The Beijing-based Foreign Correspondents Club of China has, in its Annual Report for 2019 on media freedom, found deteriorating working conditions for foreign media in the country. The report charges the Chinese government of using visas as a weapon against the foreign press in an unprecedented manner, while deploying digital recognition surveillance as a further means of interfering with the work of foreign journalists. Notably, for the second consecutive year, not a single correspondent surveyed by the FCCC in China said working conditions had improved.

The 2019 Foreign Correspondents Club of China (FCCC) report documents examples of how China has expelled journalists who it deemed did not tow the party line. In August 2019, for example, Chun Han Wong, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, was expelled from the mainland after being denied a visa by Chinese authorities.

Further, Chinese authorities issued a record number of severely truncated visas to resident journalists. At the beginning of 2020, two foreign correspondents received visas for only a month. And in 2019, at least twelve correspondents received credentials valid for six months or less, more than double the short-term visas issued in 2018. Resident journalist visas in China are typically issued for one year. Media outlets affected include The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, BBC, Telegraph, The Globe and Mail, Le Monde, Sankei Shimbun and the Voice of America.

Additionally, China continues to utilize press accreditation as a tool of control, further escalating the already tense relationship between the foreign media and Chinese government. In February 2020, the report sites, visas and press credentials for three foreign correspondents working with the Wall Street Journal, Josh Chin, Chao Deng and Philip Wen, were revoked.

In support of this trend, the FCCC survey found 22 per cent of respondents faced difficulty in renewing their credentials, up from 13 per cent the previous year. Almost all of them believing their difficulty was related to their reporting. Steven Lee Myers, Beijing bureau chief for The New York Times, says expulsions and shortened visas are a very ominous sign, adding that the Chinese government’s desire for control really gets in the way of the stories China does have to tell.

The year 2019 was a year of banner anniversaries in China. June 4 marked 30 years since the Tiananmen Square massacre, a politically sensitive event that Chinese authorities are still yet to fully acknowledge; while October 1 commemorated 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, an achievement the Chinese government was excited to celebrate. Still, FCCC correspondents encountered obstruction when reporting on both anniversaries, including the harassment of sources. A number of foreign journalists, whose reporting had previously led to complaints from the Chinese government, were unable to obtain press credentials necessary for covering the 70th anniversary events, with Chinese authorities entirely blocking some organizations.

Surveillance, employing facial recognition technology and physical monitoring, is also being increasingly used to impede the work of foreign journalists, according to the report. Foreign correspondents based in Beijing have gathered evidence of Chinese agencies hacking their email and encrypted messaging apps. As such, there is a pervasive atmosphere of Chinese government oversight of the work of foreign journalists in China, including in their own homes and offices.

Sensitive stories that arose over the course of 2019, such as ongoing unrest in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, have unsurprisingly also led to foreign journalists facing harassment and intimidation, including invasive checks on belongings and equipment while crossing internal and international borders.

In August 2019, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) issued a 43-page letter to news outlets about China’s stance on the Hong Kong protests, instructing correspondents to refer to the document when covering the story. One foreign reporter based in Beijing explained that MoFA has its red lines for reporting, which more often than not include Xinjiang and Hong Kong, but above all, almost anything written about President Xi Jinping, with MoFA explicitly informing correspondents that if pieces deemed incorrect about Xi are written, then relevant foreign media should expect to face the anger of other arms of the government, not just of MoFA.

The challenge of reporting on China for foreign correspondents is compounded by the fact that Chinese journalists, including those working with international media organizations, face intensifying intimidation and harassment, including detention and interrogation. China’s state and privately-owned media are under the government’s close control. More than 120 journalists and bloggers are currently detained in conditions that pose a threat to their lives. While under tougher Internet regulations, members of the public can now be jailed for comments on a news item posted to a social network or messaging service or even simply for sharing content.

Highlights of the FCCC Annual Report

• 55% of respondents said working conditions have deteriorated
• 82% of respondents experienced interference, harassment or violence while reporting
• 44% of respondents said their Chinese colleagues encountered harassment at least once
• 43% of respondents said concern over digital and physical surveillance affected their ability to report, conduct interviews and communicate with sources
• 70% of correspondents reported the cancellation or withdrawal of interviews that they know or believe to be due to actions taken by Chinese authorities

Michael Sadler is a pseudonym for a foreign journalist who works in China