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WSJ's biased Xinjiang riot story refuted

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-07-13 14:12

BEIJING: An opinion piece entitled "I don't read the Wall Street Journal any more" has spread rapidly among China's Internet users since its electronic edition was published Saturday in People's Daily to refute the Journal's 'biased' reports on the July 5 riot in Xinjiang.

The piece by veteran People's Daily reporter Ding Gang cited the Journal's Asian edition, which referred to the Uygur people as protesters and the Han people as "mobs", and claimed the riot was caused by unfair treatment of the Uygur people.

"At first I thought it was the same old bias from our Western colleagues, but the image of Rebiya Kadeer and her bylined story 'The Real Uygur Story' on the Journal's website on July 8 was totally unacceptable," he said.

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"The Journal's editors may as well defend themselves, saying this is balanced and fair journalism, but would it have been balanced and fair for them, had any Chinese media commented on the September 11 terrorist attack against New York and Washington in 2001, saying "New York Revenge -- Muslim minorities fight US hegemonism?

"Please keep in mind: those mobs, who wouldn't even let pass children, are terrorists by the standards of all nations governed by law.

"Starting from today, I've stopped bookmarking its website and have marked incoming mails from the Journal as spam," wrote Ding.

Ding, who worked as resident correspondent in Stockholm, Brussels and New York and was among the first Chinese reporters to enter the September 11 terrorist attack site, said he had read the Journal for more than a decade.

"The Journal may not care if it loses one reader, but I do care about my own dignity and that of the Chinese nation.

"Frankly speaking, the journal's China reports are increasingly disappointing in recent years, some of which are biased and ignorant. I didn't unsubscribe it, thinking its financial reports and analysis are still worthy somehow.

"Its reports on the July 5 riot in Urumqi, however, are simply unbearable: this time the Journal has gone beyond bias and ignorance to blatantly take sides with the terrorists, and serve as their spokesperson."

Ding's opinion, in Chinese, was published in the print edition of the Global Times Friday and was quoted by hundreds of websites Saturday and Sunday. Most of these websites, however, deactivated readers comments.

The deadliest riot in Xinjiang in six decades has killed 184 people and injured 1,680.