having a marked chilling effect on the actions and communications of Taiwan’s NGOs. The case also suggests Taiwan’s wider population faces an insidious dilemma: whether or not to self-censor. 

The News Lens
Date: 2017/09/26
By: David Green

As a young reporter, I had the misfortune of becoming persona non grata in the eyes

Image Credit: Complot / Shutterstock / 達志影像

of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). I had irredeemably offended a higher-up in the country’s national media, resulting in a permanent black mark against me that ensured I would never receive accreditation as a journalist in China.

The government did not go as far as to expel me though, so I turned to freelancing. One evening while celebrating my birthday in Beijing, I was approached by two men. I assumed them to be friends of friends. At first they were convivial, but the conversation soon turned to the nature of my work and visa status (no, I did not have the right visa). The larger of the two, a thick-set, square-jawed fellow, gave me a business card that I later found to be from a fictional telecommunications company. I tried to change location, only for them to reappear later as silhouettes in the shadows on the edge of a dancefloor.    [FULL  STORY]