Paris Conference Video Series: Jean-Philippe Béja

China is indeed living interesting times this year. The Tibet uprising, the tortuous Olympic torch relay, the nationalistic resurgence these two events have triggered and the terrible Sichuan earthquake are all testing the country’s mettle.

There is much cause for pessimism, that the regime won’t ease its grip on the developing of human rights and civil society, that the Beijing Olympics will fail to open up the minds of censors and bureaucrats.

But Jean-Philippe Béja, one of the world’s foremost China experts, told the Paris conference there is cause for optimism, that Chinese society is answering their government’s obsessive means of control with remarkable resilience.

In the conference’s closing speech, Béja, Research Director of the International Relations Studies Center in Paris, also dealt with the following issues:
--How the Chinese Marxist Government contradicts Marx himself when it comes to press freedom.
--The way Western powers humiliated China in the past is very much still in the minds of the Chinese.
--What triggered the recent wave of nationalism in China.
--Change is possible in China and journalists can play a crucial role in this change.
--Regardless of the enormous obstacles, positive changes are happening every day in China.

Paris Conference Video Series: Fan Ho Tsai

Hong Kong journalists do enjoy certain privileges when it comes t reporting news about China. Their one-country-two-systems status puts them in such a privileged position.

But as Fan Ho Tsai, Chairperson of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, told the Paris conference, Chinese authorities can all of a sudden rule that her reporting can be considered illegal and that they can make her life very difficult if she dares to confront them.

Paris Conference Video Series: Oystein Alme

Voice of Tibet (VOT) is an international initiative funded by the government of Norway to broadcast uncensored news to the people of Tibet.

But this voice is silenced with remarkable consistency by the Chinese authorities, fearful that Tibetans can have access to alternative sources of news and information.

VOT Director Oysten Alme told the Paris conference about its frustrating experiences with Chinese jammers.

He also talked about the following subjects:
--The Chinese constitution unequivocally protects freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
--Voice of Tibet is jammed continuously and sometimes from several locations in China.
--International institutions in charge of monitoring illegal radio jamming declare themselves impotent to stop the Chinese authorities.

Paris Conference Video Series: Yuwen Wu

If you are a foreign media outlet broadcasting to China, your struggle for access to news sources becomes a tug of war. That’s what the BBC Chinese Service has confronted practically ever since it started its service in the 1940’s.

Its News and Current Affairs Editor, Yuwen Wu, bears the scars of many such confrontations, but she also possesses a wealth of information as to how to beat the system.

Her presentation at the Paris conference included subjects such as the following:
--China uses visas for visiting journalists as a censorship weapon to silence foreign media.
--China is quite concerned about its international image.
--Covering Chinese affairs, even in London, is a risky business.

Paris Conference Video Series: Richard Winfield

Why do authoritarian regimes behave as the Chinese government does? Why such a compulsive drive to censor anything that counters the official version of events?

Because it’s in their nature, warns World Press Freedom Committee Chairman Richard Winfield.

At the Paris Conference, Winfield also dealt with subjects such as:
--China considers the Internet as another tool to increase their power.
--This control hunger goes beyond China; they want to control the Internet worldwide.
--They want to have a “harmonious” Internet where all their censoring designs are respected internationally.>

Paris Conference Video Series: Libby Liu

The effective work of Chinese censors leaves 1.3 billion people starved for news that affects them and that is of great interest to them.

Filling this information vacuum is the role of media outlets such as Radio Free Asia (RFA), an US-Congress-funded news organization broadcasting to that continent, especially to China.

At the Paris conference, RFA President Libby Liu gave an overview of her organization’s activities and challenges including the following:

1. RFA fills the news void left by censorship in autocratic regimes.
2. RFA is there for regular Chinese news consumers to hear about issues that concern them.
3. RFA meticulously researches stories submitted by citizen journalists.
4. Chinese authorities spend as much money jamming RFA’s signal as RFA spends in programming.

Paris Conference Video Series: Richard Winfield (2)

The World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC) is spearheading an effort to recruit Chinese defense attorneys to assist some of the 30,000 journalists who will cover the Olympics and who, with all probability, will be arrested because of their professional work.

During the Paris conference, WPFC Chairman Richard Winfield explained this initiative and called for Chinese defense attorneys willing to participate to write to freepress@wpfc.org for details.

Paris Conference Video Series: Julien Pain

Will Chinese authorities stop at controlling the Internet only within China? Will they go farther and try to interfere with websites outside China?

You bet, says Julien Pain, Director of France’s 24 TV’s Website, Observers. And his website is a great example of the Chinese authorities gargantuan appetite for content control.

At the Paris conference, through an interpreter, he also dealt with subjects such as:
--China is the world champion of Internet censorship.
--How the Chinese government control what foreign media cover in China.
--How come dozens of Chinese people from China learned perfect French all of a sudden to comment on the Chinese content of Observers?
--How is China exporting its Internet censorship?

Paris Conference Video Series: Watson Meng

Watson Meng and its Boxun News website has broken new press freedom ground in China with a revolutionary approach that depends on citizen journalists.

But, as he told the Paris conference, his website, based out of China, suffers continuous bombardment from Chinese censors.

Paris Conference Video Series: Gao Yu

Gao Yu, winner of the Golden PEN of Freedom Award and of UNESCO’s Annual World Press Freedom Prize, knows all about her government’s abusive practices to silence courageous journalists such as her.

She was sent to prison in 1993 after she wrote a piece critical of the government for a Hong Kong magazine. Being on the receiving end of the wrath of the Chinese authorities obviously has made her a censorship expert.

At the Paris conference, she shared those experiences by speaking through a translator about the following subjects:

1. According to the Chinese authorities, the past must not be questioned or discussed.
2. Criticism from aboard is considered attempts to sabotage the Games.
3. The Chinese government has built up a gargantuan censorship system without equal anywhere in the world.