German media rips China for flexing muscles in book fair
- Source: Global Times
- [02:01 September 11 2009]
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By Duan Congcong in Germany
German media Thursday said China was flexing its muscles during the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair after Chinese delegates forced the German organizer to bar two foreign writers from the event.
As an appetizer before the fair, a symposium themed "China and the world – perceptions and realities" will take place this weekend.
Scholars from both China and Germany will discuss topics related to what the perception of China is outside the country and how China sees itself in relation to other regions and powers.
Frankfurt Mayor Petra Roth, chairman of the book fair Juergen Boos, and former Chinese ambassador Mei Zhaorong will attend the symposium.
However, German organizers also invited two writers deemed unpopular by Chinese readers, which caused strong complaints from Chinese scholars and writers.
Representatives from the Chinese General Administration of Press and Publication–co-organizer of the event – delivered their objections to their German counterparts, who later withdrew the invitation to those two writers.
A long story in the Der Spiegel Thursday criticized China over the canceled invitation. It said that having China join the event has become more and more troublesome because it likes to add pressure. The Deutsche Presse Agentur Thursday echoed those sentiments with a story saying China likes to flex its muscles.
"We have withdrawn the invitation," Peter Ripken, organizer of the symposium, told the Global Times. "But one of the writers has been granted a visa from the German Foreign Ministry. My colleague is now negotiating with Beijing."
"The German media is overacting on this issue," he added.
The Chinese delegation, composed of 12 publishing house groups, presented 4,000 books in a 500-square-meter area at the fair, which has a theme of "Education for the Future," according to the Xinhua News Agency.
