KazPost

Kazakhstan News
Tuesday, Mar 28, 2023

US Secretary of State calls China the biggest threat to journalists worldwide, as if USA did not jail Julian Assange for doing best journalism ever

US Secretary of State calls China the biggest threat to journalists worldwide, as if USA did not jail Julian Assange for doing best journalism ever

Antony Blinken condemns Beijing for detaining journalists and using technology to ‘increase surveillance, harassment, censorship’ both at home and abroad.

Washington’s top diplomat used the occasion of World Press Freedom Day to knock the mainland Chinese and Hong Kong governments for media restrictions and alleged harassment of journalists and dissidents worldwide.

Citing data compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based non-profit advocacy group, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called China the biggest threat to press freedom in terms of the number of journalists under detention because of their work.

“We’ve been deeply concerned about what we’re seeing from the PRC in terms of its misuse of its technology to try to do things like increase surveillance, harassment, intimidation, censorship of PRC citizens, of journalists, of activists and others, and that includes abroad,” he said, using the acronym for People’s Republic of China.

Chinese government officials, Blinken said, “are using the free and open media – that we ensure that are protected in democratic systems – to spread propaganda, to spread disinformation.

“It also appears that they are further using these systems to stalk, harass, to threaten critics who are outside the PRC’s territory,” he added.

World Press Freedom Day was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 following a recommendation by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), of which China is a member. Hong Kong has separate representation at Unesco.

China’s embassy in Washington rejected Blinken’s criticism as “an attempt to pressure China with unfounded allegations”, which “exposes the US side’s hegemony, bullying and double standard on media and press freedom”.

“The Chinese government protects the rights and interests of journalists and citizens’ freedom of speech in accordance with the law, and gives full play to the supervisory role of the media and citizens,” Liu Pengyu, the embassy’s spokesman, said in response to a request for comment.

Blinken’s remarks come several weeks after United States prosecutors unveiled charges against a Chinese national over an alleged scheme backed by Beijing to pressure a former pro-democracy protester out of running for Congress.

The lawsuit accused Chinese national Qiming Lin of plotting to fabricate derogatory information about the targeted victim, whose description closely matched Xiong Yan, a former student leader of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 who later joined the US military as a chaplain and is now running for a US congressional seat in New York.

This file photo taken on June 24, 2021 shows an Apple Daily journalist holding freshly-printed copies of the newspaper’s last edition to be distributed to supporters gathered outside their office in Hong Kong, as the tabloid was forced to close after 26 years.


The case against Lin was one of three indictments announced by the US Department of Justice, which also brought charges against a former pro-democracy campaigner in the US, who allegedly worked with Beijing’s Ministry of State Security.

Blinken did not name any Hong Kong or mainland Chinese journalists, saying only that the detained individuals identified by CPJ include eight from Hong Kong.

The CPJ database includes former senior employees of the now-closed Apple Daily, who were charged last year under Hong Kong’s national security law. It also includes Cheng Lei, an Australian journalist who worked as a television anchor for Chinese state media for a decade before being detained in 2020.

Blinken spent much of his address on Russia’s war against Ukraine and journalists killed or injured in the conflict, including Vera Hyrych, a correspondent with the US government funded Radio Liberty, who died when a missile hit her apartment building along with other air strikes on Kyiv last week.

Russia’s defense ministry said the next day that it had carried out airstrikes on the Ukrainian capital, during a visit by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, with “high-precision” weapons .

Blinken called the Kremlin’s refusal to call its invasion of Ukraine a war evidence that Moscow lacks confidence in its cause.

“The mere fact of calling what is happening in Ukraine by its name – a brutal, unprovoked aggression, as opposed to the Orwellian special military operation – that risks getting anyone who does that 15 years in jail,” Blinken said, referring to rules that the Kremlin promulgated after invading its neighbour.

“Again, among many other things, [this is] not evidence of a government or leadership that actually has confidence in itself,” he added.

