China’s Foreign Reporters Facing ‘Unprecedented Hurdles’

Bloomberg News, Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- China is creating “unprecedented hurdles” for overseas journalists covering the world’s No. 2 economy, going so far as to support harassment and violence against them, according to a press group.

Reporters are also followed in Xinjiang, prevented from doing their jobs by officials using rules to curb Covid-19 as a pretext and faced delays in visa renewals, the Beijing-based Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said in an annual report Monday.

The FCCC added in its report that more than one-quarter of 127 journalists in a recent survey “said their sources were harassed, detained, or called in for questioning by police more than once,” and that officials seem to be supporting lawsuits or threats of legal action against reporters.

China says it does everything it can to accommodate foreign journalists but under President Xi Jinping has expanded its attacks on them. Last year, the Foreign Ministry branded the FCCC an “illegal organization” with no principles, and a correspondent for the British Broadcasting Corp. left the country after intense criticism of his coverage. Washington later accused Beijing of harassing journalists from abroad. The Foreign Ministry didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent on the first day of the holiday period.

“The word is out that the police and security forces need to better manage the foreign media in order to better manage the message,” James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based media lawyer with law firm Perkins Coie, said before the report’s release.

“The authorities have weaponized the vague regulations governing foreign media outlets, and specifically as a means to interfere with the ability of journalists to interview willing and consenting sources,” he said.

The FCCC report also cited the detentions of journalists Cheng Lei, an Australian who worked for state broadcaster CGTN, and Chinese national Haze Fan, a member of the Bloomberg News bureau in Beijing.

Authorities have provided little information about Fan since she was detained in December 2020. Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, did get confirmation that she is being held on suspicion of participating in activities endangering national security.

Perkins Coie, which has its headquarters in Seattle, also provides legal services to Bloomberg LP.

(Updates with request for comment from China’s Foreign Ministry.)