On OpenDemocracy.net, Li Datong writes that there will be no real “public opinion” about China-Japan relations until there is press freedom:
2007 is a sensitive year in Sino-Japan relations – the seventieth anniversary of the outbreak of the second Sino-Japanese war (or the “war of resistance against Japan”). Long before Chinese premier Wen Jiabao made his visit to Japan in mid-April 2007, the Chinese propaganda authorities placed a gagging order on the news media, forbidding them from publishing any memorial pieces. They were anxious not to destroy the atmosphere that had allowed a thaw in relations between the two countries. Once again, historical events had become a diplomatic taboo. It seems that as it forms its foreign policy, the Chinese government cannot ignore “public opinion”.
I put “public opinion” in inverted commas because, in fact, public opinion in the usual sense has never existed in China. Public opinion must be built on freedom of speech. [Full text]
