Paying tribute to our war correspondents
- Source: Global Times
- [01:12 September 09 2010]
- Comments
When asked by online readers why they would risk their life to report from a war zone away from their own country, Global Times correspondents Hao Zhou and Qiu Yongzheng, the only Chinese journalists accompanying the US military into action in Afghanistan, said:
"First, we want to find out how the Americans fight a war. Second, it's because the war in Afghanistan is of China's concern. Last but not least, we are simply doing our job as war corre-spondents of the Global Times."
Hao and Qiu are embedded with the 101st Airborne Division in Kandahar. They are witness to missions aimed at rooting out Taliban militants, and that means dealing with sniper shots, improvised explosive devices, and sometimes ambush attacks.
Several years ago, a US military spokesman yelled at a Chinese reporter at a press briefing in Iraq, "It's our war, what are you doing here?"
Chinese correspondents left their footprints during the Yugoslav wars, then the Gulf War. But in the past, they were more like "hotel reporters" or "command center reporters," who rarely had a chance to go deep into the battlefield to compete with foreign correspondents.
It is a major step forward for Chinese correspondents when the US military invited our staff reporters as the only two Chinese journalists to be in the middle of the fighting.
Sending two journalists to join the coverage of the Afghan war is not simply a show of the Chinese media's rising influence in the world. Our correspondents will send stories home that look at the war from a Chinese perspective.
By talking with people in the streets of Kabul, and interviewing Taliban military officials, our correspondents found the influence of the Taliban is deeper than many Western reports said.
On-site observation from these two reporters shows the US troops' helplessness, and a worsening situation. While the Americans tried their best to win the hearts and minds of local people, they admit only "roughly 10 percent" residents in Arghandab near Kandahar support the US efforts.
With China's interests increasingly spreading out into the rest of the world, every major international event has some influence in China.
China will no longer be satisfied with only processing second-hand information from foreign news agencies. Chinese correspondents feel obliged to pass on the truth of a major conflict with their own eyes and ears.
While paying close attention at the war zone, and constantly worrying about their personal safety, we are proud of Qiu and Hao for their bravery to ignore the bullets and death in the pursuit of the truth.
We hope they return safely.
