Foreign Correspondents' Club of China
@fccchina
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The FCCC is the professional association of Beijing-based journalists reporting on China for audiences around the world.
Beijing, China
Joined May 2009
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Pinned Tweet
1/ It’s here: the annual Media Freedoms Report. Take a look.
Tl;dr- reporting conditions have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Interference, intimidation, and surveillance remain on foreign news others.
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1/Statement on Journalist Departures:
The FCCC is concerned and saddened to learn that John Sudworth, the BBC’s award-winning China correspondent for the last nine years, left mainland China at short notice on March 23rd amid concerns for his safety and that of his family.
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FCCC statement on the harassment of journalists covering the unrest in Beijing and Shanghai, November 28, 2022:
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1/ Statement on Olympic Coverage
The FCCC is concerned about the lack of transparency and clarity from the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) as well as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with regards to Olympic-related reporting in China.
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Our statement on China’s expulsion of three foreign correspondents - “an unprecedented form of retaliation.”
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1/ The FCC of China strongly condemns the Chinese government’s unprecedented harassment and intimidation of two Australian journalists by preventing them from leaving the country, leading both to flee China after a diplomatic standoff ended in a lifting of the bans.
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1/ FCCC Statement on Harassment of Reporters Covering Henan Floods
7/27/2021
The Foreign Correspondents Club of China is very concerned to witness the recent online and offline harassment of journalists covering devastating floods in the Chinese province of Henan this month.
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1/ FCCC Statement on Olympics Reporting, February 21, 2022
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China (FCCC) is dismayed that the conditions for independent reporting in China continue to fall short of international standards during the Winter Olympic Games.
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The FCCC's annual survey of correspondent members is complete. The results are grim.
Here's a link to the full report, with highlights below:
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THREAD 1/5 It’s here: our 2019 working conditions report. The report finds that Chinese authorities have weaponized visas against the foreign press by issuing truncated press credentials and expelling journalists thru non-renewal. Read the full report:
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1/ The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China deplores the cancellation of reporting credentials for American journalists with three U.S. newspapers, an action that will affect at least 13 of our colleagues, a group of talented and dedicated professionals.
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1/ The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China's annual media freedoms report is out today: Track, Trace, Expel: Reporting on China Amid a Pandemic.
For the 3rd straight year, not a single foreign correspondent said reporting conditions improved in China.
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The FCCC has confirmed reports that two Korean journalists were beaten, one severely, while covering a visit to China by South Korean President Moon Jae-In. This is utterly unacceptable.
Our full statement:
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FCCC Statement on the Mass Cancellation of U.S. Journalist Credentials in China
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2/ Sudworth left after months of personal attacks and disinformation targeting him and his BBC colleagues, disseminated by both Chinese state media and Chinese government officials.
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1/ The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China is very alarmed that Chinese authorities have stopped renewing press credentials for journalists working at US news organizations.
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FCCC statement on the BBC broadcasting ban in China
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7/ Abuse of Sudworth and his colleagues at the BBC form part of a larger pattern of harassment and intimidation that obstructs the work of foreign correspondents in China and exposes their Chinese news assistants to growing pressure.
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3/ These included videos posted online by state media that named him and used footage of him obtained from Chinese police cameras.
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5/ This appeared to be in retaliation for his coverage of Xinjiang, the Covid-19 pandemic and other issues that Chinese foreign ministry officials repeatedly said had crossed “red lines”.
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6/ A foreign journalist visa’s normal duration in China is 12 months. Sudworth's wife, Yvonne Murray, the China correspondent of RTE, the Irish broadcaster, left with him.
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FCCC Statement on Searches of Journalists Returning from Hong Kong
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13/ The departure of Sudworth and Murray – on top of the expulsions of at least 18 correspondents last year – is a loss for the journalism community in China and more broadly, for anyone committed to understanding the country.
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4/ Sudworth had already endured a long period of uncertainty about his ability to raise his young family in Beijing, after spending the past two years being kept on a series of short visas, variously lasting one, three and six months.
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8/ The FCCC notes with dismay the increasing frequency of erroneous claims by Chinese state and state-controlled entities that foreign correspondents and their organizations are motivated by anti-China political forces to produce coverage...
