The following is in the recent news. I list some questions at the bottom.
Taiwan bans Chinese reporters
11.04.05
Taiwan has ordered mainland Chinese reporters to leave as retaliation against China decision to pass a new law authorising an attack on Taiwan if it pushes for formal independence, an official said.
Reporters from China official People Daily and the Xinhua News Agency have been told to leave because they have failed to accurately report on Taiwan, said Taiwan top policymaker on China.
“Wee encouraged cultural exchanges to help the mainland understand Taiwan,” said Joseph Wu, chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council. “But if these exchanges fail to foster understandings, we would have to come up with more effective measures.”
Wu said Taiwan, however, may consider allowing reporters from some unofficial Chinese media. Most Chinese media is state-run, and Wu did not elaborate.
People Daily and Xinhua have had reporters based in Taiwan since 2001.
Should mainland news agencies be allowed in Taiwan to collect news?
Is banning news agencies for “not fostering understanding” the right decision?
Is it the appropriate step to counter the ASL?
My answers are:
Yes. If mainland news agencies are reporting on Taiwan anyway, they might as well be in Taiwan to collect news instead of making stuff up.
No. Though the Taiwan government obviously can decide who to allow or not allow to report in Taiwan, it is not the job of news agencies to “foster understanding” but to report the truth. Alternatively, should news agencies be banned for “not reporting accurately”? This is like the tack taken by the mainland government with regards to world news agencies.
No. This is just a plain stupid response to the ASL. It is perhaps a prelude to shutting down contact between the two sides, which might have worked years ago, but now is impractical. CSB must have wracked his brain for this one and if this is the best he can come up with, then hardcore TIers are hosed.
Whilst obviously against the freedom of press. I personally understand and support this decision/action. As all the PRC media are state owned and controlled, there is never any positive reporting on Taiwan possible, it is always negative. A good number of PRC reporters in Taiwan are anyway more involved in collecting sensitive information about our defense than anything else.
It doesn’t really make a difference, and it won’t change reporting in China over Taiwan issues. Mainland reporting isn’t so much “negative” about Taiwan, in fact its quite the opposite. Mainland reporting is “negative” about the separatist policies of the DPP. I’m pretty sure Xinhua and People’s Daily had positive words to say about the KMT.
Face it, the government bureaucracies have been stacked by green partisans for years now and I’ve come to expect actions such a these. Mainland affairs council my ass, more like a den of scheming splittists.
where’s the truth about 1989? why are chinese citizens placed under house arrest/jailed/sent away for wanting the truth to come out?
there is no truth to reporting when you must toe the official line with what you write. they could be on the moon for that matter, and they wouldn’t be any closer to the truth, just their “version” of it. might as well just let hu whisper it in their collective ear.
where was the news about the death of the pope? oh - too far, so they couldn’t afford to send any reporters there? much easier to just ignore it. much like anything that doesn’t fit the mainland’s view of taiwan.
[quote=“cmdjing”]Mainland affairs council my ass, more like a den of scheming splittists.[/quote] You can’t split what is already not connected. You PRC boys cannot even come here without a passport and permission and approval from the Taiwan governement so stop using those deceptive Xinhua propaganda terms in this forum.
As for the OP, I don’t think this is the best decision, but is one of the little things that Taiwan can do to get some attention focused on the negative impact of the recent passage of the CCP/PLA’s Invasion Empowerment Law.
It worked marvelously in the international press as it underscores how Taiwan and China are two separate countries and CHINA is powerless to stop Taiwan from kicking out their “news” representatives.
But it could be misconstrued to lead people to believe that Taiwan does not believe in a free press. China wouldn’t dare point this out as it would only highlight their own shortcomings. I think the rest of the world will believe this move from Taiwan is mostly the result of the ongoing Cold War between Taiwan and China and has nothing to do with Press Freedoms.
[quote=“Taverncaptain”]As all the PRC media are state owned and controlled, there is never any positive reporting on Taiwan possible, it is always negative. A good number of PRC reporters in Taiwan are anyway more involved in collecting sensitive information about our defense than anything else.[/quote]One of the most situationally aware posts I have, thus far, seen on forumosa. :bravo:
Like the chicoms don’t have enough security personnel on Taiwan already. Who knows, maybe your nextdoor neighbor could be a secret sympathizer! Why even some TSU politicians could communist agents, the perfect manchurian candidates!
Oh come on. As cmdjing mentioned, the PRC has a hell of a lot better ways than this to send spies to Taiwan. My impression has been that aside from biased reporting, mainland journalists in Taiwan have tried to keep themselves whiter than white to avoid any accusations.
I think it’s more of a symbolic move. With so many pan-blue politicians making the rounds in Beijing, going on Chinese government TV and thrashing the Tea Eye Yers on an almost daily basis, you don’t really need Xinhua for the hatchet job or even the spook’s job. You can be sure the blues would not hesitate to leak all the military secrets they know to the commies if that would buy them some favor.
You won’t believe how many blue politicians have gone green-bashing on Chinese TV in this year alone. The Chinese never recognize their official positions. They call them “famous guy or girl from Taiwan” or some other weird description. They never call you “Legislator Hung from Taiwan” or “Legislator Hung from RoC” or anything like that. And yet these blue people would speak for the Chinese who don’t recognize them and thrash the people in Taiwan who actually do recognize them. Mind-boggling.
I agree that it’s mainly symbolic - it’s hardly going to affect any serious newsgathering. However, it’s an immensely stupid symbolic move. Taiwan is fighting back against the undemocratic restrictive PRC … by restricting the freedom of the press :loco: . That’ll play well in the international community
Besides, if you start banning journalists for having politically biased and unbalanced reporting then you’ve got to shut down about 99% of all the press in Taiwan too.
at least i can see the online version of the taipei times … how many in china can say the same? that goes for any site that doesn’t lean towards china. freedom to make up your own mind from all the information available from all sides. novel concept that …
i’d further argue the point with you, but from your posting history …
Not true at all. The only things that ever get reported on the mainland in reference to Taiwan are bad things. Earthquakes, typhoons, SARS, and how shite the government is. Has always been that way.
^^^ Yup. every news story I’ve ever seen over there on Taiwan has had the undertone of ‘our poor comrades in Taiwan suffering from X because we haven’t yet rescued them from the clutches of capitalism/the reactionary KMT/the incompetant DPP/those meddling Americans/Japanese’.
These so-called reporters can conjure that crap up from their office in Beijing, so it doesn’t make any difference. Good riddance. :raspberry:
