdog yesterday urged Taiwan to reconsider a temporary ban on journalists from Chinese two media organizations, while the government denied that it was violating press freedom. Tentative plans for other Chinese media to send correspondents to Taiwan were already in the works, government officials said.
Two reporters, one from the Communist Party's official mouthpiece, the People's Daily, and one from the Xinhua News Agency were kicked out of Taiwan on Thursday after the government discontinued authorization allowing them to be stationed in Taipei. The decision follows Beijing's enactment of its "Anti-Secession" Law last month, which authorizes an attack on Taiwan should it declare formal independence.
No excuse
"Even though the People's Republic of China is certainly no model of press freedom, using censorship against its media makes no sense," the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said on its Web site.
"We believe that the right to news and information should in no circumstances be compromised because of political differences," the statement said.
Taiwan normally bars Chinese from working in the country because of espionage fears, but the People's Daily and Xinhua have had reporters based in Taiwan since 2001.
In response, the Mainland Affairs Council -- the government agency responsible for the media ban -- was quick to invite Reporters Without Borders to visit Taiwan and observe first-hand the state of press freedom in the country.
Courting others
While speaking with reporters yesterday, council Vice Chairman You Ying-lung (游盈隆) invited the media watchdog group to participate in the various press activities in Taiwan.
You defended its decision to temporarily ban the Xinhua and People's Daily reporters, noting that the council has been in contact with the Guangdong-based Nanfang Daily and a financial paper based in Shanghai regarding the possibility of posting correspondents in Taipei.
You also reiterated the council's call for China to lift an Internet ban on news sites based in Taiwan, saying it would be willing to reconsider its decision against Xinhua and the People's Daily, so long as Chinese authorities showed a willingness to reform its approach to reporting.
The council has said on several occasions accused Xinhua and the People's Daily misrepresenting facts and manipulating stories, to the detriment of cross-strait relations.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching