Freedom of Press: March 2007 Archives

By REUTERS | The Epoch Times
March 15, 2007

The 87-year-old Chinese author of a new book on Zhao Ziyang, ousted as Communist Party chief in 1989 for opposing the Tiananmen massacre, is believed to be under house arrest, the writer's Hong Kong publisher said this week.

The whereabouts of Zong Fengming, author of Zhao Ziyang: Captive Conversations, has been unknown since he was transferred to a military hospital on Feb. 24, one day after he was admitted to another Beijing hospital with minor heart problems, Zong's publisher Jin Zhong said by telephone.

"Zong Fengming's health condition has stabilized but he has been placed under house arrest over the book ," Jin told Reuters, quoting a source close to Zong.

Zhao was toppled as party chief for opposing a decision by then paramount leader Deng Xiaoping to send in troops to crush student-led demonstrations for democracy centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

Zhao died on January 17, 2005, after more than 15 years under house arrest. He was replaced by Jiang Zemin, who stepped down in 2002 and was succeeded as party chief by Hu Jintao. Zong met Zhao more than 100 times when Zhao was under house arrest, the publisher said.

"The book is very sensitive," Jin said. "It details Zhao's comments about June 4, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao."

The book went on sale in Hong Kong in February, but is banned in China.

The Communist Party remains nervous about Zhao's residual influence and has tried to erase him from public memory, blanking out his role in economic reforms that turned China from an economic backwater to a powerhouse.

The party has rejected calls for a reassessment of the Tiananmen protests, labeled subversive, saying Zhao had tried to split the party and made "serious mistakes." Chinese authorities had tried to talk Zong into scrapping the book 's publication, Jin said, adding that Zong's manuscripts were smuggled out of China.

"They warned him that publishing his conversations with Zhao would be anti-party and counter-revolutionary," Jin said, referring to Communist jargon for subversion. "But Zong was determined to publish the book and would rather go to jail," Jin quoted Zong as saying before his disappearance.

Zong's friendship with Zhao dates back to the days when they joined the Red Army and fought against the invading Japanese in their home province, Henan, in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Zong's family and the Chinese government could not immediately be reached for comment.

By Radio Free Asia
March 14, 2007

The Chinese authorities, divided over private property rights, have effectively pulled a top magazine article covering implications of a draft Property Law to be tabled at the annual parliamentary session in Beijing.

The article, in the popular business magazine Finance, was to have been the cover story on this week’s edition of the publication, but editor Yang Daming said it couldn't go to press.

“The article was in the process of being approved, but that approval still hadn’t been completed by the time we reached the deadline, so we made some changes,” Yang told RFA’s Cantonese service.

“As I’m sure you know, the issue of the property rights law is quite a big one. Given the circumstances of our news industry at the moment, that’s what they wanted us to do,” he told reporter Grace Kei Lai-see.

Partially replaced pages

Regular Finance reader Zan Aizong said: “When I got to the newsstands I saw that saw that the holes made by the staples were larger, which makes me think that they didn’t reprint the whole thing...Rather, they just replaced a section of it.”

Asked which department refused to give the final go-ahead for the story, Yang said: "It's very hard for me to tell you. Let's just say it's orders from higher up."

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By The Associated Press | The New York Times
March 10, 2007

HONG KONG (AP) -- China on Saturday apparently blacked out parts of a CNN interview with Hong Kong's leader when he began discussing moves toward democratic reform in the territory.

During CNN's ''Talk Asia'' program, Donald Tsang was talking about his plans to consult the Hong Kong public on how to bring universal suffrage to the territory, which is ruled by China but has a wide degree of autonomy. He said he was eager to address the democracy issue if he wins a second term as chief executive of Hong Kong later this month.

The show then abruptly went to commercials, after which the screen blacked out momentarily. When the show resumed, Tsang was speaking about his relationship with Beijing state leaders.

A CNN spokeswoman in Hong Kong said she was not aware that parts of Tsang's interview were blocked but the station was looking into it. The spokeswoman did not give her name, per company policy.

The show will be broadcast again as scheduled over the weekend, she added.

China restricts foreign television channels such as CNN and the British Broadcasting Corp.'s BBC World to hotels and apartment buildings where foreigners live. Officials monitor the signals and routinely black out broadcasts on sensitive topics.

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