Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales yesterday said that he continues to push Beijing to lift its on-and-off block of the free online encyclopedia, but added that he would not sacrifice his principles in exchange for entering the Chinese market.
“We will continue to engage with the Chinese government to see if we can get the block lifted, but of course this is a long-term issue, this isn’t something we are going to solve overnight,” Wales said during an interview in Taipei.
“The one thing that we have always been clear on is we won’t compromise on our principles in order to gain access to the Chinese market,” he added.
Photo: CNA
Many companies have done so to enter the market, he said, adding: “It is a complicated decision for them; I would not say if it is right or wrong in general.”
The Chinese Wikipedia was launched in May 2001, but was blocked on June 3, 2004, ahead of the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Since then, the Web site has been blocked and restored several times for unknown reasons.
Asked how Wikipedia helps to bring peace between contributors from different regions, such as those from Taiwan and China, Wales said he believes that if people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait regularly talk and hold exchanges, they can better understand each other and might some day resolve misunderstandings.
He said he was in Taiwan many years ago and spoke with a local volunteer who drove him around to do TV interviews.
“One of the things he said to me is that he was raised in a very strongly Taiwanese nationalist household and was taught from when he was very young that mainland Chinese are brainwashed and know nothing about history,” he said.
However, he changed his views about Chinese after he began working with them at Wikipedia, he said.
Wales said Taiwanese told him that they think Chinese are wrong, “but on some things they kind of have a point.”
Describing this as progress, Wales said that communication is the approach to making peace and coming to possible solutions and understanding between people who have significant disagreements.
“In the end, knowledge and accepting the facts of history and understanding disagreements are incredibly powerful for generating solutions, whatever those solutions might be,” he said.
Wales was in Taiwan to speak at this year’s Digital Innovation Forum.
The forum, sponsored by the APEC Business Advisory Council and organized by Taiwan and Papua New Guinea, began yesterday and ends today at the Taipei International Convention Center. It is focused on artificial intelligence, scientific and financial technology, and digital innovation.
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