Beijing blocks media from Everest

AGENCIES, BEIJING, HONG KONG AND CANBERRA
Friday, Apr 25, 2008, Page 1
　

Beijing abruptly shut the door yesterday on most foreign media seeking to cover the Olympic torch’s ascent of Everest after journalists objected to last-minute changes to travel and reporting plans.

China plans to take a special high-altitude Olympic torch to the summit of the world’s tallest peak next month and had invited world media to cover the event as a triumphant symbol of Beijing’s hosting of the Olympics.

But last-minute Chinese changes to coverage arrangements called for a rapid and tightly controlled trip of about three days through riot-hit Tibet to the Mount Everest base camp.

Reporters objected, saying that ascending too quickly to the camp’s elevation of 5,150m could cause severe health problems.

After foreign media requested a more paced trip, Games organizers set a sudden morning payment deadline yesterday for air tickets to Lhasa.

The situation descended into farce when the Olympic official charged with collecting payment refused to accept fees from several international news agencies present.

The payments of some foreign media had been accepted earlier.

Meanwhile, a Chinese primary school teacher and a beautician have filed a suit against CNN in New York over remarks they say insulted the Chinese people and are seeking US$1.3 billion in compensation — US$1 per person in China, a Hong Kong newspaper said.

The case against the Atlanta-based cable channel, its parent company Turner Broadcasting and Jack Cafferty, the offending commentator, comes after 14 lawyers launched a similar suit in Beijing alleging that Cafferty’s remarks earlier this month violated the dignity and reputation of the Chinese people.

Cafferty said the US imported Chinese-made “junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food” and added: “They’re basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years.”

CNN said Cafferty was expressing an opinion about the Chinese government.

In New York, beautician Liang Shubing and Beijing teacher Li Lilan said Cafferty’s words insulted all Chinese people and “intentionally caused mental harm” to the plaintiffs, the Ta Kung Pao newspaper reported yesterday.

China on Thursday reassured foreigners they were welcome at the Beijing Olympics in August and guaranteed their safety after a wave of anti-Western protests.

In related developments, in Canberra, a sea of red Chinese flags welcomed the Beijing Olympic torch relay yesterday, as thousands of Chinese supporters attempted to drown out emotional pro-Tibet protests.

Shortly after fireworks exploded in the pre-dawn darkness in celebration of the torch, raucous chanting between the two groups began.

Thousands of Chinese, mostly students, who had taken overnight buses to Canberra, turned out to support the relay.

Relations between Australian police and the torch’s blue-and-white tracksuit-clad Chinese escorts appeared strained.

Police on several occasions pulled one of the Chinese away from the torch, determined that the so-called flame attendants, who were described as thugs by a London Olympic official, would not have a security role at the event.

KMT furious over US presence at drill
　

‘INAPPROPRIATE’: The KMT caucus claimed that allowing US officials, including AIT Director Stephen Young, to observe the military exercise harmed ‘national dignity’
　

By Flora Wang and Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTERS
Friday, Apr 25, 2008, Page 3

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday slammed the government for inviting American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Stephen Young to participate in the Presidential Office’s annual military drill that began on Tuesday.

KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) told a press conference that the government’s move was “very inappropriate” and that it had “harmed our national dignity” and violated the principle of “confidentiality.”

Wu’s remarks came in the wake of a report in the Chinese-language China Times yesterday that several US officials, including Young, had boarded an armored tank during the drill.

The annual exercise, code-named Yushan, simulates various crises. It began on President Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) order on Tuesday morning and will run through Sunday. President-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has declined an invitation to attend.

The China Times report said that US officials were also allowed to enter the Yuanshan command center in Dazhi (大直), Taipei City, along with the president and Cabinet ministers.

The article quoted an anonymous source as saying that the US officials were able to “closely observe” almost all of the drill, not including a national security meeting convened by Chen.

It said that the US officials also boarded an armored tank to a command center in Taoyuan after a simulated scenario in which the Yuanshan command center came under attack.

“If there had been any spies from an enemy state or China [among the officials], there would have been very serious consequences,” Wu said.

When approached for comment, KMT Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), who also serves as the convener of the legislature’s Diplomacy and National Defense Committee, said Chen’s invitation was improper.

“This was not an ordinary drill,” Lin said. “After all, the Republic of China is an independent state. No matter how good our relations with other countries are, keeping a certain distance is necessary.”

