BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday that it is necessary to conduct objective, impartial and professional investigations into the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines and hold those responsible to account.
Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily press briefing, in response to the call from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for foreign media to look into the details about the explosions, which were disclosed by U.S. journalist Seymour Hersh.
Referring to the pipelines as vital cross-border infrastructure projects, Wang said the explosions have had a serious negative impact on the global energy market and ecological environment, while also sparking concerns from the international community about the security of major cross-border infrastructure.
Wang said that immediately after the explosions, a blaze of news reporting by U.S. and other Western media was almost overwhelmingly devoted to one-sided speculations on the alleged perpetrator. When the latest report based on the detailed investigations by Hersh was published, those media outlets boasting freedom, professionalism and fairness, were collectively silent, he added.
Wang cited Hersh as saying that from 1972 to 1979, when Hersh was working for the New York Times as an investigative reporter, the newspaper published everything he wrote, with most of his work, if not all, appearing on the front page. The Washington Post also followed his career and ran a long magazine article about him more than two decades ago. Neither paper has up to now published a word about his pipeline story, not even to quote the White House's denial of Hersh's reporting.
"Do these Western media really not care about the truth behind the Nord Stream blast? Or is something else going on? What exactly do they know? Is there anything they are trying to hide? I suppose any truly objective, impartial and professional media will want to establish the truth," Wang said. ■