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14/ We urge China to live up to its stated commitment to facilitate unhindered reporting in China. In particular the FCCC calls for an end to dangerous, personal attacks on individual reporters and foreign media outlets.
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3/ Over the last year, the foreign press corps has been continuously stymied in its coverage of Winter Olympic Game preparations, denied attendance at routine events, and prevented from visiting sports venues in China.
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12/ In the light of these worsening working conditions, Sudworth decided to leave China. He forms one of an ever-larger number of journalists driven out of China by unacceptable harassment.
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FCCC Statement on Journalist Departures, March 31, 2021
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FCCC Statement on Effective Expulsion of Wall Street Journal Correspondent
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2/ We call on the BOCOG and the IOC to improve international reporting conditions in the run-up to, and during, the Games.
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5/ Such behavior fails to uphold the IOC’s own Olympic Charter, in which Rule 48 requires the committee take “all necessary steps in order to ensure the fullest coverage by the different media and the widest possible audience in the world for the Games.”
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8/ Yet in the last year, the foreign press corps has largely been unable to attend any press conferences or even observe routine events – such as venue visits or the arrival of the Olympic flame – which are open to Chinese domestic media.
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11/ The attacks against Sudworth and the BBC escalated after Britain's broadcasting regulator revoked the license of the Chinese state television channel CGTN after finding that it violated British broadcast rules.
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9/ ... that runs counter to the Communist Party's official line. Alarmingly, Chinese authorities have also shown a greater willingness to threaten journalists with legal measures, proceedings that could subject them to exit bans, barring them from leaving China.
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Several foreign news orgs were denied access to today's event introducing the Chinese Communist Party's new leadership. Our response:
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15/END For further background, see the FCCC’s 2020 annual report on working conditions:
1/ The Foreign Correspondents�� Club of China's annual media freedoms report is out today: Track, Trace, Expel: Reporting on China Amid a Pandemic.
For the 3rd straight year, not a single foreign correspondent said reporting conditions improved in China.
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7/ In its bid for the 2022 Winter Games, China explicitly promised that “media seeking to report on the Games would have freedom to report… and would also be free to report on Games preparations.”
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10/ The FCCC further expresses its concern that foreign journalists are being caught up in diplomatic rows out of their control.
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Chinese authorities harassed and obstructed several foreign reporters who were trying to access Tiananmen Square today on the 30th anniversary of the June 4th killing of pro-democracy protesters. Our statement:
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4/ Our members’ repeated inquiries towards BOCOG on how international media can report on the Games have been met with conflicting answers or neglected completely.
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6/ With less than three months remaining before the start of Beijing 2022, there is still tremendous uncertainty over how and if foreign correspondents will be able to cover the Games.
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The FCCC's latest survey of correspondent members is out. It indicates that the Chinese government has intensified its efforts to restrict and intimidate foreign journalists.
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1/ The
@fccchina
is extremely disturbed by the treatment of journalists covering recent protests in Shanghai and Beijing.
Journalists from multiple outlets were physically harassed by police while covering the unrest, and at least 2 journalists were detained.
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Statement on the detention of Bloomberg News employee Haze Fan:
1/ The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China is very concerned to learn that Haze Fan, a Chinese employee working for Bloomberg News, has been detained in Beijing.
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FCCC Statement on the detention of Bloomberg News employee Haze Fan
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9/ Many event dates are not publicized beforehand, or BOCOG announces them with only hours left to spare. Foreign journalists who attempt to register for events are denied because BOCOG limits attendance to only their chosen media outlets, claim the event is full...
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10/ or because they require participants to submit COVID test results within an impossible timeframe of only a few hours.
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11/ China has also left the specific conditions in which international journalists can enter China to cover the Olympics unclear.
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15/ The IOC’s website features an “Integrity and Compliance Hotline” which allows reporters to raise any “violations journalists and media representatives working on Olympic Games-related coverage may have experienced.” Unfortunately, the hotline is not yet open for Beijing 2022
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13/ Furthermore, the closure of China’s borders since March 2020 and additional delays in granting international media organizations new visas to send reporters to the mainland have resulted in literally dozens of empty posts, further decimating Olympic coverage.