The National Security Council downplayed the presence of Young at the drill, saying that his attendance met security requirements.

“We hope that people will stop speculating to prevent bilateral ties and our friendship from being affected,” the council said in a statement issued yesterday afternoon.

The statement said that the US had repeatedly expressed an interest in observing the drill ever since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) launched the annual exercise in 2005.

Based on reciprocity and bilateral exchanges and cooperation, the council said they finally agreed to let the US observe this year’s drill as the military had done with last year’s Han Kuang military exercise, the statement said.

It said that US officials observing the Yushan military drill were accompanied by government officials throughout the process and were allowed to watch the drill within permitted areas.

The process was conducted in accordance with the code of observation, and US officials were denied access to emergency response meetings attended by Cabinet ministers, the statement said.

US observance of this year’s Yushan simulation exercise was another example of the development of military exchanges between Taiwan and the US, the statement said, adding that it contributed to the promotion of bilateral cooperation.

The China Times report also claimed that US participation in this year’s military exercise was a scheme hatched by the DPP administration to force president-elect Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to continue the drills, which the paper said were unlikely to survive under the new administration.

The report also said the US hoped to participate in the simulation exercises to know how to best evacuate US citizens in Taiwan in case of a conflict.

US, Taiwan polls unlikely to affect relations: expert
　

By Martin Williams
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Apr 25, 2008, Page 3

A US military affairs specialist said yesterday the results of the presidential elections in Taiwan and the US are unlikely to have a serious impact on Taiwan-US military relations.

Some in the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and analysts have warned that the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) victory in last month’s Taiwan presidential election could harm Taiwan’s defense capability as the KMT attempts to remove barriers to cross-strait trade, investment and tourism and other, possibly more sensitive, obstacles to closer ties with China.

But Mark Stokes, director of US-based think tank The Project 2049 Institute and former country director for China and Taiwan in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in Washington, said he did not foresee “much of a change in defense relations” between Washington and Taipei.

Speaking to the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Taipei, Stokes said that neither the KMT’s victory in the poll last month nor the post-Bush administration — Republican or Democratic — is likely to alter the “remarkable degree of continuity” exhibited by Taiwan-US defense relations over the years.

Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain is generally seen as friendlier to Taiwan than his Democratic Party counterparts, though the US presidential campaign has seen Democratic senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton attack China on the campaign trail over issues such as the quality of Chinese exports and currency manipulation.

On military preparedness, Stokes said the US was better prepared than ever in the event it would have to intervene in a cross-strait conflict. For Taiwan’s part, Stokes said that controversy over the long-delayed and eventually reduced special arms procurement package had obscured extensive spending by the Taiwanese military on other items.

Similarly, Stokes said that Taiwan’s election campaign had obscured the reality that most pan-blue-camp and pan-green-camp politicians were a “lighter shade” of blue or green than appearances might suggest and that this would be a factor in future negotiations with China.

KMT lawmakers may sue Citizen Congress Watch
　

By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Apr 25, 2008, Page 3

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和) and Chen Ken-te (陳根德) said they were considering suing Citizen Congress Watch (CCW) after the group released lawmakers’ attendance records and accused the two of being late to meetings.

“According to the Legislative Yuan’s own regulations, legislators are supposed to be in meetings from 9am to 6pm,” CCW executive director Ho Tsung-hsun (何宗勳) told a news conference at the group’s headquarters in Taipei yesterday. “But records show that the average general assembly meeting only lasts 5.9 hours, while committee meetings in February and March were on average 3.1 hours long.”

Aside from adjourning meetings early, delays are also a key factor behind the shorter meeting times, the group said.

“The Education and Culture Committee has the best record with only a 3.2-minute delay on average, while the Transportation Committee has the worst, with an average delay of 28 minutes,” Ho said.

The Sanitation and Environment Committee, as well as Social Welfare Committee, were the next worst offenders, with an average delay of 9.25 minutes, Ho said.

Chen and Chung, conveners of the Transportation Committee and the Sanitation and Environment Committee respectively, expressed their anger when approached by reporters for comment.

“It’s immoral to release information like this,” Chung said. “They’re just making false accusations against us without knowing how hard we work.”

Chung said he would work to put CCW on a list of “unwelcome” groups at the legislature. Chen, on the other hand, accused the group of giving out false information.

“They said that I was 114 minutes late to a [committee] meeting [that started at 9am] — it’s not true,” Chen said. “I was in a classified meeting at 9am sharp, that’s why they couldn’t find it in the records.”

