Censorship is OK if it’s by your own side
- The West cried foul when a British journalist was kicked out of Hong Kong after hosting a speech by a secessionist, but there was not a word when Taipei expelled an academic due to talk about peaceful unification with the mainland
Everyone knows about British journalist Victor Mallet, but you have probably never heard of mainland sinologist Li Yi. Why? Because one was kicked out by the Hong Kong government, the other by Taipei. Charges of censorship against people and governments are always made selectively.
Local pan-democrats and their media comrades were telling the world this was the end of free speech and a free press in the city. Almost every prestigious publication on both sides of the Atlantic jumped on their editorial high horses to condemn Hong Kong.
What did Mallet do? On behalf of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, he invited Andy Chan Ho-tin of the secessionist Hong Kong National Party, which everyone knew was about to be banned, to talk about why Hong Kong should become independent, in clear violation of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.
An overreaction from Taipei? Nary a word from our champions of free speech in Hong Kong and overseas, who are normally so alert about such things.
Mallet didn’t get his work visa only after Chan had given his speech.
Li couldn’t even give his speech. The Taiwanese media inevitably mentioned that he advocated the use of force to achieve unification. Actually, he advocates peaceful unification but would not rule out the use of force.
Chan, on the other hand, has repeatedly said that any means, including the use of violence, are justified for Hong Kong to secede.
Taipei first said Li’s talk was incompatible with his visa status as a tourist, but then admitted he was expelled because he did not respect the island’s “sovereignty” and advocated Beijing’s “one country, two systems” as a model for unification.
Last I checked, the other leading Taiwanese political party, the Kuomintang, still acknowledges “one China” and that Taiwan, by its own admission, is not a country.
