“This is not only a big step forward for China in opening up to the outside world, it is also a big step for further facilitating reporting activities by foreign journalists,” Liu Jianchao, director general of the foreign ministry’s information department, said at the time. But more than a decade later, foreign media in China have steadily been throttledand painted domestically as hostile forces, particularly since Xi Jinping became president in 2013.
søndag 29. mars 2020
Do China’s expulsions of US journalists harm its relationship with the world?
In the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China appeared to be opening to international media. China’s then premier Wen Jiabao issued temporary regulations from January 2007 that granted foreign reporters unprecedented access in the country, relaxing restrictions in place since 1990 that required journalists to obtain permission to report there from local authorities. Even if the rule changes were sometimes ignored, Beijing in October 2008 made the more relaxed policy permanent, at least on paper.
“This is not only a big step forward for China in opening up to the outside world, it is also a big step for further facilitating reporting activities by foreign journalists,” Liu Jianchao, director general of the foreign ministry’s information department, said at the time. But more than a decade later, foreign media in China have steadily been throttledand painted domestically as hostile forces, particularly since Xi Jinping became president in 2013.
“This is not only a big step forward for China in opening up to the outside world, it is also a big step for further facilitating reporting activities by foreign journalists,” Liu Jianchao, director general of the foreign ministry’s information department, said at the time. But more than a decade later, foreign media in China have steadily been throttledand painted domestically as hostile forces, particularly since Xi Jinping became president in 2013.
