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| China to Allow Free Press for Olympics |
| Official says foreign journalists will be able to cover various aspects of China |
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Sunny Lee (internews)  |
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Published 2006-08-09 12:08 (KST) |
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With the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games set to kick off two years from now, the top Chinese officials responsible for organizing the international event told a press conference on Aug. 8 that China would guarantee the freedom of foreign journalists to cover news in China during the games.
Jiang Xiaoyu, Executive Vice-President of the Beijing Olympic Committee, said in a nationally-televised live press conference that Beijing has already "made a solemn promise to provide the service necessary for the media during the Olympic Games." He added, "if there is any conflict between the Chinese media rules and those of international practice, China will follow the International Olympic Committee (IOC) guidelines as well as the established norms of international practice."
Jiang's comment came in response to foreign journalists who voiced concern that the international press will not just be interested in covering the Olympic Games only, but also all sorts of other aspects about China, including ones that the Chinese government might consider "negative."
The official's remark echoes an essentially similar pledge made by Liu Qi, President of the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee, last September. Yet the one this time could be interpreted as a bit more "extended" in its scope, in that Liu addressed only the freedom of the press to cover "Olympic-related materials." Liu Qi, the top government official responsible for the international event, is also the Community Party chief of Beijing city.
In today's conference, Jiang assured that all foreign journalists, not just those few who are accredited by the IOC, will enjoy free access to news coverage during the Olympic Games. Yet he added that foreign journalists need to abide by the relevant Chinese rules and understand the "national conditions" of China.
"Chen Shuibian hasn't yet applied to come"
As for whether Taiwan leader Chen Shuibian has been invited to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games, Jiang said that foreign state leaders will be invited as part of the general practices of previous Olympic Games. Beijing, however, regards Taiwan not as a sovereign state, but a renegade province. So there is little chance, if any, that Chen will be part of the invitation list. Wang Wei, General Secretary of the Olympic Committee, who was also present at today's press meeting, added that he has not received any letter from Chen Shuibian asking to be invited.
On Tuesday, China's state media devoted considerable air time to mark the two-year countdown to the 2008 Olympics. The city mobilized one million people in Beijing for early morning mass dancing, according to TV footage. The footage also included interviews of citizens who expressed their aspirations for the success of the biggest ever international event hosted by China in its recent history.
Ezra Vogel, former director of the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard University, characterized Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Olympics as China's "coming out" onto the world stage. He said that it would be an opportunity for China to show an industrialized modern China to the world. According to Vogel, that was the case for China's two neighboring countries, Japan and South Korea, which hosted the international event in 1964 and 1988, respectively. The Olympics helped Japan to recover its national morale after its WWII defeat; South Korea also overcame its image as a poverty-stricken country that had been ravaged by the Korean War. With its two Northeast Asian neighbors already have hosting the international event, China may have more strongly desired to be an Olympic host. "Now, it's China's turn" said Mr. Vogel.
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©2006 OhmyNews
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 Comments Note: Kindly refrain from personal attacks and profanity. |
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1. Loy
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Loy , 2007-03-10 01:57
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