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Two Chinese media organizations banned from Taiwan
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Two Chinese media organizations will no longer be allowed to station their staff in Taiwan. This new announcement came from the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) which concluded that the news --as presented by the Xinhua News Agency and the People’s Daily newspaper-- is not conducive to the enhancement of understanding between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. Vice President Annette Lu supports the decision, and says that the MAC should have reacted earlier.
It’s been four years since the commencement of the exchange program allowing Chinese journalists to be stationed in Taiwan began. But the MAC is calling for permission to be withdrawn for two Chinese media organizations. “It was China’s enactment of its anti-secession law that made us realize that perhaps it’s time to re-examine cross-strait interactions,” said MAC Chairman Joseph Wu.
Currently, there’s a total of five Chinese media outlets operating in Taiwan, including the Xinhua News Agency, and the People’s Daily newspaper --both of which may soon be denied this privilege. However, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou sees it as an unwise decision on the part of the MAC.
“It’s not a good move for the MAC to ban them from being here. The best solution would be to allow them freedom of the press, so that people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will be better able to understand one another,” said Mayor Ma.
Despite the voices of opposition, Vice President Annette Lu spoke up immediately to support the MAC’s decision.
“I think this decision comes a little too late. They should have done it on March 14th, when the Chinese first enacted the anti-secession law. But better late than never,” said Vice President Annette Lu.
The MAC has not decided how long the ban on the two Chinese media organizations is to remain in effect, but officials did say that it would depend to a large extent on the future development of interaction between both sides of the Taiwan Strait. |
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