On September 24, Germany’s government-funded international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) revoked Zhang Danhong’s official title as the deputy chief of its Chinese division after her public defense for Beijing’s human rights policy and Internet censorship.

Four days before the Beijing Olympics, Zhang hailed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) practice of article three of Universal Declaration of Human Rights unmatched by any other political force. She also likened Beijing’s blocking of Falun Gong and Tibetan movement websites to Germany’s restriction on child pornography or right-wing extremist sites. She has since been taken off the air by DW.

On September 16, eight Chinese-German scholars wrote to the Parliament of Germany for an investigation of Beijing’s infiltration into DW. Days later, Autorenkreis der Bundesrepublik, a well-known writers association, sent a joint letter of 58 writers, including 2002 Nobel Laureate in Literature Imre Kertesz, criticizing the “serious structure problems” within the broadcaster and calling for a thorough checkup of possible CCP members in its Chinese operation.

DW, a.k.a. “German Waves,” is similar to international broadcasters such as the BBC World Service, Radio Canada International, Voice of America, and Radio France Internationale. Zhang remains in DW as an editor and resumes as an anchor of a radio program.

Source: The Epoch Times, September 26, 2008
http://epochtimes.com/gb/8/9/26/n2275894.htm