Māori Television in New Zealand has been pressured by the Red Chinese régime to cancel a documentary, 10 Conditions of Love, on the Uighurs’ struggle in western China.
   E kare, some of us overseas Chinese stand firm with you.
   As Red China complains that others meddle too much in its affairs, or goes around defending its allies from external criticism, then isn’t the pressuring of a foreign television network hypocritical?
   And if Beijing wants its view to prevail, or at least be considered, then it should use less abusive means, such as supplying its own documentary and offering it without condition. (It has one which is highly critical of Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer and virtually brands her a separatist.)
   In fact, I would regard such a method as “more Chinese”, basing the approach on Confucian ideas of reciprocity. It is a concept that is also well known among Māori, albeit with a different tag.
   When Triangle TV started in Wellington, it ran a series of documentaries extremely critical of the Chinese Communist Party. But Triangle also rebroadcast programmes from Chinese Central Television (CCTV). One assumes that there was some give-and-take there, rather than direct pressuring of a foreign company.
   Once again, the Politburo reveals there is a gulf between the dictatorial way it wishes to conduct things and acceptable everyday practice. It reminds me of its conduct when it tried to order our cops around to bar journalist Nick Wang from a diplomatic function.
   The protest from Beijing has been a godsend to Māori Television, which has suddenly received mainstream media coverage for one of its programmes, almost for the first time since it started. The result is that more people will watch the documentary than ever before.
   If we Han Chinese have any complaints, it’s probably that other parts of China haven’t been covered by the network yet.
   The result of what the Chinese Communist Party has done is ensure that Māori Television is more sympathetic to anti-Beijing viewpoints going forward. Posted by Jack Yan, 06:14  permalink

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