Meeting With a Spy

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Steve McDonell describes his annual pre-NPC chat with a man from “the Beijing Association for International Culture Exchange”:

“So what would you like to ask premier Wen this year?” he says.

I tell him that I haven’t prepared any questions this year because the whole thing is rigged and I will never have an opportunity to ask one.

He giggles: “But what if you did have a chance …?”

“Well I won’t”, I say… and we go on like this for a while.

I point out to him that every year there’s one question from Russia, “how would you characterise China-Russia relations at the moment?”; one from India, “how would you characterise China-India relations at the moment?”; one from Japan, “how would you”…and so on; one from Taiwan, one from the US, one from Europe and never one from Australia.

He giggles: “But what if you could? Would you ask about Tibet? What would ask about Tibet?”

Via Robert Barnett.

CDT EBOOKS

Subscribe to CDT

SUPPORT CDT

Browsers Unbounded by Lantern

Now, you can combat internet censorship in a new way: by toggling the switch below while browsing China Digital Times, you can provide a secure "bridge" for people who want to freely access information. This open-source project is powered by Lantern, know more about this project.

Google Ads 1

Giving Assistant

Google Ads 2

Anti-censorship Tools

Life Without Walls

Click on the image to download Firefly for circumvention

Open popup
X

Welcome back!

CDT is a non-profit media site, and we need your support. Your contribution will help us provide more translations, breaking news, and other content you love.