The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media.
Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement.
“This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she added.
Photo: Chen Yun, Taipei Times
Kuo’s statement came after reports emerged that China had expelled New York Times China correspondent Vivian Wang, who had been based in Beijing since 2022, in February.
The New York Times confirmed the expulsion on Friday, with executive editor Joseph Kahn calling Beijing’s decision wrong and urging it to reinstate Wang.
Wang was expelled after the newspaper hosted Lai in an interview for its DealBook Summit, which aired in December last year, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Saturday.
Wang had no role in the interview, but host Andrew Ross Sorkin referred to Taiwan as a country, and Lai warned of China’s aggressive behavior in the Taiwan Strait, and said “Taiwan will do everything necessary to protect itself,” AP reported.
As a democratic nation, it is normal for the president to give interviews explaining Taiwan’s position to the world and expressing “its determination to work with others to safeguard regional security and peace,” Kuo said.
Beijing’s “groundless excuses” and use of “crude means” to threaten the media would not help improve its international image, and instead further highlights that China has become “a troublemaker” in the international community, Kuo said.
The government attaches “great importance” to the situation, and would work with partners to ensure that international news media and journalists are protected from “the threat of transnational repression,” she said.
Kuo did not identify who the partners were, nor did she elaborate on how Taiwan would work with them to achieve that goal.
Meanwhile, AP cited an unnamed source as saying that the US government had revoked the visa of a Chinese national working for China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency in the US, calling it a “reciprocal act” in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Wang.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to AP.
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