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Amid fears of unrest, China imposes new restrictions on foreign journalists

07 March 2011 23:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. One week after foreign journalists were physically harassed by security officers - and one videographer beaten so badly he was hospitalized - China’s foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, denied the police took part in beating any reporters and said China follows "the rule of law", APA reports quoting â€œThe Washington Postâ€.
"At the same time we hope that the foreign journalists will abide by the Chinese laws and regulations," Yang said Monday at a news conference on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the country’s largely rubber stamp parliament. "There is no such issue as Chinese police officers beating foreign journalists."
The minister’s denial, contradicted by eyewitness and video accounts, came as China announced new restrictions on foreign journalists working here - essentially repealing the loosened reporting policy put in place at the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics to showcase China’s more modern, less authoritarian face to the world.
Under the new rules, announced over the weekend, foreign journalists must now have prior government permission to interview anyone in a public area in China. Under the rules announced with fanfare in 2008, reporters could interview any Chinese citizen who agreed to be interviewed.
The communist government’s tightening control over the foreign media comes as the country grapples with the fallout from popular uprisings against authoritarian regimes in the Middle East - and fears among the leadership that the unrest could spread here. Intensely concerned about "stability maintenance" - the leadership’s catchall phrase for tamping down even the hint of dissent - China’s government this year plans to spend $95 billion on "public security," meaning containing internal threats. That is more than the amount publicly allotted to the military.
The concern over stability has been heightened after mysterious online calls for Middle East-style peaceful protest rallies on consecutive Sundays in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities across China. Even though actual protests have been barely visible, the security forces have taken no chances, mounting a massive security clampdown in the commercial areas designated as rally sites.
The Communist Party’s official media outlets have begun blaming outsiders, and particularly the foreign media, for trying to foment Middle East-style unrest in China. In a Monday editorial, the Global Times - which is owned by the Communist Party’s main newspaper, People’s Daily, and reflects the party view - endorsed the security force’s tactic of squashing any protest before it can begin.
"Once the illegal gatherings get out of control, the potential unrest would undermine the eventual social benefits," the editorial said. "Unrest is still imprinted deeply into Chinese society. Revolution catalyzed a new China, but society also paid heavy costs for the revolution."
China’s sprawling security apparatus also appears to have launched a new campaign to rein in foreign journalists, who for the past two years have been allowed more space to travel and report freely, outside of sensitive areas like Tibet and the restive Muslim-majority province of Xinjiang.
Since the weekend, according to the Foreign Correspondents Club of China, 14 foreign journalists were either visited in person or telephoned by local police. Some reporters who received visits were asked to show their paperwork, and others were warned to follow reporting rules in China.
The foreign ministry traditionally dealt with foreign reporters and routinely called in journalists for a dressing down when they are perceived to have stepped out of line. But the latest moves suggest that the powerful security apparatus has now taken over the role of policing the overseas press.
One reporter who received a weekend visit said two uniformed policemen operated in a "good cop, bad cop" fashion. The reporter said one officer made threatening statements and warned that journalists, who often travel frequently, need to register with the local police every time they return to Beijing from a trip.
At least three Chinese news assistants working with foreign media organizations also reported that their family members received telephone calls from security officials.
And at least five foreign reporters also said they were being monitored by plainclothes police officers at their homes, and one was being followed and videotaped.
Several reporters in Beijing and Shanghai reported being prevented from working last Sunday near areas where protest rallies had been called. Some were detained for hours, then released. But there were no fresh reports of uniformed and plainclothes police officers beating foreign journalists, as happened Feb. 27 at the Wangfujing commercial area of Beijing.
The foreign minister’s denial Monday that any beatings took place was clearly contradicted by numerous eyewitness accounts and video evidence from several incidents on Feb. 27 - including British Broadcasting Corp. correspondent Damian Grammaticas, who was shown in his broadcast being grabbed by the hair and slammed to the floor of a police van by uniformed officers.
The Foreign Correspondents Club of China documented at least three cases from the Feb. 27 incident of correspondents being physically injured, one from Bloomberg severely, with nine others being detained for as long as four hours and five having their equipment confiscated.
The Washington Post is not naming the journalists so they are not singled out for talking about their harassment by police.
The official clampdown appears to have succeeded in dampening any "jasmine" rallies in China. On Sunday, with a massive police presence in Beijing, there were few signs of actual protesters, mostly curious passersby.
In Shanghai, also, only a few hundred people passed by what is normally a busy commercial part of the city - far fewer than the 500 or so on hand Feb. 27, when police used loud whistles and a water-spraying truck to stop crowds from forming.
A 31-year-old Shanghai resident named Yin, who works in the IT industry, said he went to the "jasmine" rallies in Shanghai for two Sundays in February but now thinks the movement is too disorganized without clear demands. "They should focus on specific requests that affect people’s interests," said Yin, who asked that his full name not be used.
Despite the dismal turnout and the security clampdown, Yin said he thought the rallies had succeeded in getting the Chinese government to more directly address such problems as inflation and soaring housing costs. "The rally information was blocked on the Internet, but it’s become a good platform to promote things," he said. "And the rallies have generated a positive influence on the Chinese government."