China -- The United States has been pushing countries such as China to monitor bank transactions. That focus on money-laundering makes sense. But the news media are part of the checks and balances in the American system. If that makes President Bush angry, too bad.
Governments around the world have been monitoring flows of suspicious money, including money possibly related to terrorists, since before 2001. The banks must report suspicious transactions or those beyond a certain threshold to the authorities. These efforts have been enhanced since then -- more internationally coordinated, more focused on anti-terrorist. It is a justified change.
A byproduct of this change is that in countries whose banking systems lack sound anti-money laundering mechanisms, for example in China, U.S. pressure makes them take action to improve. It really helps. Money laundering used to be a neglected issue in China. Today it is no longer the case. The nascent anti-money laundering system can also be utilized to attack corruption.
However, the accusation from President Bush against the New York Times is unfair to journalists and misleading to the public. First, newspapers can publish anything which is not prohibited by the law. In this case, it is apparently not. Second, maybe it makes sense, as President Bush argues, that the decision to monitor financial transaction is within his jurisdiction and essential to the anti-terrorist war, but the U.S. Congress and the general public may hold different view. This is how checks and balances work. Without journalists doing their job, the public may never know what is going on. News media are an enabler of the checks and balances system. They should continue to do their job, even if the President is P.O.'d.
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