Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BEIJING1272
2009-05-12 09:36:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Beijing
Cable title:
EMBASSY PROTESTS TREATMENT OF AMERICAN JOURNALISTS
how-toVZCZCXRO1895 PP RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC DE RUEHBJ #1272/01 1320936 ZNY CCCCC ZZH P 120936Z MAY 09 FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3937 INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 001272
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/12/2029
TAGS: PROP PGOV PREL PHUM CH
SUBJECT: EMBASSY PROTESTS TREATMENT OF AMERICAN JOURNALISTS
REF: BEIJING 1096
Classified By: Information Officer Susan Stevenson.
Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 001272
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/12/2029
TAGS: PROP PGOV PREL PHUM CH
SUBJECT: EMBASSY PROTESTS TREATMENT OF AMERICAN JOURNALISTS
REF: BEIJING 1096
Classified By: Information Officer Susan Stevenson.
Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
1. (C) SUMMARY: Following reports of detention and
harassment of U.S. journalists attempting to report
in Tibetan areas of western China, the Embassy has
thrice protested to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. In an April 17 meeting, PressOff asked the
MFA to clarify rules governing foreign media
reporting in the provinces. The MFA Information
Department official denied that regulations had
changed and suggested that Chinese authorities were
merely persuading journalists to avoid dangerous
roads. End summary.
2. (SBU) On March 10 and April 17, the Press Office
conveyed its concern to MFA Information Department
North American, European and Oceanian Affairs Office
Director Tang Rui regarding harassment and detention
of foreign (including U.S.) journalists reporting in
Tibetan areas of western China. PressOff reiterated
China's stated policy that journalists, except when
traveling to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR),did
not need permission from provincial authorities to
conduct reporting work. PressOff detailed the
overnight detention in southern Gansu Province of
New York Times correspondent Andrew Jacobs. On
April 17, PressOff protested the April 7 treatment
of VOA Bureau Chief Stephanie Ho and her driver, who
were stopped by security forces and detained in
their vehicle while driving to Kangding, Sichuan
Province. Chinese authorities eventually forced
them to turn back.
NEW REGULATIONS NOT EVENLY IMPLEMENTED IN PROVINCES
-------------- --------------
3. (C) In a March 13 telcon with PressOff, Tang Rui
admitted that new regulations allowing foreign media
to report throughout China without prior approval
from provincial officials had not been implemented
evenly throughout the provinces. Tang agreed there
were instances of Chinese provincial authorities
stopping foreign journalists due to ignorance of the
new regulations. He claimed that journalists were
sometimes prevented from traveling for their own
safety due to dangerous road conditions. Tang
requested the Embassy's assistance in conveying to
American journalists the need to cooperate with
Chinese authorities for their own protection.
PressOff expressed hope that such incidents did not
indicate a wider clampdown on foreign journalists in
China.
NO POLICY CHANGE FOR REPORTING IN TIBETAN AREAS...
-------------- --------------
4. (C) Later, in an April 28 meeting with PressOff,
Tang stated that there had been no change in Chinese
regulations for foreign journalists reporting in
Tibetan areas. Except for traveling to the TAR,
Tang said that journalists did not need to request
permission from local authorities. This included
Tibetan areas of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. When
PressOff requested clarification, as this seemed to
contradict MFA spokesperson Jiang Yu's April 14
comments regarding the need to request permission
from provincial authorities for travel to Tibetan
areas, Tang reiterated that no local approval was
needed outside the TAR. Moreover, he noted that,
should journalists encounter problems, they could
contact provincial information departments. Phone
numbers for such offices, Tang claimed, were
publicly available. (Note: VOA told EmbOff that
contact information for the Ganzi local press
office, to which they were directed after being
stopped in Kangding, was not publicly available.)
...EXCEPT FOR SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES
--------------
5. (C) Tang qualified his comments by saying that
certain areas of China could be cordoned off for
event-specific reasons. He noted that VOA's trip to
Kangding and Ganzi was one such example, as Chinese
authorities had "urged" VOA to avoid the area due to
dangerous roads. Tang denied that the VOA
journalists had been "detained" as they had merely
been dissuaded from traveling to a dangerous area.
When EmbOff countered that prohibiting the vehicle
occupants from moving the car forward or backward,
BEIJING 00001272 002 OF 002
or leave the car gave the impression of "detention,"
Tang insisted that Chinese authorities had merely
been "persuading" the journalists to act in their
own interests.
WESTERN JOURNALISTS EXHIBIT "BAD BEHAVIOR"
--------------
6. (C) Tang provided examples of Western journalists
not cooperating with Chinese authorities. Two were
trivial (an American journalist yelling at staff in
the Beijing International Media Center during the
Olympics because she could not connect to certain
websites; another American journalist pushing
through a police line while reporting on last year's
Sichuan earthquake),while one was more substantive
(a U.S. new service's use of Chinese assistants as
foreign journalists to report on the National
People's Congress, in violation of Chinese law, see
reftel).
