Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng is welcomed in Taiwan
The Taiwan press welcomes activist Chen Guangcheng, while mainland and Hong Kong media continue to dismiss US complaints over whistleblower Edward Snowden.
State media in mainland China are mostly silent on a visit to Taiwan by Chen Guangcheng, a blind legal activist who embarrassed the Beijing government by escaping house arrest and seeking refuge at the US embassy in Beijing.
However, the Beijing-based nationalist tabloid the Global Times has played down Mr Chen's visit and says most politicians in Taiwan have not met him.
It also attacks Mr Chen as a "political toy of overseas forces" and scoffs at his democratic ideals as being merely at a "children's building block level".
Despite denials by New York University (NYU), the English-language version of the Global Times says Mr Chen's accusations that he was forced to leave the university under pressure from the Chinese government has highlighted NYU's "embarrassing situation" of wanting to be "politically correct in their home country and business savvy in China".
Over in Taiwan, Apple Daily praises Mr Chen's bravery in exposing how women in his native province of Shandong were forced to undergo sterilisations and abortions under the mainland's one child policy.
"China, with its huge population of 1.3 billion people, has 70-80 million cadres and a budget for maintaining stability that surpasses military spending, yet it is fearful and incapable of accommodating a harmless and visually impaired person. Chen Guangcheng's existence alone is the paradox of the Beijing regime," it comments.
Despite witnessing a brawl in the Taiwanese legislature on Tuesday, the Liberty Times highlights how Mr Chen alluded to Beijing's military crackdown on students in 1989 by saying raucous lawmakers were better than tanks on the streets. It welcomes Mr Chen to share his impressions of the island's democracy.
"As a representative of those who have been oppressed by China's authoritarian regime, Chen Guangcheng is perfectly qualified to make recommendations to the Taiwanese people to allow everyone to reflect further on whether locking 'Taiwan's democracy' into a 'one-China framework' is a blessing or disaster in the end," it concludes.
However, the United Evening News complains that Mr Chen's views have attracted less interest and attention than whether Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou will meet Mr Chen during his visit.
Blame game on Snowden
The United Daily News notes with irony that the US government has given asylum to Mr Chen while currently pursuing whistleblower Edward Snowden.
The China Daily calls the US government's "unacceptable as well as absurd" remark that China-US relations may be negatively affected by the Snowden case an attempt to shift blame.
Xinhua news agency says the Snowden case "should not be allowed to hurt one of the most critical relationships in the world" between China and the US, and say both countries should resolve mutual suspicions over cyber-espionage.
A bilingual Global Times editorial calls Mr Snowden's departure from Hong Kong an "acceptable consequence" for China and the US and says it will not steer relations astray.
"The wisest choice for Washington is lying low and dealing with Snowden carefully," it concludes.
In Hong Kong, the Beijing-backed Wen Wei Po says the city will never accept the US government's "groundless accusations" over a deliberate ploy to let Mr Snowden fly to Moscow.
The Ta Kung Pao, another Beijing-backed daily, scoffs at possible "retaliation" and says "Big Brother" America is entirely to blame for Mr Snowden's departure because it did not provide adequate information on the case requested by the Hong Kong authorities.
"In the end, was this the incompetence of the officials concerned, or a deliberate action by the US government?" the newspaper asks.
"Criticism and veiled threats are not what we expect of a partner... We broke no laws or rules; to suggest otherwise is to lack faith in a long-standing relationship," Hong Kong's the South China Morning Post tells the US.
The safe return to Earth of three astronauts after the Shenzhou-10 manned space mission has been a major highlight on state television.
And finally, an American boss held captive in a factory in suburban Beijing since last Friday tells the Global Times that his workers have misunderstood the company's relocation plans.
Speaking through the bars of his office window, Chip Starnes, co-owner of Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, also denied owing wages to workers.
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