Chinese Communist authorities have once again stepped up their harassment of foreign journalists during the New Coronavirus pandemic, according to a report released Monday (March 1) by the Foreign Correspondents’ Association in China (FCCC). The journalists’ organization called on democratic countries to increase pressure on the Chinese Communist regime.
In its annual report released on March 1, 2021, the Foreign Correspondents’ Association in China (FCA) highlighted the increased harassment of foreign journalists and their news sources by the Chinese Communist regime during the New Coronavirus pandemic. The report is based on 150 responses to a survey of the association’s members. In particular, the report condemns the authorities’ increasing use of visas as a weapon, to the point of expelling at least 18 foreign journalists in the first half of 2020.
Cedric Alviani, head of the journalists’ organization’s East Asia bureau, said in a written statement, “In recent years, Chinese regime institutions have come to view foreign journalists as unwelcome witnesses and have done everything in their power to prevent them from gathering information that contradicts their propaganda.”
Alviani said, “In this Time of pandemic, transparency saves lives, and democracies must put more pressure on the Chinese regime to respect their right to unbiased information.”
In the FJA report, based on survey responses from its 150 members, journalists reported being harassed by authorities (60 percent), intimidated by their Chinese staff (59 percent), physically surveilled (40 percent) and harassed by their news sources (40 percent). In addition, at least 90 percent of respondents who traveled to Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regions last year encountered obstacles.
China ranks 177th out of 180 countries in the 2020 Reporters’ World Press Freedom Index report and is the world’s largest kidnapper of journalists, with at least 121 detained and often in Life-threatening situations.
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