John Sudworth, a BBC correspondent in China, felt the danger of leaving Beijing and moving to Taiwan after his reports were heavily criticized by the Chinese Communist Party‘s propaganda. Since the beginning of this year, a number of international media have moved their correspondents’ stations from Beijing to Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan mentioned on Thursday (1) that there is an increasing trend of international media and NGOs coming to Taiwan, and in mid-March, Taiwan officially relaxed the restrictions on international organizations related to Hong Kong and Macau to set up liaison bases in Taiwan. However, some Hong Kong people’s organizations pointed out that they are worried that they will get into trouble even if they set up branches in Taiwan due to the influence of the “Hong Kong National Security Law”.
The BBC’s China correspondent, Sha Lei, said in an interview with the BBC program that he has been under pressure and threats from Beijing for his reporting. The situation has worsened in recent months, with the Chinese Communist Party’s official media attacking the BBC and Sha Lei himself.
Sha Lei has been based in China for nine years and has covered many “sensitive issues” about Chinese rule, such as testing China’s surveillance system himself in 2017 and interviewing people in the streets of Beijing on the eve of the Tiananmen Square incident to see if they could recognize the soldiers who resisted the June 4 attacks. The tank man. The most recent stories that touched on China’s red line were the BBC’s “First Anniversary of Wuhan Closure” and “Xinjiang Re-Education Camp. The Chinese Foreign Ministry criticized the reports as “fake news” and demanded a public apology from the BBC, which stated that the reports were “fair and accurate”.
Although Sha Lei was committed to the editorial code, he was intimidated from Time to time because his Family lived in Beijing, and the BBC considered Sha Lei’s situation dangerous and decided to reassign him to Taiwan. Yvonne Murray, the wife of the same journalist and RTE’s China correspondent, was also asked by the company to be based in Taiwan.
The number of international media reporters in Taiwan has increased in recent years
Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Ou Jiang’an confirmed Thursday (1) that Sha Lei is now in quarantine in Taiwan, and said he believes that after coming to Taiwan, Sha Lei can feel that Taiwan is a free and democratic country. Ou Jiang’an also pointed out that Taiwan welcomes media from all over the world to come to cover and set up a presence, to enjoy the freedom of speech and interview.
Ou Jiang’an said, currently there are 72 media, 126 foreign journalists stationed in Taiwan. Among them, from January 2020 to the end of March this year, there are 21 media organizations, a total of 39 international media journalists stationed in Taiwan for the first time, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC and other international media.
Taiwan Hong Kong Association Chairman Sampson said in an interview with the station on Thursday that international media are often suppressed under the Sino-US relationship and even have to withdraw from mainland China. Samp said that Hong Kong lost its freedom, media organizations naturally will not choose.
Thorpe said: As far as I know, for example, the New York Times journalists, has been cancelled by China’s visa to leave. Many branch arrangements, then they will be compiled to different places. (Agencies) also won’t be programmed to Hong Kong, which is equally dangerous and pinned down by China. Taiwan’s freedom in East Asia is quite high, because of this reason so attract a lot of situations, journalists here in Taiwan have a lot of space to do local news in Taiwan, see the change in the Chinese factor and radiation in China and Hong Kong.
Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs: transfer to Taiwan is a strategic choice
In addition to the biography, there are also recent signs that there is a rising trend of international non-governmental organizations coming to Taiwan to set up offices. Ou Jiang’an told Taiwan that the Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit (German Foundation for the Promotion of Democracy and Freedom), which announced the closure of its office in Hong Kong back in 2020, will come to Taiwan this year to set up a base.
Wang Xuehong, executive director of the Taiwan Foreign Ministry’s NGO International Affairs Society, responded to our inquiries on Thursday, saying that the Communist Party-sanctioned Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) announced the establishment of their offices in Taiwan respectively by the end of 2020. In early December 2019, the Chinese Communist government accused NDI, IRI and several other U.S. NGOs of supporting the Hong Kong protest movement and announced sanctions against them.
In addition, Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior said in March that in order to get more international, Hong Kong and Macao non-profit organizations to set up offices in Taiwan, for the first time in more than 30 years, “revised operational points to simplify the application registration process.”
Wang said Taiwan is actually very suitable for the development of international NGOs and international media, and said the current situation in Hong Kong is very worrying.
Wang Xuehong said: “In the past, because of political factors, Taiwan is often ignored, the situation in Hong Kong is indeed a cause for concern, which also happens to create a strategic opportunity for people to look beyond Hong Kong and move to Taiwan. In fact, Taiwan is not only an alternative to Hong Kong, but I think it should be more than that. In fact, Taiwan, whether it is international NGOs or media, they want to come here to pursue the purpose and achieve their goals, Taiwan should be their strategic choice.
The Land Commission: No Hong Kong-affiliated organizations have applied to come to Taiwan for the time being
The deputy director of the Land Commission, Qiu Chuizheng, responded to a question from the station on the same day, saying that the media or non-profit organizations to set up offices in Taiwan has brought great help to Hong Kong.
Qiu Chuizheng said: international organizations in Hong Kong and Macao, as well as private institutions and groups, can come to Taiwan to set up a base, then there should be a lot of help. If a relevant Hong Kong and Macao organizations to set up offices in Taiwan, we welcome, will also be properly handled in accordance with the law, and give the necessary assistance.
The Land Commission added that so far, no Hong Kong organizations have applied to come to Taiwan.
Organizations worried about trouble under national security law
Thorpe explained that there is a certain degree of difficulty for Hong Kong NGOs to come to Taiwan, first of all to meet the complicated administrative procedures, plus if the organization still has members in Hong Kong, and use the same organization name to set up a base in Taiwan, in the current situation in Hong Kong, anything can be blamed at any time, can be charged with violating the “National Security Law”. Therefore, even though Taiwan has offered goodwill, there is still some concern.
Another animal protection organization, who did not want to be named for security reasons, pointed out to this station that the influence of the “Hong Kong National Security Law”, even if completely unrelated to politics, the organization is also worried about setting up branches in other places such as Taiwan will cause trouble.
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