12/29/2004

WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The National Press Club today made public its refusal to comply with a request by the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., to stop a recent press event at the Club.

"We would never bow to a request to silence anyone," said John M. Donnelly, chairman of the National Press Club Board of Governors, in a Dec. 22 letter to Chinese Embassy spokesman Sun Weide.

Weide had called and emailed the NPC ahead of a Dec. 21 press conference by the Epoch Times newspaper, calling on the Club to cancel the event [...].

Donnelly wrote to Weide that the National Press Club is interested in providing a forum for all points of view.

"We practice and defend freedom of speech, and that applies equally to all, regardless of their views," Donnelly wrote. "Whenever that freedom of speech is restricted for anyone or to any degree, it is imperiled in full. And we would never be a party to that."

The Chinese Embassy has repeatedly attempted to squelch National Press Club events that displease the Chinese government. [...]

The Epoch Times event occurred as scheduled on Dec. 21.

For nearly 100 years, the National Press Club has been an unbending advocate of press freedom at home and abroad. The National Press Club is a private organization that comprises nearly 4,000 journalists, public information officers and news sources.