China’s Internet censors cut out a question by a foreign reporter to Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday about democracy and a disgraced former leader, making no mention of it on a Web cast of Wen’s annual press conference.
The journalist had asked, in English, about comments attributed to ousted Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang in a book published in Hong Kong that China should learn from Taiwan and South Korea and move towards democracy.
He had also asked about a People’s Daily article in which Wen had talked about democracy and socialism, to which the premier responded at length in remarks which remained uncensored.
“As for the book you mentioned, I don’t think there’s any connection between that and what I’ve talked about because I haven’t read it,” Wen said tersely in answer to the Zhao question. [Full Text]