H.E. Li Zhaoxing
Foreign Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Beijing 100701
People’s Republic of China
Vienna, 3 September 2004
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, is deeply concerned about the repeated detention of journalists in China.
In the most recent incident, journalists Jonathan Watts, Beijing bureau chief of the British daily, The Guardian, and Sami Sillanpaa, Beijing bureau chief of the Finnish daily, Helsingin Sanomat, were briefly detained on 31 August by the Public Security Bureau (PSB) in Beijing for conducting “illegal interviews”.
IPI was informed by Helsingin Sanomat that the journalists were detained for allegedly breaking Article 15 of the regulations included in the “Handbook for Foreign Correspondents Working in China”, issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China. The two journalists had been interviewing demonstrators on the streets of Beijing.
A PSB officer told Watts and Sillanpaa that Article 15 of the “Handbook” states that journalists need permission from the Foreign Ministry for all interviews. He then asked the two journalists to sign statements, took their press passes, seized the memory stick of Sillanpaa’s camera, and ordered the journalists to report to the PSB office the following day. The next morning, when the journalists returned to the PBS office, their press passes were returned, together with the memory stick, which had been damaged. The PSB officer stated once again that they had broken the regulations.
IPI is deeply disturbed by the frequent detention of journalists – both Chinese and foreign – in China. It has become common practice to harass journalists working in China and to prevent them from exercising their right to free expression.
Furthermore, regulations such as those included in the “Handbook for Foreign Correspondents” are clearly in breach of international standards in this field. As a member of the United Nations, China has pledged to abide by the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which in its Article 19 protects the right to free expression. China is also a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which also provides for states to respect the right to free expression, the right to hold opinions without interference, and the right to seek and impart information.
IPI would also like to remind Your Excellency that, in campaigning for the 2008 Olympic Games, the former Secretary General of the Beijing Olympic Bid Committee, Wang Wei, promised that “the world media will enjoy full freedom to report on all aspects of China, if the Olympic Games are held in Beijing.” Furthermore, the International Olympic Committee Evaluation Commission, in its report dated May 2001, stated “there will be no restrictions on media reporting and the movement of journalists up to and during the Olympics.” At present, IPI believes that the behaviour of the Chinese authorities falls far short of these promises.
IPI urges Your Excellency to stop the harassment of journalists working in China and lift any regulations unduly restricting their freedom, such as those included in the “Handbook” mentioned above, thereby allowing the media to practise their profession free of harassment and intimidation.
We thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
Johann P. Fritz
Director
