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JAPAN-CHINA-PRESS-POLITICS
Japan protests as reporter blocked from covering China FM
TOKYO, Aug 30, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Japan has lodged a protest with China about
freedom of speech after Beijing blocked a Japanese reporter from covering a
meeting between top diplomats from the two countries.
On Wednesday, the Chinese foreign ministry excluded a reporter from the
Sankei Shimbun — a Japanese conservative daily critical of China — from a
media pool covering the start of a meeting between China’s Foreign Minister
Wang Yi and Japanese vice foreign minister Takeo Akiba.
Other Japanese media covering the event in Beijing then boycotted the pool
coverage in protest.
“The Japanese government believes that respect for basic human rights
including freedom of expression is a universal value in the international
community, and ensuring those rights is important in any country,” top
government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters in Tokyo when asked about
the incident.
“From this viewpoint, it is extremely regrettable that this kind of affair
happened, and we have lodged a protest to the Chinese side,” added Suga.
Akiba, who was in Beijing ahead of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to
China expected in October, also protested to his Chinese opposite number Le
Yucheng, Suga said.
Suga however said bilateral relations between the two regional rivals are
improving.
“The date of Prime Minister Abe’s visit is under coordination right now,”
Suga said, adding that “we hope to push up to a new stage the relationship
between Japan and China through visits by high level officials.”
Fumihiko Iguchi, executive officer of the Sankei Shimbun, described
Beijing’s actions as “unfair obstruction of legal newsgathering activities
that cannot be ignored.”
“We express our regret,” he said in a Wednesday statement, adding that the
daily “will do our best to continue giving our readers accurate information
about the situation in China”.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1155 hrs