The Ugliness with China's Guided News Tour -- Foreign Re****ters' Tibet
Visit Shadowed by CCP Officials/The Epoch Times
Foreign Re****ters' Tibet Visit Shadowed by CCP Officials
By Si Yu
Epoch Times Staff
Apr 01, 2008
Select foreign re****ters were allowed into Tibet on March 26, 2008,
following China's armed crackdown on Tibetan protestors. The two-day
trip was accompanied by Chinese communist officials.
On March 14, 2008 when China's violent suppression of the Tibetan people
took place, all foreign media had their equipment confiscated and were
forced to leave Tibet. Two weeks later, the Chinese authorities invited
a select group of foreign journalists to return to Lhasa, in order to
interview some so-called "victims of criminal actions" during the
protest. The interviews were to be conducted entirely under the
organization and supervision of Chinese authorities.
According to the Voice of America (VOA), this group of journalists
arrived in Lhasa on March 26. Journalists from 17 media organizations
were selected by the Information Office of China's State Council. The
journalists came from the United States, Britain, Russia, Japan, Hong
Kong and Taiwan. The group also included one Al-Jazeera re****ter from
Qatar and two re****ters from China's official media. However, no
re****ter came from the Voice of America, the BBC and other media who
broadcast daily programs in Chinese. In addition, no re****ter from CNN
or Reuters was invited.
Japanese Re****ter: 'There Is No Objectivity'
Some foreign re****ters in China pointed out that interviews organized
like this cannot be comprehensive or objective. A re****ter from Japan's
Tokyo Broadcasting Cor****ation told the VOA that they wanted their
re****ters conducting exclusive interviews, rather than participating in
media junkets where local authorities arrange everything and no
objectivity is possible.
Qin Gang, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a press
conference in Beijing that China's tight restrictions on the Tibet visit
were for the safety of foreign journalists. He also said that those
restrictions were needed for the local government to maintain law and
order.
This despite the fact that the Chinese regime assures that the situation
in Tibet is now stable. "I do not understand that," said the Japanese
re****ter.
Qin Gang also said that China will try to create more interview
op****tunities and expressed hope that re****ters would interview
"according to the law."
Liu Meiyuan: Far Below Expectations of the International Community
When interviewed by AFP, Liu Meiyuan, Director of the Beijing Office of
U.S. Newsweek, said, "We call for unrestricted interviews in Tibet.
Clearly, [this trip] is better than no visit, but this is far below our
requirements."
Liu said that placing such restrictions on media violates the
regulations for foreign re****ters that the Chinese government said it
would adhere to in an announcement last year. He said that this is far
below what the international community would expect of a government
hosting the Olympic Games.
When interviewed by The Epoch Times, Zhang Jielian, an expert on China
issues, said this is a favorite ploy of the CCP. He pointed out that
when allegations of organ harvesting from living Falun Gong
practitioners was made public two years ago, the CCP did not respond to
inquiries at the beginning, and only after three weeks of hiding
evidence, did it begin to invite international media and politicians to
visit a site where atrocities were alleged to have taken place.
He pointed out that this time the same tactic will be applied:
interviews will be conducted with previously selected people at a
specified location on a prearranged time, under the supervision of CCP
officials.
Zhang warned foreign media not to unwittingly act as a propaganda tool
for CCP as they too often have in the past. This makes it easier for the
CCP to violate human rights, he said.
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