Canberra, March 23 (CNA) Western media reports on the "Taiwan-China disputes" have missed the point by only focusing on Beijing's controversial threat of war against Taiwan and not covering its conciliatory remarks.
In an interview with the CNA, Gary Klintworth, an expert on Chinese affairs at the Australian National University in Canberra, criticized media reports in Australia and other Western countries as well, saying that most have only reported on Beijing's threat of war against Taiwan in its Feb. 21 white paper.
"They only focused on the sensational side of the white paper, but did not balance their reports on Beijing's concessions for Taiwan in future negotiations on the possibility of reunification of the two sides," he said.
Stuart Harris of the same university, who is considered the most senior China watcher, said: "Beijing applies one third stick and two thirds carrot against Taiwan in its white paper."
Both experts said Beijing mentioned "equality" in the white paper, meaning that further talks between the two sides would be on equal footing and not set up under the previous scenario of central government versus local government.
"This is a significant shift from China's earlier stance," Klintworth said.
Both Klintworth and Harris said that if the governments concerned only considered the sensational side of media reporting, then miscalculations and misjudgment could occur which could possibly lead to a war between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait and bring disaster to the Asia-Pacific region.
They noted, however, that leaders in the United States, Taiwan, Australia and other countries, including Japan, have become aware of Beijing's concessions and have seen an opportunity for direct dialogue between Taipei and Beijing in the future.
An Australian citizen from Victoria voiced the same views.
In a letter to the Australian Financial Review, which the daily ran on Thursday, Stephen Morgan criticized media reports for missing some subtle cues from Beijing about how far it really would go, preferring to focus on the outrageous saber-rattling rhetoric.
"All English language reports of Premier Zhu Rongji's press conference last Thursday focused on his hard-line restatement of Beijing's position," he said, adding: "None mentioned that Zhu reverted to English during the conference to telegraph a clear message of compromise (to Taiwan)."
Zhu said: "We must shift from threat to dialogue, from threat to dialogue, across the Taiwan Strait. We must shift from threat to dialogue, from threat to dialogue, across the Pacific Ocean." (By Peter Chen)
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