An Ontario cabinet minister told organizers of a Markham street festival to deny The Epoch Times a booth at their event in order to appease the Chinese consul general, a source involved in organizing the event says.
The source involved in the Taste of Asia Street Festival, who wished not to be identified, says event organizers made a verbal commitment to an unhappy Michael Chan, Ontario’s minister of tourism and culture, not to include The Epoch Times after an incident that embarrassed the Chinese consul general at the Taste of Asia event in 2008.
That event had in attendance a number of high-profile guests, including Chan and then-Chinese Consul General Zhu Taoying.
“The Chinese consul general arrived and saw the Epoch Times booth. She was very upset and turned away and left, making the scene very embarrassing, since we still had other honourable guests in the opening ceremony,” the source said.
“After that, Michael Chan was very unhappy. We then made a verbal commitment [to Chan] that we would not accept The Epoch Times in future events.”
The Epoch Times is an international news organization with a Chinese-language edition that is notably independent of the Chinese regime. The newspaper frequently reports on news censored in China, including human rights abuses such as those against the Falun Gong spiritual practice, and carries articles critical of the ruling communist party.
The Epoch Times was indeed denied participation when it attempted to apply to return this year to the Taste of Asia in June and another event put together in part by the same organizers this summer, the Richmond Hill Summer Carnival. The source explained that the denials were a result of a commitment that had been made to Chan.
