Inviting Exits

"I believe China will be stronger and more stable and more innovative if it respects universal human rights. Innovation thrives where people breathe freely, speak freely, are able to challenge orthodoxy, where newspapers can report the truth without fear of consequences."
U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, speech to U.S. businessmen in Beijing

American journalists working in China must apply for press credentials to enable them to ply their trade in that country. This is a requirement in many countries, not just China. Although not all countries are necessarily as concerned about how they are perceived and what possibly damaging stories will be written to reflect negatively on their government and society as China is.

Repressive countries are usually consumed with that kind of anxiety.

It seems that Beijing has decided it could happily forego the presence of journalists representing the U.S. news organizations, The New York Times and Bloomberg in the country. Those journalists are seen, it seems, to be in particularly foul odour in the country. Mr. Biden presumably spoke of the matter of press freedom when he met with President Xi Jin-ping. Expelling American journalists would not find favour with the U.S.

China has no need of the presence of foreign journalists. It has more than enough of its own, understandably. And likely it doesn't control all of their content. Presumably, Beijing views it as the extension of a courtesy to permit foreign journalists, particularly American ones, to represent their organizations' agendas in the country. Anticipating, possibly, that courtesy will be returned in the form of news-gathering discretion.

But it appears that those journalists working for those two sources will not have their press credentials renewed and visas given them accordingly. Usually it's mere routine. Not now, not after  a Bloomberg report on the wealth of the Xi family. And then too there was a New York Times article linking JP Morgan Chase & Co investment bank and then-prime minister Wen Jiabao's daughter.

These are rather embarrassing revelations relating to elite political figures in the Chinese government mean to be private, not publicly aired. "After that, no one got a new press card", one journalist said. "We have had a few people having their passports returned ... with words to the effect that the foreign ministry is not giving out visas to The New York Times", the anonymous journalist, concerned he not be identified, explained.

This is not good news for The New York Times, with its significant investments in its China operations where its staff was expanded, it moved to a new office, and established a Chinese language website. Imagine, a Chinese language website. Informing the interested Chinese that their political elite have amassed great wealth and indulge in questionable financial activities.

And this is an unexpected reaction on the part of the Chinese government? Are those intrepid news agencies truly that naive? All this in the interests of forging closer ties? All the news that's fit to print? Or not...?