Chinese authorities have been withholding residence visas for reporters working for the New York Times and Bloomberg in apparent retaliation for the agencies’ investigative stories on wealth accumulated by Chinese leaders’ families.
If authorities do not soon start approving renewals for visas due to expire by the end of the year, it would effectively shut down or significantly curtail the two organizations’ newsgathering operations in the country.
The Foreign Correspondents Club of China said in an e-mailed statement to members yesterday that none of the correspondents working for the Times and Bloomberg in China have been able to renew their residence visas for next year.
“The authorities have given no public explanation for their actions, leading to the impression that they have been taken in reprisal for reporting that displeased the government,” the statement said.
A Bloomberg spokeswoman in Singapore declined comment, while the Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Chinese Public Security Bureau, which grants residence permits, did not respond to a faxed list of questions.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) yesterday said at a regular briefing that China’s treatment of foreign journalists consistently follows laws and regulations.
US Vice President Joe Biden met with US journalists working in Beijing during his visit last week and publicly criticized their treatment by the Chinese government.
Biden also raised the issue directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
The Times and Bloomberg have nearly two dozen journalists in China whose visas are up for renewal by the end of the month and Beijing has refused to act on them, the paper reported last week.
In addition, the Times has been unable to obtain resident journalist visas for its China bureau chief Philip Pan and correspondent Chris Buckley.
Beijing-based reporters from the Times were among those who met with Biden.
The newspaper said he told them that he warned Chinese leaders there would be repercussions for China if the journalists were expelled, especially in the US Congress. The Times said Biden told reporters that Xi insisted that foreign journalists were being treated according to Chinese law.
The two news organizations have had their Web sites blocked in China since late last year after each published detailed investigative reports exposing the enormous wealth amassed by the relatives of Chinese leaders — including Xi and former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶).
Chinese authorities had initially accepted resident journalist visa renewal applications from the Times’ reporters. However, they stopped doing so — and in some cases returned applications to reporters — after the newspaper ran a report last month detailing ties between JPMorgan Chase and a consultancy in China run by Wen’s daughter.
The Chinese-language Web sites of the Wall Street Journal and Thomson Reuters have also been blocked in China since last month.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from