World Tribune.com

China presses Japan to control
its media

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, January 25, 2006

A senior Chinese official has urged Tokyo to impose tighter media controls, expressing discontent over the Japanese media's negative reports.

Cui Tiankai, director-general of the Asian Affairs Department of China's Foreign Ministry, made his remarks during a China-Japan coordination meeting in Beijing on Jan. 9, according to the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.

The Tokyo daily also reported that a Foreign Ministry spokesman asked Japan to give "instructions" to its media.

The Beijing meeting was aimed at resolving a dispute over natural gas deposits in the East China Sea amid strained bilateral ties, according to Japanese officials. But the meeting failed to bridge differences over gas and oil exploration rights in the region.

Mainichi said Kong Quan, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman, also protested that Japanese media have failed to provide sufficient news coverage about Hu Jintao's five-item proposal regarding the China-Japan relationship announced last April.

"The purpose of the media is to enhance the mutual understanding and trust between the two countries," Kong was quoted as saying. He requested the Japanese government to give "instructions" to the media.

Kenichiro Sasae, director of Japan's Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, dismissed China's demand, saying media control is impossible in Japan where freedom of the press is protected by the constitution.

In a commentary, Mainichi noted that the Chinese communist regime exerts rigorous surveillance and control over its media and fails to understand Japan's freedom of press.

Japan and China have been embroiled in the energy dispute because of an unresolved demarcation line at sea where the two countries' 200-nautical-mile economic zones overlap.

Japan is concerned that China, which has been tapping gas fields in the East China Sea, might siphon off resources that could be buried under Japan-claimed waters.

Bilateral relations remain chilly due to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni Shrine, where convicted war criminals are honored with other war dead. The Chinese believe the visits glorify Japan's militaristic past.


Copyright © 2006 East West Services, Inc.

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