【大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网9月1日讯】今天(9月1日)下午3点﹐大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网将在纽约联合国总部门前Ralth Bunche park (43rd St. & 1st Ave.)举行新闻发布会﹐抗议中共驻西雅图领事馆封杀胡锦涛访美期间的大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网采访权。大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网在华盛顿DC﹑纽约联合国总部﹑加拿大等地的采访许可证仍在被拖延中。大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网呼吁自由世界共同抵制中共的新闻审查和媒体封锁。

胡锦涛9月4日开始访问美国前夕，中共对发表九评共产党社论并触发退党大潮的独立媒体大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网的报复行动先延续到美国西雅图。大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网时报近日申请对胡锦涛于9月4日访问西雅图期间的相关活动进行报导﹐中共通过美国大西雅图地区的商贸发展联合会拒绝了大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网的采访申请。

美国西雅图商会山姆‧凯布兰(Sam Kaplan)在其电子邮件中指出“贸易联合会是通过美国地方委员会与中国政府联系的。中国政府的活动由他们自己负责，并对媒体采访凭证具有最终决定权。他们已决定拒绝大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网对有关活动进行报导。”Kaplan将所有问题转交中国驻旧金山领事。

胡锦涛此行亦包括华盛顿DC﹑渥太华﹑多伦多﹑墨西哥﹑纽约和温哥华等地。大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网时报记者在以上地方的采访许可证仍在申请中﹐直至目前还没有回音。

大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网总编辑郭军女士表示，大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网是目前唯一敢全面真实报道中国和中共的媒体。九评共产党社论发表之后，中国大陆触发大规模退党潮，中共恐惧大陆退党事件曝光，不惜重金在全球范围内封杀大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网，中共在美国针对大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网的举动，也是全球行动的一个环节。

郭军希望社会各界认清中共本质，拒绝和中共黑帮为伍。

大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网时报是美国注册的一独立媒体﹐以中文创刊﹐现由多国语言发行﹐其中包括英文。大澳门威尼斯人赌场官网时报以报导未经政府控制之有关中国的真实新闻着称﹐包括中共的人权问题和法轮功的被迫害。

媒体采访联络﹕

Wenyi Wang, 718-908-9704 or John Nania, 646-287-1036

新闻发布稿﹕

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For Immediate Release

CHINESE CONSULATE BANS THE EPOCH TIMES FROM COVERING HU JINTAO’S VISIT TO SEATTLE

• Organization Affiliated with City of Seattle Responsible for Ban

• First Amendment Concerns Raised

The Epoch Times has been denied media credentials to cover events during Chinese president Hu Jintao’s visit to Seattle on Sept. 5 and 6. Notice of the denial came in an e-mail from Sam Kaplan, the vice-president of the Trade Development Alliance of Greater Seattle. That organization is handling media requests for Hu’s visit.

According to Mr. Kaplan’s email the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco made the decision to ban The Epoch Times. He describes the Trade Development Alliance as acting as a “conduit” to the Chinese Consulate. Neither the Trade Development Alliance nor the Chinese Consulate could be reached for comment.

According to its website the Trade Development Alliance is “a collaboration of the Port of Seattle, Port of Tacoma, Metropolitan King County Government, Snohomish County Government, Pierce County Government, City of Seattle, City of Everett, Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and union leadership.” The website’s url begins “www.cityofseattle.net.”

The City of Seattle’s interest in pleasing the Chinese government should be obvious. During Hu Jintao’s visit, he will tour two of the regions biggest employers, Boeing and Microsoft. This year Boeing announced $12 billion in orders from China-based airlines.

The Chinese government has been hostile to the Epoch Times since its inception. The Epoch Times (//thetvsmo.com/) is an international, independent, multi-language newspaper published in 8 languages and more than 30 countries. It began as a Chinese-language website, founded in 2000.

The Epoch Times reported factual, uncensored stories from China, including articles on China’s human rights abuses. In December 2000 security forces arrested over 30 individuals working for the paper and many of those were given stiff sentences for “subverting the political power of the state.” Confessions were forced with torture. Four of those arrested are still in prison today.

Outside of China the Epoch Times has reported on a wide range of acts of harassment and intimidation. This interference with its business greatly increased after the Epoch Times published “The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party.” This book-length series of editorials gives an uncensored history of Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In response to these editorials, 4.1 million Chinese have withdrawn from the CCP or its affiliated organizations, with more withdrawing each day.

Since the “Nine Commentaries” were published the Malaysian government suddenly banned the Epoch Times; in Hong Kong printing shops have refused to print the Epoch Times; in mainland China the family members of the U.S. Epoch Times staff reported being threatened.

Now the City of Seattle has decided to cooperate with the Chinese government to limit press freedom here in the United States. When we do business with China, what price are we getting for the First Amendment?

The Epoch Times objects strenuously to the banning of news coverage in the U.S. by the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese consulates. The free world stands for the principle of freedom of press and freedom of expression. The Epoch Times calls on all those who support these freedoms to expose these dangerous acts to control the media access in the U.S.

Contact: Wenyi Wang, 718-908-9704 or John Nania, 646-287-1036