What could you expect? Henan “officials”, as usual deny whatever. Lies, lies, cover-up. Sad, does China Daily and those thugs really think we have any faith in them? They only prove what we know since long.
You can’t trust the vast majority of government officials to admit wrongdoing. Hey! That’s “losing face”, didn’t you know?
Well, we also deny the Belgian PM met a spiritual leader from a certain Province. All lies. We don’t know anything about it. There is no proof after our investigation.
For the fun of it, see here the printed cover-up in China Daily. Here you need to know when to believe the bureaucrats, and when not to. That is called “China Expertise”. Also useful when watching FOX Network in the USA.
4 December 2008 – Belgian journalists ‘not attacked’ – Xinhua – Agencies (China Daily)
ZHENGZHOU: An investigation has found that two Belgian journalists and their assistant involved in a dispute in a Henan village – where many residents contracted HIV/AIDS through blood transfusions – were not attacked, a provincial government spokesman said yesterday.
The government began a probe into the incident on Tuesday after the journalists, from the Beijing bureau of the Belgian Flemish Radio and Television Network (VRT), scuffled with villagers and officials in Shangqiu.
The dispute took place when they were reporting on Nov 28 for Dec 1’s World AIDS Day.
Wang Yuejin, spokesman for Henan’s foreign affairs bureau, said: “As far as we know, there was no violence involved.”
According to Wang, reporter Tom Van de Weghe, his cameraman and an interpreter, were twice blocked by villagers on Nov 27 in Zhoukou and Shangqiu.
The first incident happened at about 2 pm when their car was stopped at the entrance of a highway connecting Zhoukou and Shangqiu.
A young man who identified himself as a Zhoukou villager took away their video tapes, but there was no physical attack, Wang said.
Later that night, the three ran into four AIDS patients and four local officials at Gwangwang village in Suixian, Shangqiu, who asked the journalists to hand over their videotape and memory cards as the content “might affect the public image” of the patients, Wang said.
At that point, there was some jostling, after which Van de Weghe gave up the tapes and cards.
Van de Weghe said in a report to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that “the men dragged us out of the vehicle and gave us some strong blows”.
He said that he “received two blows to the head, the cameraman was hit in the face and the translator sustained a blow to the chest”.
“We thought they were going to kill us … It was complete chaos, we were crying,” the report said.
A local official, Dong Hongliang, said: “Van de Weghe got out of the car himself. He was not beaten.”
Van de Weghe also claimed that they had been “shadowed by two armored cars used by local authorities”.
Dong said the local officials were there to prevent “extreme actions” and the account was backed up by seven other people at the scene.
VRT is asking for compensation for damaged equipment, an apology to the journalists and a guarantee that the journalists will be able to work safely.

To keep you all updated on Tom’s sad story (OK, more sad even for the Henan government), see here a second article I found on the South China Morning Post (the first one was also from AP):
3 December 2008 – Probe into beating of Belgian journalists
Associated Press in Beijing – SCMP
Authorities are investigating an attack in Henan province in which assailants allegedly pulled a Belgian television crew from their vehicle, beat them and took their notes and money, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
The attack last Thursday came just a little more than a month after Beijing announced that relaxed reporting regulations for foreign media put in place for the Olympics would become permanent. Journalists are now supposed to be able to travel and report freely in most parts of the mainland, but certain topics remain touchy, especially with local officials.
“Eight thugs pulled their van over, reached inside to unlock the doors, dragged the crew out to the road and punched them into submission,” according to an account of the attack circulated by the Foreign Correspondents Club of China. It was the second time the crew had been stopped that day, the report said.
Such attacks are often believed to be carried out on orders from local officials seeking to suppress negative reporting in their areas.
The two-person crew from Flemish-language public broadcaster VRT, accompanied by an assistant, was reporting on HIV/Aids sufferers in the central province for World Aids Day, which was on Monday.
Henan has been highly sensitive to the Aids issue since the HIV virus spread widely there in the 1990s through unhygienic blood-buying rings, which allegedly operated with official protection. Officials there have been accused of abusing Aids sufferers and advocates.
Last week’s attack has drawn protests from the International Federation of Journalists and from Belgian authorities. The Belgian ambassador to China was scheduled to meet a vice-foreign minister to discuss the incident yesterday, one of the journalists who was attacked said.
An official from the Foreign Ministry spokesman’s office said the “relevant department” in Henan was investigating.
However, the head of the publicity department of Henan’s Public Security Bureau – who would give only his surname, Li – said officials there were not aware of the case.
VRT journalist Tom Van de Weghe said he had not heard of an investigation. “There have been no results” of the complaints made over the case, he said.

Today I wrote a comment (don’t expect to see it there anyway!) on China Daily’s website, regarding all the hoopla around AIDS Day. Yeah, yeah, this country is still ruled in many places by corrupt local officials (and police too), thugs, criminals and the like. It is a major threat to the social stability of this country, plus a damage to its international image. Those people just don’t give a damn about their own (central) government nor their country. They just care about making money at any cost. Despicable. On the other hand, staff from UNICEF, and other UN agencies are happy with some local cooperation.
“Journalist Tom Van de Weghe, officially accredited as correspondent for the VRT (Flemish Public Broadcaster), together with his cameraman and his assistant, has been attacked, beaten and robbed by the local officials in the Chinese province of Henan.
The crew was on its way to the district of Shangqiu for a report on AIDS, in connection with World Aids Day on 1 December. Some one million patients in the region contracted HIV infection by selling their own blood.
So, what is all this talk about being open for AIDS, China opening up for foreign journalists? Local thugs and criminals remain unpunished. Shame on the Henan authorities!”
The full sad story of Tom is on Facebook.
Overall, something is moving in China. See here recent article from China Daily:
“27 November 2008 – Ferret out the wirepuller (China Daily)
It’s urgent to find out who really received the 20 million yuan in bribes given by Chen Xuming to help him obtain the leading post in the police station, says an article on the website www.china.com.cn. The following is an excerpt:
Chen, a local police officer, was exposed during investigations into a fatal fire that broke out in September and claimed 44 innocent lives.
The State Council’s investigation team into the calamitous fire in Shenzhen’s Dance King Club recently found more than 10 million yuan in cash and some 200 million yuan worth of stocks and real estate properties at the home of Chen Xuming, the deputy head of a local police station. He was the protective umbrella of the club and received huge amounts of bribes from the club owners.
More shockingly, Chen also confessed that it cost him 20 million yuan to buy his leading post in the police station.
The investigators should follow the clues in Chen’s confession to find out who received the 20 million yuan in bribery. Only by doing this can we punish the backstage manipulators and uphold justice for those victims of the calamity.
It makes us deeply worried that a leading post in the police station can be so easily obtained through bribes.
Chen’s case shows how public power is used by individuals for personal interests and the selection procedures of officials have been rendered meaningless.”