Residents of Fujian left baffled by the results
Residents of Fujian, the mainland province closest to Taiwan, were struggling to make sense of the disputed poll yesterday amid a virtual media blackout.
At a popular Taiwan-funded restaurant chain in Xiamen, a Taiwanese businessman was unable to explain the workings of the island's electoral process to a puzzled local friend. 'Taiwan is just like this sometimes,' he said.
Even in Xiamen, the closest mainland city to Taiwan, local newspapers abided by the news blackout. The Xiamen Daily reported the results of the presidential election and referendum on its front page, but only quoted Xinhua reports.
A Shanghai Television producer said the government had ordered state media outlets to use only Xinhua and CCTV material, and had discouraged any independent reporting. Authorities have also told scholars specialising in Taiwan that they must seek permission to speak to the media.
A scholar at Shanghai's Fudan University said mainland reporting during the campaign and the election had sought to negate the referendum while maintaining a critical tone.
Fujian's popular Strait News ran a critical editorial saying Taiwan's experiments with democracy had become a 'terrorist war' because of election-related violence.
'The people are afraid to walk on the streets during the day and they close their doors and windows at night because of election violence,' it said.
Xiamen residents have turned to more varied news sources on the election than state-controlled media, watching Taiwanese television broadcasts, which they can receive in their homes.
Resident Zhao Guangquan offered a simple explanation for the disputed election result and the mainland's reaction.
'Neither the mainland nor Lien Chan want Chen Shui-bian to be president,' he said.
