A string of incidents suggests the Chinese communist regime is attempting to stifle an independent Chinese television network in Canada. Chinese-language broadcaster and Epoch Times media partner New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) has had its business activities interfered with repeatedly by Chinese embassies and consulates in Canada, said the company's Canadian president.
The most recent incident happened in late April when the Chinese consulate in Alberta pressured two provincial tourism agencies to renege on sponsorship deals with NTDTV's flagship cultural show, the Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular.
Tourism Calgary and Travel Alberta had planned to sponsor the show but pulled out after being contacted by Wu Xinjian, the consul-general representing the People's Republic of China in Calgary.
"This is typical of the Chinese regime's interference with the Spectacular since it began. In almost every city and country where the show has toured, Chinese consulate and embassy officials have sought to have it cancelled or to otherwise cause trouble," said Joe Wang, president of NTDTV Canada.
Another ongoing and unresolved issue is the broadcaster's attempt to get Rogers Cable to air NTDTV in Canada.
The CRTC approved NTDTV in November 2005 but Rogers has yet to pick up the channel although a spokesperson for the company has said it plans to do so.
Another Chinese-language network, Phoenix Television, which often reports favorably on the Chinese regime, gained approval from the CRTC together with NTDTV. Rogers added Phoenix to its line-up the next day. That was in 2005.
In December 2006, a group of nine state-run Chinese networks gained CRTC approval and were immediately picked up by Rogers. Those nine channels include CCTV-4, an official media mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party.
Rogers actually sponsored the nine channels and senior executives went to China to discuss getting them aired.
The Canada Tibet Committee recently filed a complaint with the CRTC about CCTV-4's coverage of Tibet, saying the network's coverage was causing hatred towards the Dalai Lama and Tibetans among mainland Chinese immigrants in Canada. Toronto and Ottawa both had rallies of Beijing supporters waving Chinese flags and denouncing the Dalai Lama and Tibetans while also accusing western media of biased coverage of Tibet.
The protesters repeated the perspective reported in CCTV-4 and other Chinese-language media in Canada that Tibetans were liberated after communist China took control of Tibet and that the Dalai Lama was a sinister force behind the violence in Tibet.
In a recent interview with The Epoch Times, Rogers Cable vice president David Purdy said Rogers aired CCTV-4 and other pro-Beijing television channels because the cable provider was committed to providing customers with as diverse a range of Chinese-language content as possible.
Nancy Cottenden, a spokesperson for Rogers, said the cable company was in confidential discussions about airing NTDTV and said the channel would air in the future. However, Cottenden would offer no explanation for the two-and-a-half-year delay nor explain why pro-Beijing channels were aired immediately.
Cottenden denied Rogers Cable was being pressured by Chinese Communist Party officials to not air NTDTV. NTDTV is often sharply critical of the Beijing regime.
However, a document obtained by The Epoch Times a year ago reveals that Chinese embassy officials were implementing multiple strategies to keep the channel from airing.
The hand-written memo, which was smuggled out of the embassy by a diplomat's wife, reveals that Chen Pengshan, secretary of the embassy's culture section, and several of its highest-ranking officials including Huang Huikang, were in fact attempting to keep NTDTV from airing.
"In accordance with the directives from the leader of the embassy, I immediately took actions," wrote Chen in a translation of the memo.
Chen said he'd had detailed communications four times with the key players in the NTDTV application: the CRTC, Rogers Cable, and the CCTA, the cable association that sponsored NTDTV's application.
Media rights group, Reporters Without Borders, has said the regime has also pressed satellite providers not to carry NTDTV.
The Epoch Times obtained another "highly classified" document from China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television dated Dec. 16, 2003 that specifically targeted the Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular.
The document said, "The leadership of the central government has ordered that they [the Spectacular] be destroyed by any and all means." If that was not possible, orders were to "minimize their impact." Chinese officials sent letters to politicians, performers, and venues, urging them not to take part in the NTDTV Spectacular or show support. Another incident took place in 2004 when a Chinese consular official directly ordered one of the organizers of a Chinese street festival to kick NTDTV out of the event. That matter is now before the courts.
NTDTV's Wang hopes Rogers will air the channel soon.
"We were the first ones approved by the CRTC in Canada and we're still working patiently with Rogers to get launched. To be honest, in the past two-plus years Rogers has failed to provide a true different voice to the Chinese community and we look forward to providing that choice as soon as possible.
"We would like Rogers to provide the Chinese community a choice that is different from what the Chinese regime would like. That choice is NTDTV — we are a truly independent Chinese service."
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