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14/ This is a stark contrast to the coverage which was possible during the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics and deprives the world of informative coverage from across China.
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10/ The FCCC is especially alarmed at the threats levied against our Chinese colleagues. Online, critics have falsely accused them of espionage and treason and sent them threatening messages -- simply because of their valuable work for foreign media organizations.
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12/ For example, will reporters with accreditation for Beijing 2022 be able to travel outside of the Olympic bubbles in and around the capital city, will they be required to quarantine, and if so under what conditions?
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FCCC statement on harassment of reporters in Chengdu
Mar 1, 2024
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China is extremely disturbed by the treatment of Dutch journalists during a recent reporting trip in Chengdu.
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2/ After an Olympic ski event, a foreign reporter was prevented by a Beijing Olympic official from interviewing a Hong Kong athlete in the Games' mixed zone, a space supposedly governed by international Olympic rules.
@iocmedia
later called the incident "an isolated" case.
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2/ The effort to keep foreign journalists in China against their will marks a significant escalation of an ongoing, sustained Chinese government assault on media freedoms.
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2/ In one particularly alarming incident, Henan’s Communist Youth League asked its 1.6 million followers on Chinese social media site Weibo to report the whereabouts of BBC Shanghai reporter Robin Brant, after he became the target of viral online harassment.
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16/ Similarly, other nominal commitments to press access have also come to nothing: FCCC members report spending weeks trying to obtain contact details for BOCOG media facilitators, only to receive dismissive or inaccurate information from them.
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23/... Soon after, the tour organizer called me on WeChat, the Chinese chat app, and yelled at me in English and Chinese for my report, threatening not to invite us in the future. We haven’t been given access since.” - reporter at an international broadcaster
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11/ The FCCC calls on the Chinese government to uphold its promise to allow foreign journalists unfettered access to report in China’s regions and to maintain its responsibility to protect people’s safety.
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17/ The FCCC calls on BOCOG and the IOC to improve international media access to Olympics events and reporting guidelines by assigning communication officers to deal with coverage-related inquiries in a timely and accurate manner...
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18/ ... and by making all pre-Olympic events open to all accredited journalists in China. The FCCC also requests that dozens of outstanding journalist visa applications be approved before the start of Beijing 2022...
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20/ Resolving these issues is of utmost importance before thousands of international journalists from print and broadcast outlets prepare to enter China to cover the next Olympic Games in February.
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25/... of my passport. We stood there for half an hour, before they told me that any Qs had to go to the Olympics organizers. Then they left. It was sunset, but a couple more guards got in my way if I tried to take any photos in the near darkness.” - reporter for a US newspaper
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2/ The foreign press corps is facing unprecedented hurdles covering China bc of the state’s efforts to block and discredit independent reporting. 99% of journalists in this year’s survey said reporting conditions did not meet what they considered to be international standards.
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8/ The FCCC is disappointed and dismayed at the growing hostility against foreign media in China, a sentiment underpinned by rising Chinese nationalism sometimes directly encouraged by Chinese officials and official entities.
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Former FCCC board member
@meghara
has been forced to leave China after being denied a visa renewal without explanation. Wish her luck in her assignment. Beijing will miss her.
Some news from me— I'm really excited to be moving to a new role
@BuzzFeedNews
focusing on technology and human rights. I'll be reporting from the Middle East and beyond. I'm looking forward to continuing to report on tech companies, authoritarianism, surveillance & other issues.
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31/ “My repeated requests for access to film Olympic ski-grounds have been denied since 2020. Interview requests for athletes, their trainers, and public officials are all turned down. We were denied access to winter sports test games...
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19/ ...so that media outlets have more experienced reporters on the ground to cover the Games.
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55% of respondents said they believed conditions deteriorated in 2018 — the largest proportion since 2011, when foreign media coverage of pro-democracy protests prompted an extensive government backlash. Not a single correspondent said conditions improved last year.