COMMENT
--------------
7. (C) We do not expect these cases of official
harassment of American journalists to decrease. On
May 5, for example, an Amcit journalist with the
Financial Times notified PressOff that he had just
been assaulted by provincial authorities and ordered
out of Mianzhu, Fuxin County, Sichuan Province for
trying to interview the mother of a child killed in
the May 12, 2008 earthquake. We protested this
incident to the MFA May 8.
PICCUTA
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/12/2029
TAGS: PROP PGOV PREL PHUM CH
SUBJECT: EMBASSY PROTESTS TREATMENT OF AMERICAN JOURNALISTS
REF: BEIJING 1096
Classified By: Information Officer Susan Stevenson.
Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).
1. (C) SUMMARY: Following reports of detention and
harassment of U.S. journalists attempting to report
in Tibetan areas of western China, the Embassy has
thrice protested to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs. In an April 17 meeting, PressOff asked the
MFA to clarify rules governing foreign media
reporting in the provinces. The MFA Information
Department official denied that regulations had
changed and suggested that Chinese authorities were
merely persuading journalists to avoid dangerous
roads. End summary.
2. (SBU) On March 10 and April 17, the Press Office
conveyed its concern to MFA Information Department
North American, European and Oceanian Affairs Office
Director Tang Rui regarding harassment and detention
of foreign (including U.S.) journalists reporting in
Tibetan areas of western China. PressOff reiterated
China's stated policy that journalists, except when
traveling to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR),did
not need permission from provincial authorities to
conduct reporting work. PressOff detailed the
overnight detention in southern Gansu Province of
New York Times correspondent Andrew Jacobs. On
April 17, PressOff protested the April 7 treatment
of VOA Bureau Chief Stephanie Ho and her driver, who
were stopped by security forces and detained in
their vehicle while driving to Kangding, Sichuan
Province. Chinese authorities eventually forced
them to turn back.
NEW REGULATIONS NOT EVENLY IMPLEMENTED IN PROVINCES
-------------- --------------
3. (C) In a March 13 telcon with PressOff, Tang Rui
admitted that new regulations allowing foreign media
to report throughout China without prior approval
from provincial officials had not been implemented
evenly throughout the provinces. Tang agreed there
were instances of Chinese provincial authorities
stopping foreign journalists due to ignorance of the
new regulations. He claimed that journalists were
sometimes prevented from traveling for their own
safety due to dangerous road conditions. Tang
requested the Embassy's assistance in conveying to
American journalists the need to cooperate with
Chinese authorities for their own protection.
PressOff expressed hope that such incidents did not
indicate a wider clampdown on foreign journalists in
China.
NO POLICY CHANGE FOR REPORTING IN TIBETAN AREAS...
-------------- --------------
4. (C) Later, in an April 28 meeting with PressOff,
Tang stated that there had been no change in Chinese
regulations for foreign journalists reporting in
Tibetan areas. Except for traveling to the TAR,
Tang said that journalists did not need to request
permission from local authorities. This included
Tibetan areas of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. When
PressOff requested clarification, as this seemed to
contradict MFA spokesperson Jiang Yu's April 14
comments regarding the need to request permission
from provincial authorities for travel to Tibetan
areas, Tang reiterated that no local approval was
needed outside the TAR. Moreover, he noted that,
should journalists encounter problems, they could
contact provincial information departments. Phone
numbers for such offices, Tang claimed, were
publicly available. (Note: VOA told EmbOff that
contact information for the Ganzi local press
office, to which they were directed after being
stopped in Kangding, was not publicly available.)
...EXCEPT FOR SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES
--------------
5. (C) Tang qualified his comments by saying that
certain areas of China could be cordoned off for
event-specific reasons. He noted that VOA's trip to
Kangding and Ganzi was one such example, as Chinese
authorities had "urged" VOA to avoid the area due to
dangerous roads. Tang denied that the VOA
journalists had been "detained" as they had merely
been dissuaded from traveling to a dangerous area.
When EmbOff countered that prohibiting the vehicle
occupants from moving the car forward or backward,
BEIJING 00001272 002 OF 002
or leave the car gave the impression of "detention,"
Tang insisted that Chinese authorities had merely
been "persuading" the journalists to act in their
own interests.
WESTERN JOURNALISTS EXHIBIT "BAD BEHAVIOR"
--------------
6. (C) Tang provided examples of Western journalists
not cooperating with Chinese authorities. Two were
trivial (an American journalist yelling at staff in
the Beijing International Media Center during the
Olympics because she could not connect to certain
websites; another American journalist pushing
through a police line while reporting on last year's
Sichuan earthquake),while one was more substantive
(a U.S. new service's use of Chinese assistants as
foreign journalists to report on the National
People's Congress, in violation of Chinese law, see
reftel).
COMMENT
--------------
7. (C) We do not expect these cases of official
harassment of American journalists to decrease. On
May 5, for example, an Amcit journalist with the
Financial Times notified PressOff that he had just
been assaulted by provincial authorities and ordered
out of Mianzhu, Fuxin County, Sichuan Province for
trying to interview the mother of a child killed in
the May 12, 2008 earthquake. We protested this
incident to the MFA May 8.
PICCUTA