Beijing’s foreign minister signing bilateral deals with leaders but reporters are blocked, sometimes physically, from asking questions
Journalists covering the Chinese foreign minister’s tour of the Pacific say they have been blocked from filming or accessing events, and that not a single question from a Pacific journalist has been allowed to be asked of Wang Yi.
On Sunday, as media set up to film the arrival of Wang at the Pacific Islands Forum building for a meeting with its secretary general, Henry Puna, the ABC was blocked from filming, despite having been given permission to do so. The Pacific Islands Forum intervened to allow the filming to continue, but Movono said that Chinese officials stood in front of the camera, trying to block the shot.
Movono said that when a journalist had called out questions, he was ordered to leave the room and a minder attempted to escort him out before fellow journalists stepped in to defend him.“I was quite disturbed by what I saw,” said Movono. “When you live in Fiji you kind of get used to the militarised nature of the place, but to see the Chinese officials do that was quite disturbing … To be a journalist in Fiji is to be worried about imprisonment all the time. Journalism is criminalised.
At Wang’s stops in Kiribati, Samoa and Fiji, no questions have been allowed at the press events held by the political leaders announcing bilateral deals.
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
‘Tragically ugly’ school textbook causes social media outcry in ChinaEducation ministry orders publisher to rectify illustrations of children deemed inappropriate
Read more »
China to continue pushing for Pacific Island nations to sign regional trade and security agreementChina's government says it remains confident it can strike a sweeping trade and security agreement with 10 Pacific Island states despite being forced to shelve its proposed agreement.
Read more »
China says it’s ready to co-operate with Australia in the PacificChina’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has failed to get consensus from 10 nations to sign up to a trade and security pact. auspol
Read more »
China shelves Pacific security pact after some nations objectChina has shelved its proposed Pacific Islands security and economic pact after failing to get consensus support for the deal during meetings with foreign ministers.
Read more »
China fails in bold bid to sign Pacific countries on to sweeping dealChina has fallen short on a bold plan to have 10 Pacific nations endorse a sweeping new agreement covering everything from security to fisheries.
Read more »
Pacific nations walk away from region-wide trade and security deal with ChinaPacific Island countries have not signed a region-wide trade and security deal with China today.
Read more »