The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Monday issued a statement in support of Taiwanese journalists after reporters from the Chinese-language United Daily News (UDN) and the Central News Agency (CNA) were not accredited by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to attend the its 39th Triennial Assembly which opened on Tuesday in Montreal.
UDN reporter Chang Chia (張加) and CNA reporter Hu Yu-li (胡玉立) were both refused entry to the assembly, despite Chang’s approved Internet registration — which an ICAO official, surnamed Liu (劉), said was automatically generated — and Hu holding a Canadian passport.
A UDN report said Liu told Chang that the organization could not accept Republic of China passports. Chang’s registration on the ICAO Web site had also been canceled without explanation two hours later when Chang left the building.
“As an agency of the United Nations, which is charged with upholding freedom of expression, the ICAO should accredit journalists irrespective of the news organization for which they work,” CPJ deputy executive director Robert Mahoney said, adding that journalists were vital in ensuring that the ICAO fulfills its mission.
In an e-mail to Reuters, ICAO communications chief Anthony Philbin said: “[The] ICAO follows the United Nations’ ‘one China’ policy. While arrangements had been made for their attendance at the last [38th] session of the assembly, there are no such arrangements for this one.”
“We [the US] do remain committed to supporting Taiwan’s meaningful participation, as you put it, in the ICAO ... but, in keeping with our ‘one China’ policy, we support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations that do not require statehood. Now, in organizations that require statehood for membership, such as the ICAO, the United States supports Taiwan’s meaningful participation,” US Department of State deputy spokesman Mark Toner said on Monday at a daily press briefing in Washington.
The CPJ is an independent, nonprofit organization headquartered in New York that promotes press freedom worldwide, with the goal of defending the right of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday said that the ICAO’s cancelation of Chang’s registration was in violation of the values of human rights and equality that the UN supports.
The ministry said it had instructed the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada to make it known, through whatever channels possible, that the government protests the unequal treatment of Taiwanese reporters.
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