China Denies Police Beat Up Reporter
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has defended the tighter controls on foreign journalists in China. He also explicitly denied on Monday that security forces had used force against reporters who had sought to cover protests in Beijing a week ago.
«There has never been a case in which Chinese police officers have beaten foreign journalists,» the foreign minister said at a press conference during the National People’s Congress session in Beijing. Three journalists were injured during the massive police operation just over a week ago on the prominent Wangfujing shopping street. Steve Engle, a reporter for the U.S. news agency Bloomberg, even suffered serious injuries after being repeatedly kicked in the face.
Security forces in uniform and plain clothes were on the scene. In several instances, «small groups of thugs» suddenly appeared, specifically targeting reporters with cameras and pulling them out of sight to take their equipment, as the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) had reported.
«Politics won't change»
China's foreign minister emphasized that the authorities were following Chinese law in their dealings with foreign reporters. He did not address the recent police-imposed restrictions on the correspondents' freedom of movement.
«Our policy will not change.» Foreign reporters must comply with the regulations.
Last week, the police instructed dozens of journalists to obtain permission from local authorities before reporting on any story in the future. They were threatened with imprisonment and deportation. Under previous regulations, the interviewee’s consent was sufficient.
«A Return to the Past»
The tightened controls were viewed as a «step backward» from the regulations that have been in effect since 2007. The South China Morning Post in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region wrote: «The beatings and arrests by security forces and the changed rules turn the clock back to the time before the 2008 Olympic Games.»
Above all, it is «about retaining power.» Attacks on journalists and arrests are «not the tactics of a country that is confident of its place in the world.» The newspaper called for foreign and domestic journalists to play a greater role in China.
It is precisely where there is no separation of powers that the media can expose injustices and create the transparency «necessary for good governance and stability.» «All citizens benefit when journalists are free to do their work,» the newspaper emphasized in Hong Kong, where—unlike in the rest of the People’s Republic—there is no censorship. (sda)
