Journalist Says Communist Party Bans Reporting on PRC Official's Expression of Condolences for Taiwan Official

February 1, 2005

Citing an unnamed journalist based in Shanghai, Boxun reports that the Communist Party's Central Propaganda Department has banned China's domestic media from reporting information regarding Wang Daohan, chairman of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits. According to Boxun, the Party has forbidden all Chinese media outlets except Xinhua from reporting that Wang sent condolences to the family of Gu Zhenfu, the late chairman of the Taipei-based Straits Exchange Foundation. Xinhua is operated directly by China's State Council. On Sunday Xinhua reported that Sun Yafu, ARATS Vice President, and Li Yafei, ARATS Secretary-General, would fly to Taiwan on February 1 to express condolences on behalf of Wang.