Beijing has thin skin. We already knew that, but their latest tantrum involves booting a New York Times reporter because her employers dared to interview Taiwan’s president. Taipei, predictably, is furious. On Sunday, the Taiwanese presidential office slammed the move, calling China a “source of instability” that relies on crude intimidation to muzzle the free press.
The reporter, Vivian Wang, was expelled back in February. Her crime? Guilt by association. Chinese officials reportedly pinned the expulsion on a December video interview that the Times’ DealBook summit conducted with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te. Here is the kicker: Wang did not even work on the segment. It did not matter. Beijing wanted to make a point.
To Beijing, Lai is a dangerous separatist. He disagrees. Lai maintains that Taiwan is already independent and that only its citizens can decide its future. Karen Kuo, spokesperson for Taiwan’s presidential office, defended the interview as standard diplomatic practice. She stated that Taiwan will not be silenced by oppression and will continue to speak to the world.
Neither Beijing’s foreign ministry nor the U.S. State Department offered immediate comments. Wang, who previously reported on China’s heavy-handed COVID response and strict censorship, also stayed quiet.
Par for the course. Foreign journalists in China live on borrowed time, surviving on one-year visas that can be yanked at a whim. Taipei has long complained about Beijing’s “transnational repression,” which includes slapping toothless sanctions on Taiwanese lawmakers.
A dirty game. Back in 2020, Beijing expelled over a dozen American journalists during a diplomatic spat with Washington. The U.S. retaliated by capping staff at Chinese state-run media outlets. The press always pays the price.