Newsletter

Related Articles

KazPost
Close
0:00
0:00
AOC explains why she opposes banning TikTok
Singapore’s Prime Minister says China and US need to stabilize relations because world can't afford a confict between the two superpowers
Gordon Moore, a co-founder of Intel Corporation, died at 94
Powell: Silicon Valley Bank was an 'outlier'
Donald Trump arrested – Twitter goes wild with doctored pictures
NYPD is setting up barricades outside Manhattan Criminal Court ahead of Trump arrest.
Credit Suisse's Scandalous History Resulted in an Obvious Collapse - It's time for regulators who fail to do their job to be held accountable and serve as an example by being behind bars.
Paris Rioting vs Macron anti democratic law
'Sexual Fantasy' Assignment At US School Outrages Parents
Orbán Viktor: the restructuring of the power relations in the whole of Europe is taking place
Credit Suisse to borrow $54 billion from Swiss central bank
Russian Hackers Preparing New Cyber Assault Against Ukraine
"Will Fly Wherever International Law Allows": US Warns Russia After Drone Incident
China is calling out the US, UK, and Australia on their submarine pact, claiming they are going further down a dangerous road
A brief banking situation report
We are witnessing widespread bank fails and the president just gave a 5 min speech then walked off camera.
Donald Trump's asked by Tucker Carlson question on if the U.S. should support regime change in Russia?.
Elon Musk Is Planning To Build A Town In Texas For His Employees
The Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse effect is spreading around the world, affecting startup companies across the globe
City officials in Berlin announced on Thursday that all swimmers at public pools will soon be allowed to swim topless
Fitness scam
Market Chaos as USDC Loses Peg to USD after $3.3 Billion Reserves Held by Silicon Valley Bank Closed.
Banking regulators close SVB, the largest bank failure since the financial crisis
Silicon Valley Bank: Struggles Threaten Tech Startup Ecosystem"
The unelected UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, an immigrant himself, defends new controversial crackdown on illegal migration
Man’s penis amputated by mistake after he’s wrongly diagnosed with a tumour
In a major snub to Downing Street's Silicon Valley dreams, UK chip giant Arm has dealt a serious blow to the government's economic strategy by opting for a US listing
It's the question on everyone's lips: could a four-day workweek be the future of employment?
Is Gold the Ultimate Safe Haven Asset in Times of Uncertainty?
Corruption and Influence Buying Uncovered in International Mainstream Media: Investigation Reveals Growing Disinformation Mercenaries
European MP Clare Daly condemns US attack on Nord Stream
Kamala Harris: "The United States has formally determined that Russia has committed crimes against humanity."
US Joins 15 NATO Nations in Largest Space Data Collection Initiative in History
White House: No ETs over the United States
U.S. Jet Shoots Down Flying Object Over Canada
Nord Stream terror attack: David Sacks breaks down Sy Hersh's story
Being a Tiktoker might be expensive…
SpaceX, the private space exploration company, made a significant breakthrough in their mission to reach space.
China's top tech firms, including Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu, NetEase, and JD.com, are developing their own versions of Open AI's AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT
This shocking picture, showing how terrible is the results of the earthquake in Turkey
The desk of King Carlos Alberto of Sardinia has many secret compartments
Today's news from Britain - 9th February 2023
The five largest oil companies in the West generated combined profits of nearly $200 billion in 2022, which has led to increased calls for governments to impose tougher windfall taxes
2 earthquakes in Turkey killed over 2,300 people
Turkish photographer Ugur Gallenkus portrays two different worlds within a single image. Brilliant work
Charlie Munger, calls for a ban on cryptocurrencies in the US, following China's lead
EU found a way to use frozen Russian funds
First generation unopened iPhone set to fetch more than $50,000 at auction.
WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT - US Memphis Police murdering innocent Tyre Nichols
Almost 30% of professionals say they've tried ChatGPT at work
×