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26/ The BOCOG provided our press corps with just 2 seats to cover the arrival of the Olympic flame. We chose one reporter and one photographer by lottery, but the photographer was barred because they had travelled nearly two weeks before to a county with a handful of COVID cases.
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30/ “... There is no access at all.” - reporter for a European newspaper
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28/ "BOCOG has provided slow and incorrect information. I tried for a month to get accreditation for test events from BOCOG but was denied because BOCOG said it would only allow outlets from the last, current, and next host countries of Olympic Games...
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21/ Below are experiences from a broad cross-section of FCCC members who have tried to cover the Beijing 2022 Olympics. Media organizations may use any of the quotes below in their own reports.
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27/ ... We were notified in the last minute, so BOCOG told us that we didn’t have enough time to choose a replacement.” – reporter with an East Asian outlet
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29/ “... I sent interview requests to the Chinese Sports Association (CSA) for several Chinese athletes, Chinese coaches, and a foreign coach working for a Chinese team. CSA denied all requests, and athletes are not allowed to do interviews without CSA approval...”
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24/ “I visited the Yanqing Olympic venues and took some photos with my iPhone along a public road. A security guard in a SUV began following slowly. Pretty soon, a police squad car showed up with lights flashing. They wanted to know what I was doing there and took pictures ...
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3/ Rhetoric from organizations affiliated with China’s ruling Communist Party directly endangers the physical safety of foreign journalists in China and hinders free reporting.
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FCCC media freedoms chair
@nvanderklippe
and board member
@joshchin
delivered a petition with 40K+ signatures demanding the release of the
@Reuters
journalists to the Myanmar embassy in Beijing this afternoon. (The embassy officer declined a photo.) cc:
@fcchk
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5/ Most visibly, a reporter with Dutch public broadcaster
@NOS
was hauled off camera during a live TV broadcast by plainclothes security men, despite the fact that he had been standing in a spot police directed him to only minutes early.
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22/ “We put together a TV story with material from a tour of an Olympic venue and mentioned human rights boycotts...
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5/ The crowd grabbed the reporter’s camera and clothes and briefly prevented both outlets from leaving the site. Since then, the China-based staff for BBC, LA Times and others have received death threats and intimidating messages and calls.
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9/The censorship of foreign media in China has contributed to a one-sided view of our work in China. Together, this has created a deteriorating working environment for the foreign press and further prevents journalists from providing the comprehensive coverage of China we aim for
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3/ However, government interference occurred regularly during the Games, a symptom of the challenging operating environment for foreign media in China.
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4/ When reporters attempted to report outside Olympic venues, they were frequently tailed and manhandled by propaganda and security officials.
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"In Germany, we can receive China Global Television network in every hotel, in every household. Why should this not be possible in China for Deutsche Welle?”
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11/ Several journalists were also targeted by online harassment campaigns in response to Olympic-related stories they wrote. In some cases, these attacks were fueled by Chinese state media accounts and Chinese diplomats.
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3/ Covering China is increasingly becoming an exercise in remote reporting as China cuts off new visas and expels journalists. Only 4% of respondents said their org had received a new J-1 visa in 2021. 46% said their bureaus were understaffed because of a lack of visas.
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FCCC Statement on the Blocking of Foreign News Websites in China
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4/ Late last Wednesday, Chinese state security officers visited the homes of Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Bill Birtles
@billbirtles
in Beijing and the Australian Financial Review’s Michael Smith
@MikeSmithAFR
in Shanghai.
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4/ A few days later, Zhengzhou residents surrounded a German TV reporter on assignment for Deutsche Welle and a reporter for the Los Angeles Times near a flooded underground market after mistaking the German reporter for BBC’s Brant.
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12/ The FCCC is saddened to note that with the departures of Mr Birtles and Mr Smith, not a single accredited foreign journalist remains in China for Australian news organizations.
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13/ This, combined with the expulsions of 17 foreign correspondents in the first half of this year alone, is a disappointing loss for global audiences seeking to understand more about China.
END STATEMENT
THREAD 1/5 It’s here: our 2019 working conditions report. The report finds that Chinese authorities have weaponized visas against the foreign press by issuing truncated press credentials and expelling journalists thru non-renewal. Read the full report:
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