On the 13th of April, inside the UN building in Geneva, a special conference was held by the General-Secretary of the International Multicultural Religions Organization about New Tang Dynasty Television. The main speakers included NTDTV Public Affairs Deputy Principal, Chairman of the Overseas Chinese Democracy League, a representative for the Tiananmen Mothers Committee and also a Swiss lawyer.
NTDTV Public Affairs Deputy Principal Ms Xi Lei made a very animated speech with a very vivid standpoint: I would like to remind everyone that all media in China are controlled by the Communist authorities with the intention of preventing Chinese citizens from hearing objective and neutral information, while depriving Chinese citizens’ freedom of thinking.
NTDTV is an overseas Chinese TV station and it is the only Chinese-language TV station that is not controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The station broadcasts international news and news from China 24 hours a day, and its broad range of content shows great diversity. NTDTV emphasizes respect for basic human rights, democracy and freedom of opinion. Apart from objectively and independently reporting news from China and Asia, the TV station also talks about basic human and civil rights. For example, NTDTV was the first TV station to expose the existence of “SARS” and called for international communities to draw their concern towards this infectious disease, which posed a serious threat to the human race.
Right now, NTDTV’s programmes can be viewed in North America, Europe, Australia and China. NTDTV is broadcast to China through a French company called Eutelsat, who signed a contract lasting for about a year. Presently, the company has decided to terminate the contract of broadcast under pressure from the CCP. Since then, NTDTV has received all kinds of support from different circles. For instance, some 60 Members of European Parliament stood up to support NTDTV. In addition, there are also many MPs in America who expressed their support for NTDTV. Of course, we are still hoping for wider and more comprehensive support. Because NTDTV has faced some problems, other media might also run into them in the future. Therefore, the TV Station urgently calls for the whole world to give them more comprehensive support.
The seminar held in the UN building was to remind international communities to pay attention to this serious incident of violation of freedom of speech. In China, millions of people are anxiously waiting for the international communities to lend a helping hand.
During the seminar, Chairman of the Overseas Chinese Democracy League Mr. Wei Jing did an analysis on China’s disrespect for freedom of speech and the blockage of NTDTV’s programmes. He emphasized the importance of different overseas organizations defeating Communism together.
A representative for the Tiananmen Mothers Committee reviewed the scene of her cousin being shot through the head for taking a few photographs of the parading students during the June 4th Tiananmen Square Massacre. She also looked back on the “Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party”, published as editorials by The Epoch Times newspaper and broadcast by NTDTV. She said that those reports have had tremendous impact in China and elsewhere in the world. According to the latest news, 1 million CCP members have resigned from the Party.
Finally, a Swiss lawyer emphasized the importance of freedom of information and speech once again. If it is ignored and neglected, then people would be without individual thinking and opinions, and this would really be brainwashing. This is also why non-governmental organisations (NGO) and Reporters Without Borders continuously appealed for help after NTDTV’s incident, and the UN Human Rights Special Investigator constantly pointed out that the Chinese Government incessantly violated the basic freedom of speech of those honest media who reported fairly and truthfully. Meanwhile she also made a point that, just like the constitution in democratic countries, the Chinese Constitution has clauses which guarantee basic rights for citizens. This is a most ironic mockery of China’s current status.
The attending representatives asked a lot of questions, expressing their support over this incident and especially for NTDTV, and exchanging their ideas. These representatives included reporters, two governmental representative groups and numerous NGOs. A foreign lawyer gave NTDTV Station some legal advice. An attendee who was an overseas Chinese living in Europe talked about when his parents in China watched NTDTV Station’s programmes and furthermore when he watched them himself. He deemed that NTDTV’s programmes were excellent and very objective.
At the end of the seminar, a large number of representatives came to the front to search for materials on NTDTV Station and the Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party. A reporter also invited a commentator to distribute the Nine Commentaries during another seminar on Communism.
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