WASHINGTON: Two Taiwanese reporters who had been accredited to cover this week’s World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva were told on Monday that they wouldn’t be allowed to obtain their press passes in a move seen by the press freedom advocates likely caused by Chinese pressure.
According to Voice of America (VoA), Judy Tseng and Tien Hsi-ju, reporters with Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA), were blocked from covering the 76th WHA held by the World Health Organization (WHO), even though the reporters had their press credentials approved a week earlier.
This is the new incident in which the WHA has denied media accreditation to Taiwanese nationals and media, which observers say underscores the intersection of press freedom and world politics. The WHA has regularly denied them accreditation since 2017, according to the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, or RSF.
The WHA also rejected Taiwan’s request to join the gathering this year.
A Central News Agency report on this week’s incident written by Tseng and Hsi-ju cited a United Nations staff member who blamed the circumstance on pressure from China.
“They know everything,” the staff member reportedly said.
Wanchi You, an Association of Taiwan Journalists executive committee member, said, “China used its influence to restrict the involvement of Taiwanese reporters in world events. And this limits the ability of Taiwanese media to report on world issues and undermines the principles of transparency, accountability and equal access to information.”
The Chinese Embassy in Washington said it was “unaware of the specifics” of this week’s WHA incident. It directed the voice of America to China’s Permanent Mission in Geneva, which didn’t immediately reply to VOA’s email requesting comment.
China claims Taiwan, the self-ruling island, as its territory and perceives the accreditation of Taiwanese reporters at world events as an affirmation of Taiwanese sovereignty, RSF’s East Asia Bureau Director Cédric Alviani said. Barring Taiwanese reporters from covering global events is just one way China tries to isolate Taipei on the world stage.
The Association of Taiwan Journalists said, “The UN and its affiliated organizations must uphold the value of press freedom they endorse while urging the WHA to abstain from ban journalists’ interviewing rights based on their nationality.”
Out of 180 countries, China ranks 179 in terms of press freedom, according to RSF. Taiwan ranks 35.
A CNA spokesperson said, “We ask for the UN to respect the right of journalists to do their job irrespective of their nationalities, and the WHO should mend its way by opening the proceedings of the current WHA to reporters from Taiwan.”
The spokesperson at the UN office in Geneva said, “The UN headquarters are open to individuals in possession of identification from a State recognized by the UN General Assembly,” Rolando Gómez.
Taiwan isn’t a UN member state.
WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said, “The accreditation for journalists entering the premises of the United Nations (U.N.) in Geneva is handled by the UN.” The WHO secretariat made no decision related to the accreditation of reporters to the UN premises,” including Tseng and Hsi-ju.
