Mr Hu Jintao
President of the People’s Republic
of China
Mr Wen Jiabao
Premier of the State Council of the
People’s Republic of China
Mr Sheng Guangzu
Minister of General Administration
of Customs of the PRC
Mr Gao Siren
Director of Liaison Office of the
Central People's Government in HKSAR
Mr Liao Hui
Director of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs of the
State Council
Mr Tian Congming
Chairman of All-China Journalists
Association
Re: Concerns About Media Rules Raised at IFJ Regional Meeting, Hong Kong
Dear Sirs,
We, the leaders
and representatives of journalists’ associations and trade unions in the
Asia-Pacific region meeting in Hong Kong on 12-13 February 2009, call on China’s Government
to uphold press freedom and revoke newly implemented rules for Hong Kong, Macau
and foreign journalists reporting on the Mainland.
In particular, we are concerned
about new rules regarding press cards, the prior consent of potential Mainland
interviewees and the imposition of a hefty “guarantee” on professional media
equipment to be taken to the Mainland.
In the period leading up to and
around the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, the Central Government relaxed its
prior requirement that journalists in Hong Kong and Macau
seek the permission of the Central Government to travel to the Mainland for
journalistic work. Under the special Games regulations (Article 6),
non-Mainland journalists need only obtain oral consent from interviewees at the
time of an interview.
However, we are informed that on February
6, the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office announced that
journalists and media workers based in Hong Kong and Macau
must apply for temporary press cards with the Central Government’s Liaison
Offices before they would be permitted to travel to the Mainland for
journalistic work. The new rule requires journalists to obtain advance consent
from interviewees and to submit evidence of consent with the Liaison
Offices.
These changes are a reversion to
pre-Games regulations, and place hardship not only on journalists but also on
potential interviewees.
We are deeply concerned about this
reversion and remind the Central Government that several individuals who
consented to be interviewed by journalists around the time of the Olympic Games
were harassed by local officials. Some interviewees were subsequently jailed.
We are further dismayed to learn of
another new rule of the Customs Bureau, which requires that all foreign
journalists and their media organizations must pay a guarantee, in cash or
cheque via a tax agent, in order to take into the Mainland the equipment they
need in order to properly conduct their profession.
This rule has not been announced
publicly although we are informed it became effective on December 25. We are
informed only that the new rule requires journalists and media workers to
provide a guarantee of an amount equivalent to the taxable value of their
professional equipment. No information has been made available on what
constitutes a “guarantee document” and media organizations have received no
information about how the amount of a guarantee is to be calculated.
Yet the need for this guarantee was
cited by Customs officers when they refused to permit a cameraman for
Belgium-based VRT Nieuws television station to take professional equipment onto
the Mainland on January 8, despite his papers being in order. Mr Tom Van de
Weghe, a VRT Nieuws journalist, informs us that his organization was asked to
pay almost 22,000 yuen cash – almost a half of the value of the equipment – and
that authorities said a “tax agent” must be retained to handle the matter.
Few media outlets can pay such a
large amount of cash at sudden notice. In the case of VRT Nieuws, Mr Dieter was
unable to do his job.
We are deeply concerned about the
implications of this rule and the opaque manner in which it appears to have
been introduced, with no consultation or notification to the press and media
organizations.
Furthermore, we are concerned that
the Central Propaganda Department has continued to impose restrictions on
Mainland media. In various examples, mainland media have not been permitted to
report on the aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan
earthquake, pirate attacks on the Chinese Marine Force off Somalia, and
the ways in which various municipal governments have tried to boost their local
economies in the context of the global financial crisis. Instead, they can only
report such events if they use materials from state-owned news agencies, thus
limiting sources of information accessible to the public.
The above restrictions clearly
violate Article 35 of China’s Constitution, which upholds the right to freedom
of expression.
We therefore draw your attention to
our concerns about China’s
introduction and application of new rules for Mainland and non-Mainland media
seeking to conduct their professional work in China. These rules are contrary to
the spirit of openness pronounced by China’s Central Government and
authorities in the period before and during the Beijing Olympic Games. If
pursued, these new rules will reverse the positive steps made by China during
the Games, by re-imposing archaic restrictions on the media.
As such, we call on China’s Central
Government and authorities to:
i) Maintain all media freedoms that were in practice before and
during the Olympic Games, especially applying to non-Mainland media.
ii) Proceed to lift all restrictions on Mainland media.
iii) Revoke the requirement that Hong Kong and Macau
journalists provide authorities with information about potential interviewees
on the Mainland.
iv) Revoke the requirement for the provision of financial
guarantees on media professionals seeking to take their equipment to the
Mainland in order to conduct their work; or
v) Failing such revocation, post publicly the requirements for
such guarantees, and explain why such guarantees are necessary; and
vi) Consult in an open manner with Mainland and non-Mainland
media about the Government’s concerns and requirements for reporting in China.
We look forward to engaging in a
constructive dialogue with you in seeking a positive solution to these matters.
Yours Sincerely,
Signed by leaders of the following
organisations, in Hong Kong for the regional meeting of IFJ Asia-Pacific,
February 12-13, 2009:
Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI)
All India Newspaper Employees
Federation (AINEF)
Association of Taiwan
Journalists (ATJ)
Cambodian Association for Protection
of Journalists (CAPJ)
Engineering, Printing and
Manufacturing Union, New Zealand (EPMU)
Federation of Media Employee’s Trade
Unions (FMETU)
Free Media Movement (FMM)
Federation of Nepali Journalists
(FNJ)
Hong Kong Journalists Association
(HKJA)
IFJ Asia-Pacific
Indian Journalists Union
(IJU)
Journalists’ Association of Korea (AJK)
National Union of Journalists, Malaysia (NUJM)
Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA)
Minpo
Rorem, Japan
Nepal Press Union
(NPU)
National Union of Journalists (India) (NUJI)
National Union of Journalists, Nepal (NUJN)
National Union of Journalists of the
Philippines
(NUJP)
Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association
(SLWJA)
UNI APRO
UNI Global Union
United Confederation of Mongolian
Journalists (CMJ)