Do China’s expulsions of US journalists harm its relationship with the world?
- Cancellation of US reporters’ credentials followed the US designating five Chinese state media outlets as ‘foreign missions’ of their government
- A ‘step forward’ for media freedom in 2008 has been replaced by another arena for the tensions between Beijing and Washington
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.
Beijing has sought to aggressively influence international media coverage, and expelled correspondents whose reporting it did not find favourable. And as the strategic rivalry between Beijing and Washington has intensified, foreign reporters and the Chinese-national news assistants working with them have been caught in the crossfire.