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Saturday, January 20, 2018

Reuters does a 180

Perched.

For some time now I've been documenting how Reuters has been outpacing Xinhua in its race to present Beijing's point of view (example). Suddenly, night has turned into day: Reuters is describing reality. Aside from the silly "Amid heightened tensions" trope (all things between Taiwan and China happen amid heightened tensions, which demeans the moments when things really are tense), the presentation was pretty damn good... consider:
Beijing has taken an increasingly hostile stance toward Taiwan since the election two years ago of President Tsai Ing-wen of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.
Reuters actually forthrightly describes Beijing's decisions as the problem, and never presents Beijing as the passive recipient of Taiwan's decisions. Then the closing, on China's decision to open a new air route down the Strait...
Taiwan said on Friday the new flight path was so close to the middle line of the Taiwan Strait that it would affect Taiwan air force exercises and other flight operations.

“The planes can come very close to each other,” an official added, referring to other connecting routes that China has opened and where Taiwan civilian flights already operate.

“It becomes a very dangerous situation if we do not consult with each other.”


China, which considers Taiwan a wayward province, snapped official communication with its government after Tsai took office.
Unlike many previous articles, Reuters takes the time to offer words and points of view from Taiwan. And note the final sentence, which again blames Beijing for cutting off communication since Tsai took office.
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