China gets tough on some foreign journalists

China gets tough on some foreign journalists

CHINA - The Chinese authorities are holding up the visa renewals of nearly two dozen foreign journalists from The New York Times and Bloomberg, raising the spectre of a possible shutdown of news operations in China for the two American media organisations.

While Beijing has previously delayed or denied visas to individual journalists as reprisals for reporting that displeased it, it has hardened its tactics this time by targeting the entire roster of foreign journalists at the two outlets.

The latest hold-ups are part of an increasing use of visa delays or denials by the Chinese authorities, "in an apparent effort to influence journalists' coverage", said the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China in a year-end statement Monday that highlighted negative trends in reporting conditions in China.

Since publishing articles about the finances of then Premier Wen Jiabao's family members last year, The New York Times newspaper has been unable to obtain resident journalist visas for its bureau chief, Mr Philip Pan, who has been waiting for more than 18 months, or correspondent Chris Buckley, who has been waiting for a year - and now works out of Hong Kong - it added.

Also last year, Bloomberg ran articles about the wealth of current President Xi Jinping's family. Both its and The New York Times' websites were blocked in China and sales of Bloomberg's data terminals were also hit.

But the hardball tactics against the two media organisations have worsened this year.

The affected journalists will have to leave China if their visas are not renewed by the month's end, prompting visiting US Vice-President Joe Biden to intercede on their behalf when he met Mr Xi last week.

"If this continues, the whole operation will be closed," a New York Times reporter told The Straits Times, referring to the newspaper's operations in China.

Asked about the delay in visas at a regular press conference Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei did not give an explanation, noting only that China has always dealt with matters pertaining to foreign journalists in accordance with the law and regulations.

The moves are believed to be triggered in part by unhappiness over a Bloomberg investigation into the political links of one of China's wealthiest men.

Bloomberg decided to hold the report, but the decision to self-censor was leaked to The New York Times, which ran an article on this on Nov 9.

It also ran an article on Nov 13 on how US bank JPMorgan Chase had hired as a consultant, Ms Wen Ruchun, the daughter of Mr Wen.

Besides holding up visas, the Chinese authorities had also put pressure on Bloomberg by conducting surprise inspections of its Beijing and Shanghai offices over two days last month.

The visa renewal delay appears limited to reporters from The New York Times and Bloomberg business news agency so far.

A reporter based in Beijing for a Japanese newspaper told The Straits Times that the paper's reporters had already received their new visas, with tensions in Sino- Japanese ties not having an adverse effect.

Journalists from The Straits Times, too, have already obtained their visas.

Foreign correspondents in China renewing their visas need new press cards first.

But the cards of New York Times and Bloomberg journalists have been held up for about a month when these are usually issued within a week.

"My press card submission was made on Nov 8 and it was always 'not ready'," a New York Times journalist told The Straits Times.

The government's tougher action against the media outlets might be linked to greater "internal tensions", said Professor Zhan Jiang, a journalism scholar at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

There may be concerns that the two media outlets have been too "active" and their reporting may affect China's domestic politics, he told The Straits Times.

For now, the future is uncertain for the journalists affected. New York Times journalists may have to start leaving China from next Tuesday if things do not change.

"We are all still reporting and writing stories. But as Chris (Buckley) did last year, we're also looking around our homes and wondering what we might have to pack in our bags in the coming weeks, what farewells we might have to say," wrote a New York Times reporter in an e-mail to ChinaFile, an online magazine of the New York-based Asia Society.


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