Chinese Diplomat Throws Tantrum in Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine

At a meeting with Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko, Chinese officials requested that NTDTV journalists should not be admitted. (John Thys/AFP/Getty Images)

Last week, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko had a meeting with the vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Wang Gang. He promised that China would donate 3 million dollars to Ukraine for boosting its economic development.

Many accredited journalists were attracted to this event, including reporters for New Tang Dynasty TV (NTDTV). Right before the meeting, some members from a Chinese delegation approached the door, through which journalists were entering the building, and started screaming out insults toward the NTDTV filming crew. Pointing to the NTDTV emblem, they insisted that they were “against China.”

Chinese officials requested that NTDTV journalists should not be admitted to the meeting. At this time, a media representative showed up and crossed the NTDTV entry out from the list of the accredited media. He justified this action by saying that it was being done to prevent the possibility of an international scandal.

While a diplomat continued to shout and threaten, a camera man was videotaping the whole scene. Upon seeing this, a Chinese official threatened him with a lawsuit and requested that all recordings be deleted. He summoned security guards to carry out his requirement. He kept screaming: “I know that you will broadcast it all over the world! You have no right to do it, I am a governmental official!”

Policemen, who arrived upon the demand, wrote down the passport data from all the NTDTV crew members and forced the cameraman to erase all recordings. They claimed that their actions were based on the laws of Ukraine.

“I regret that Ukrainian officials yielded to the pressure from the Chinese regime and violated the rights of journalists, accredited to cover the event in the government cabinet of ministers of Ukraine,” said Aleksey Podsosonniy, a camera man from Ukrainian NTDTV office. In his opinion, this incident was connected with economic pressure, which official Beijing uses in order to “to mute the voices of independent media and democratic movements abroad.”

Alexander Nimenko, the other member of the NTDTV crew who was also present during this incident, remarked: “I think their actions are ridiculous. A person, who represents a foreign state abroad, cannot behave like this. I was not surprised that one of them with a frightened face grabbed our camera man demanding to erase all he had shot and even threatened to sue him. When a government official behaves like that, I think, this is an obvious indication of weakness. Every reasonable person can realize it.”