Both lawmakers said they were considering filing lawsuits against CCW if the group did not apologize.

“Legislative transparency is a global trend and the doors of the legislature should be open to all people,” a CCW statement said in response later yesterday. “The threats to put CCW on the ‘unwelcome’ list … just shows that some lawmakers lack the common sense desired in a democracy.”

Nationalism is Beijing’s brainchild
　

By Paul Lin 林保華
Friday, Apr 25, 2008, Page 8

Chinese nationalism needs to get hysterical every once in a while. Recently it went off again over issues related to Tibet and the Beijing Olympics. The timing of when it vents is entirely decided by the Chinese Communist Party because in China any parades or assemblies must first receive its approval. The online tirades of the country’s angry youth are also controlled by the party.

The source of the most recent outbreak that has targeted CNN, Grace Wang (王千源) and Carrefour is Tibet. Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) confidante and Tibetan party secretary Zhang Qingli (張慶黎) insulted the Dalai Lama, the widely respected spiritual leader of Tibet, saying he has the face of a man and the heart of a beast, or calling him a wolf in monk’s robes.

With this hostile attitude, we can conclude that Tibetans will most likely not be willing to submit. However, Beijing did not foresee that its trampling upon the universal values of liberty and human rights would incite such a strong international backlash, especially amongst individuals.

After Beijing expelled all foreign media from Tibet, CNN reported news that had not been fed it from China’s official channels. Consequently, China’s angry youth hurled all manners of insults at CNN. Thinking about just how many of these angry youth are actually able to watch CNN, one can see that this attack on CNN originated from the government. Afterwards, a host on CNN called Chinese officials a bunch of “goons” and “thugs.” The Chinese government insisted that this was an insult to all Chinese and the Foreign Ministry brought the matter up three times. CNN clarified that the remarks were referring to the government and apologized to the “people.”

Of course, with CNN specifying the target as “the government,” Beijing was even less willing to accept their explanation.

Wang is a Chinese student studying at Duke University in the US. During a demonstration attended by Tibetan and pro-China groups, she tried to persuade Chinese students to learn more about Tibet. For this she was castigated as a traitor and viciously attacked.

Angry youth threatened to destroy her and posted private information about her on the Internet. Her parents in Qingdao were harassed and had feces thrown on their doorstep and possessions stolen. Qingdao No. 2 Middle School, Wang’s alma mater, expelled her name from the school’s roll.

The FBI has been investigating this affair.

Because the Olympic torch was extinguished in Paris, some angry youth have claimed that a certain Carrefour board member supported the Dalai Lama and called for a boycott. The person in question denied the accusation, but it was of no use in blocking the tide of Chinese patriotic rage. On April 19, angry youth in six Chinese cities surrounded Carrefour stores. Incidents of property damage and looting were reported at the Hefei branch.

The same day, Chinese students abroad and overseas Chinese took to the streets in some Western cities to demonstrate their patriotism. In the sea of red Chinese flags, one could even see the occasional Republic of China flag!

The Chinese government is walking a tightrope between inflaming nationalistic passions and fearing that they may get out of control. If they do not apply the brakes immediately, these passions will most certainly affect the Olympic Games in August. Therefore, the official media tried to cool things down by urging citizens that “taking good care of your own affairs is the best way to love your country.”

Although they did not report on the blockade of Carrefour so as to keep it from expanding, they did continue to do so in English reports as a threat to Western countries. This is just like the phone conversation between US President George W. Bush and Hu in which the official Chinese media used the “one China” principle while the English version used “one China with each side having its own interpretation.”

This two-faced reporting is the tactic of gangsters that the Chinese government uses to deceive both the Chinese people and the international community.

On April 18, China sent former ambassador to France Zhao Jinjun (趙進軍) to meet French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Following that meeting, France said it would send a special emissary to China. The Chinese media loudly reported the news as France “taking the initiative” to resolve the crisis.

They even stated that the emissary apologized to Chinese torchbearer Jin Jing (金晶) as symbolic of France suing for peace from the “imperial court.” However, because Jin did not support the boycott of Carrefour, she was subsequently excoriated by angry youth as a traitor.

The international community should not show fear in the face of Chinese nationalistic threats, which would only further feed into their sense of superiority. This is the only way to force China to reform.

Paul Lin is a political commentator based in Taiwan.