Media

Throughout the Russia-Ukraine war, Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelenskyy has been seen as a champion for democracy against authoritarianism, but Taiwanese social entrepreneur and columnist Jack Huang highlights the flaws in the media’s portrayal and how it could impact the Taiwan Strait crisis.

Former Zaobao editor Lim Jim Koon believes that the balloon saga between China and the US in February gives much food for thought around the role of political leaders and mass media in sensationalising the trivial incidents.

Hong Konger freelance writer Thomas Chan speaks with young mainland Chinese who have chosen to seek their futures in Hong Kong. Aside from push factors from the mainland or the West, many of them think Hong Kong has positive attributes of its own that makes it an appealing choice.

Former Zaobao editor Lim Jim Koon observes that zaobao.com was recently lumped in with “local media” of China in one of the Japanese media reports. Intentionally or not, this is one of the ways that Singapore’s leading Chinese-language newspaper has sometimes been cast as pro-China or anti-China to suit the narratives of others. As China-US tensions intensify in the new Year of the Rabbit, the paper, and perhaps Singapore too, must brace itself for labels being cast on it, and keep vigilant in staying the course and guarding its own interests.

The high-profile trial of Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai has been postponed, with some voices asserting that media freedom has not been respected. From his close observation of Apple Daily in his years as Zaobao’s editor, Lim Jim Koon takes a clear-eyed look at Apple Daily. He says that having crossed the baseline of news media organisations and broken the law, it can no longer justify its actions with media freedom.

From her time on the political desk then as Zaobao’s Hong Kong correspondent and Beijing correspondent, Lee Huay Leng, editor-in-chief of SPH Chinese Media Group, recalls her impressions of the late former Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Jiang represented the ideas and workings of an era in Chinese politics, and played a great role in shaping China's domestic policies and international diplomacy.

East Asian Institute senior research fellow Lance Gore observes that the recent protests in China have highlighted the deep generational gap between the leaders of the country and the protesters. In tandem with the modernisation of society, there needs to be the modernisation of politics, allowing greater room for political participation and dialogue.

US academic Zhu Zhiqun gives an assessment of the late former President Jiang Zemin’s policies during his time leading China throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s.

China’s strict pandemic measures have undoubtedly caused significant inconvenience to the ordinary people. However, while there is talk that the measures might be relaxed after the 20th Party Congress, the signals from state media seem to suggest that the “dynamic zero” approach to Covid-19 is here to stay, at least for some time yet. Zaobao correspondent Yang Danxu tells us more.