WHAT DID HE SAY?

Macron’s Office Censors Taiwan Comments in Politico Interview

Politico nixed comments Macron made on Taiwan after agreeing to certain conditions in exchange for an interview.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office forced Politico to remove some of Macron’s comments on Taiwan from an interview published on Sunday—after the outlet agreed to let his team review comments before publication. “As is common in France and many other European countries, the French President’s office, known as the Elysée Palace, insisted on checking and ‘proofreading’ all the president’s quotes to be published in this article as a condition of granting the interview. This violates POLITICO’s editorial standards and policy, but we agreed to the terms in order to speak directly with the French president,” a note at the bottom of the article said. It said some of Macron’s views on Taiwan and Europe’s “strategic autonomy” were nixed. The story, published Sunday following Macron’s visit to China, discussed France’s reluctance to intercede in brewing tensions over Taiwan. Politico had no further comment to The Daily Beast beyond the note affixed to the story.