Book Fair Defends Chinese Invitation

This year, China is the special guest at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world’s largest. Given China’s history and habit of censorship, its place of honor at an event celebrating the free flow of ideas has drawn criticism. Though this is not dissimilar from the outrage over past special guests like Turkey or the League of Arab Nations. The organizers of the fair, however, hope that this courtesy will help China participate more freely in Western culture and absorb Western values – most importantly, freedom of speech. The fair includes, exhibitors from Taiwan, a “renegade province” in the eyes of mainland China, and has invited several dissident writers from China. While this compromise has generated controversy worldwide, the principle that some information is better than none has won the day. – YaleGlobal