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Wang Zhi'an
Chinese journalist and environmental activist (born 1968) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Wang Zhi'an (Chinese: 王志安; pinyin: Wáng Zhì'ān; born on April 21, 1968) is a Japan-based Chinese journalist. He served as a reporter and host for China Central Television and chief investigative reporter for The Beijing News. After being banned from the Chinese internet in 2019, he moved to Japan and has worked as an independent journalist.[3] In May 2022, he started hosting news talk show Wang Ju Pai An on YouTube. In 2024, he was banned from entering Taiwan for five years for violating the terms of his tourist visa by appearing on a television show.
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Career
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CCTV (1998–2015)
At China Central Television, Wang produced the documentary television program News Probe. He reported on ambulance corruption but left CCTV in 2015 when he was not allowed to air it.[4]
The Beijing News (2017–2019)
In 2017, Wang served as the chief investigative reporter and hosted a web talk show for The Beijing News. The first season interviewed Xu Xiaodong, Zhou Libo, and Cao Dewang.[5]
YouTuber (Since 2020)
He was banned from the Internet in mainland China in 2019. In January 2020, Wang moved to Japan, where he worked with Tokyo Fuko Corporation, a self media company founded in 2020. He also became active on Twitter, YouTube and TikTok. On May 2, 2022, he started hosting a news talk show Wang Ju Pai An (王局拍案) on YouTube.[6] In July of the same year, he went to Ukraine to cover the Russian invasion. He was the only mainland Chinese reporter in Ukraine besides Phoenix TV.[7] In September 2022, he went to Tokyo to film the state funeral of Shinzo Abe,[8] as well as a series of special reports on the Fukushima nuclear accident. Since October 2022, he has been interviewed or reported by the Associated Press,[9] NHK World-Japan,[10] Radio Free Asia,[11][12] CBS News[13] and SWI swissinfo.[14]
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2024 talkshow controversy
In January 2024, Wang stayed two weeks in Taiwan, producing reports on the 2024 Taiwanese elections. He appeared on The Night Night Show with Hello hosted by Hello Hor on 20 January, which Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency later found to be a violation of the terms of his tourist visa, resulting in his five-year ban.[15][16]
Prelude
Wang had visited a DPP rally on 12 January, during which he witnessed a speech by Chen Chun-han, a disabled legislative candidate. At the scene, Wang described the circa 5-minute segment as "part of common emotive calls to mobilisation in the Taiwanese electoral process". He commented, "Personally speaking, I don't fancy this tactic. If you really care about these people with disabilities, why don't you give this person a higher position on the party list? Why do you put him 16th? Put him 5th, then for sure he will be elected. Put him 16th, it's actually very hard to enter the legislature."[17][note 1]
Incident
In the appearance, Wang made remarks about Taiwanese politics. Criticising what he perceived as overly lavish and pompous campaigning from the two main parties – DPP and KMT, he likened campaign venues to "walking onto the wrong movie set." Wang remarked, "There are rockstars, and people that do the foreshadowing; and there is emotional mobilisation using disabled people on-stage."[note 2] He then briefly imitated a paralysed man with a jerking head movement, saying, "Support the DPP! Save Wang Yi-chuan!"[note 3] It aroused laughter from the audience, and was included in the first version published on 22 January, which has been replaced since then by a version omitting the clip. The show's producers apologised for the initial publication.[15]
On 23 January, Chang Chih-hao, a DPP spokesperson, said the DPP "condemns" the appearance as "a mocking of Taiwan's democracy",[note 4] and that "ridicule of rally speakers" were "vicious comments". He also said to Taiwanese media that equality for disabled people was a core value of the DPP, and that the DPP was committed to establishing a comprehensive regime for disabled people and realising equal rights.[18]
In a tweet on 24 January, Wang refuted the spokesperson's comments and accused the DPP of instrumentalising disabled people as "election tools". Subsequent tweets also criticised the DPP's "pressuring" of the talkshow.[19]
Aftermath
On 24 January, an anonymous Chinese-language X account began publicising personal information of Wang and his media employees including addresses and pictures of their offices, vowing a "revelation campaign".[20] It further claimed fraudulent business dealings by Wang in his media venture.[21] The tweets have gathered up to 233,000 views (as of 27 January, 01:00 UTC).
On 26 January, Wang published a video expressing his apologies to Chen Chun-han and "people with disabilities in Taiwan who feel offended",[22] and sarcastically mocked the DPP, "I should have actually just eulogised the DPP after arriving in Taiwan: to eulogise the DPP as not only the light of the Taiwanese democratic system, but also the light of Chinese-speaking peoples, the light of the world, the light of Asia, and the light of the universe".[23][note 5] He reported instances of physical stalking after the publicisation of the personal information, purportedly causing some of his team to refrain from work that day and express intentions of termination. "I think that the CCP will not vigorously hunt me down right now [...]. I also think that the DPP will not hunt me down using their means in Japan. The people who would hunt me down are most probably Falun Gong groups, for I offended them a while back. [...] Secondly, it's those particular groups in the Chinese diaspora in Japan; I know this well. They are precisely using these means of doxxing to publicise my personal information", he said. He indicated his plans to relocate the offices, and to contact Japanese police.[23]
Chen died on 11 February 2024 following cold complications.[24] After media reports on 15 February about the death, Wang posted on Twitter what he claimed to have been an apology letter destined for Chen drafted "half a month ago", but which had not been sent. In the same letter addressed to Chen, Wang had pledged to donate 1 million yen ($7091 in 2023) to the Taiwan Foundation for Rare Disorders (TFRD).[25] On 16 February, TFRD published a statement rejecting the donation − received before the Lunar New Year holidays − and claiming to have reimbursed it "after discovering through internet searches" that it was from Wang.[26][27]
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