BEIJING -- Chinese news coverage of the killer earthquake in Taiwan has been both muted and sporadic, ranging from solicitous concern for the rogue province to no news at all. When the earthquake did get print or air time in the week following the temblor, coverage tended to focus on what mainland authorities, ranging from China's Red Cross to Beijing-based seismologists, had to say.
If mainland authorities sounded nervous, however, it was not because of tectonic aftershocks. Taiwan's sorrow threatened to cast a shadow on yesterday's National Day celebrations in Beijing.
The Sept. 22 edition of People's Daily devoted a quarter of its front page to the earthquake "which struck our country in Taiwan Province," emphasizing President Jiang Zemin's comment about Taiwan being as "inseparable as flesh and blood," that aid would be offered and the fact that Guangdong, Fujian and other mainland provinces felt aftershocks. Beijing Youth News presented the same story with photos and a short article saying that the Mid-Autumn Festival would not be a happy one this year. China Daily, aimed at a more international, English-reading audience had less incendiary rhetoric about Taiwan's "provincial" status, but basically told the same story ("Jiang extends condolences . . .")