China’s propaganda authorities have placed two of Beijing’s most popular and colorful newspapers under new management, state press said, in a move decried by critics as an effort to censor the news.
Beijing’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-run media authorities have taken over at the helm of the popular Beijing News and the Beijing Times, the government-run Qianlong Web site reported late on Saturday.
Both papers routinely run stories critical of local governments around China, as well as articles that defy edicts issued by the party’s propaganda bureau ordering media to show Chinese society in a positive light.
Both began publishing about a decade ago and gained widespread popularity for their colorful stories and advertisements.
The move was aimed at bringing the two papers under the control of the city government and reining in an advertising war between the publications, the report said. The two papers could be merged into one, it added.
The Beijing News was formerly a joint undertaking by the Guangming Daily Group and the Southern Daily Group, arguably China’s most daring newspaper publisher.
The Beijing Times was run by the People’s Daily Group, whose flagship People’s Daily is the official CCP mouthpiece.
Officials and journalists at both papers refused to comment on the takeover when contacted yesterday.
However, Internet postings on the move were critical.
“Two Beijing newspapers have been downgraded, their style of daring to speak out has been seriously hampered,” a user named brkchinese wrote on the microblogging site Twitter.
Aboluowang, another Twitter user, wrote: “The Beijing government has taken over the two capital publications that have dared to speak out ... it looks like the gagging of public opinion in the capital has been stepped up.”
The Chinese government strictly censors the country’s newspapers, broadcast media and the Internet, blocking any information it considers sensitive.
Controls have been further tightened by a heavy clampdown on dissent, with a number of prominent lawyers and activists detained amid official fears that recent uprisings in the Arab world could spark similar movements in China.
SHOW OF SUPPORT: As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan might collaborate with Manila against China’s aggressive actions, MOFA said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday hinted that Taiwan might join forces with the Philippines to protect navigational freedoms, days after Beijing blocked Philippine supply ships in the South China Sea. The ministry made the comment when asked whether Taipei would be willing to join forces with the Philippines to protect the latter from increasingly aggressive activities by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy and China Coast Guard. Taiwan “is willing to cooperate with any other nation with shared values in areas of common concern, including maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacfic region,” it wrote in a statement. A Chinese
‘LIKE A BLACK HOLE’: The figure is about 7% of China’s reported military spending, although diplomats and experts say that number is often opaque or not fully inclusive China spent about US$15 billion, or 7 percent of its defense budget, on exercises in the western Pacific last year, according to a previously unpublished Taiwanese estimate, showing Beijing’s investment in military activity around Taiwan and its neighbors. The internal research by the military, reviewed by Reuters, offers a rare look into a slice of China’s defense spending as Beijing has ramped up its military presence amid rising tensions in the region. China claims Taiwan as its own and is also locked in disputes with several nations over sovereignty of large parts of the South China Sea and the East China Sea. “This
‘GLOBAL THREAT’: MOFA said that it welcomes the ‘staunch US support’ and that ‘China again made spurious claims about Taiwan that do not accord with reality’ US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stressed the importance of stability in the Taiwan Strait, while a senior Chinese military official warned the US to stop “collusion” with Taiwan in a rare one-on-one meeting yesterday, both sides said. Sullivan arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, the first US national security adviser to visit China since 2016, for three days of talks with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) and other high-ranking officials. Yesterday morning, Sullivan met with Zhang Youxia (張又俠), vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and China’s second-highest-ranking military official, at the Beijing headquarters of the commission.
PRESSURE: The Solomon Islands, acting under explicit instructions from Beijing, is aiming to prevent Taiwan from attending the next forum to be held in Honiara Australia has voiced support for Taiwan despite the Solomon Islands’ plan to undermine Taiwan’s status as an observer at the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). The forum is one of the most important international organizations in the Pacific region, made up of 18 member states, including Australia, New Zealand and Taiwan’s Pacific allies, associate members and observers, along with “dialogue partners” such as the US, Japan, Canada and the EU. The 53rd edition of the forum opened in Tonga’s capital, Nuku’alofa, yesterday. Taiwan has been taking part in the forum and related events as a “developmental partner” under the name Taiwan / Republic of