It's only days before we're off to the races in China with still some hope burning that journalism and free expression will be among the winners. The opening of the Olympic Games on August 8 signals the start of the most testing challenge for China's communist party leaders since thousands of students camped out on Tiananmen Square almost 20 years ago.

The IFJ has teamed up with the sports journalism support group Play the Game to launch a campaign in support of journalists covering the Games. A special web-site - Play the Game for Open Journalism - has been set up with information in abundance for sports reporters and journalists with an interest in the China story. There's also a helpline for people who get into difficulties.

Meanwhile, the messages coming out of Beijing are mixed. Although there is more access to information, the authorities are still seething over global media coverage of human rights protests in Tibet and demonstrations that accompanied much of the international torch rally earlier this year. Journalists have had to deal with a tightening of visa and entry rules in recent months.

Special sites for sanitised and officially-endorsed forms of "protest" have been set up in Beijing, but people planning anything remotely like a credible demonstration can expect to receive harsh treatment. Any leaflets for public distribution are being strictly controlled.

At the same time there is still concern that Chinese police are ready to suppress any local criticism following the arrest this week of prominent dissident and Internet writer Du Daobin on Monday.  Du had been sentenced to a three-year suspended prison sentence in 2004 on subversion charges, and his arrest comes just 12 days before his probationary period was set to expire.

The IFJ and its member unions will be keeping a close eye on events during the Olympics with the intention of sending a new mission to the country to encourage further links with Chinese journalists and also to reinforce calls for the authorities to maintain openness rules put in place as part of the Olympics preparation. These give journalists the right to roam and freely ask questions of Chinese citizens.

Is the toothpaste is out of the tube when it comes to free speech in China? We hope so, but as the violent repression in Tiananmen Square proved, Chinese leaders can be ruthless when they feel threatened. Democracy of a sort may inevitably emerge but, like most things in China, reform is a long game and requires lashings of patience.           

Aidan White

General Secretary

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