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Harassment of journalists in China: reporters covering Xinjiang prevented from conducting interviews

Here are the latest reports of harassment against journalists covering events in China, courtesy of our colleagues at the FCC China.

Axel Dorloff, ARD German Radio. Photo: Twitter Axel Dorloff, ARD German Radio. Photo: Twitter

INCIDENT REPORT – submitted December 2017

By Axel Dorloff, ARD German Radio.

We went to Xinjian Cun on Monday, December 11. After about 20 minutes of interviews and talking to different people and migrant workers (who all were very open and willing to talk) a group of about 15 to 20 “Te Qin” security guys approached us and asked us to leave. We would have no sufficient permission to do those interviews. We insisted that in this case we wouldn’t need that and tried to go on with our work. But they repeatedly asked us to stop our interviews and wouldn’t leave us alone until we did that. We finally went to the car and headed to the neighbouring village to go on there.

 

 

INCIDENT REPORT – submitted December 2017

By Macarena Vidal, El País.

When we went to Daxin, we had no problem at the beginning and the police would only look on while we worked. But after a few interviews, another policeman arrived and told us to go with him to the station “to receive a briefing”. Needless to say, we never received such briefing. At least we did not have to stay there for very long. After about 15-20 minutes a girl arrived, said that a press conference “may be arranged in the future”, told us to contact the Beijing city information office and drove us to where our car was waiting, making clear that we should leave. They took copies of our press cards, but so far we have not been told off or summoned by anyone.

INCIDENT REPORT – submitted December 2017

By a correspondent with an American news organisation.

Two of us were detained back in early November in Xinjiang, lasting from approx. 6pm to 5am. We were told the typical line: reporting in the area required prior permission according to law. We pointed out that there exists no such Chinese law, and for the past decade or so foreign journalists have been free to travel unannounced outside the TAR. They basically retorted that that’s not applicable in Xinjiang or in their local jurisdiction due to the security situation.

We had booked train tickets out of town that night at 11pm but they refused to let us go. They requested to see our photos and we refused but after some negotiation they backed down and we didn’t hand them over. We called the foreign ministry several times starting at around midnight, and for a few hours they seemed to try their best to negotiate with the local public security and propaganda officials on our behalf. We were moved from the public security department to a local hotel lobby at 1am, where interrogation and a lot of waiting continued. We were released at 5am after they interrogated us about the sequence of events for the fourth time and took a written record which both parties signed as per common procedure. They refused to let us take a picture of it but we recorded a reporter reading it over the phone to the bureau chief in Beijing.

We boarded a train at around 5:30am. Later that day after we landed in a different city we were met with (and in my case physically grabbed by) propaganda officials outside an airport. We were closely followed for a day and that night, we were told that every hotel that could take foreigners were booked even though we saw multiple people check into empty rooms. The local entry-exit bureau also refused to make an exception for us to stay at a lower-grade hotel, leading us to wonder if it was a coordinated attempt to deny us lodging. Local officials insisted it was not. We were not permitted to fall asleep by a security guard but caught a few winks on two couches in a hotel lobby while local and prefectural propaganda officials took turns watching us from a third couch. One of the officials, who is Uighur, noted that “sometimes I am denied a hotel room when I’m traveling because I’m Uighur, but that’s how it is and I don’t complain.” We left before dawn for a sleeper train and roused from our sleep by train staff who were instructed to monitor us, which they did via walkie talkies whenever we moved through train cars or prepared to disembark.

We were detained several more times the rest of the trip; I was at one point pursued by three officials on foot. I’ve previously been followed, pursued and interrogated for even longer in China, but this Xinjiang trip was by far the worst experience. The authorities were relentless in pursuing us and obstructing our work.

INCIDENT REPORT – submitted December 2017

By a correspondent from a western media outlet.

A correspondent from a western media outlet was called into the Foreign Ministry to discuss the reporter’s coverage of the evictions issue. They were told that while it was preferred that no more stories were done on this subject if there were to be any more they should be balanced and include the government’s perspective. The correspondent told them that repeated attempts to interview a Beijing government representative were declined by the government. The reporter was warned to guard against “Chinese public opinion” hardening against their stories however the meeting was friendly. The same correspondent (along with a Chinese staff member) were also called into the Exit Entry Police to discuss their coverage of the evictions issue. The police interviewed the two separately and recorded the interviews on video camera. The reporter was told they’d done nothing wrong but asked many questions about the basis for this coverage. It was a lengthy, polite discussion. The tone was friendly and the police said they merely wanted to better understand the situation. At one stage the officers asked if the reporter had sought the permission of local village officials to enter the eviction areas, in the same way that the managers of a danwei should approve an employee being interviewed. The journalist said that as this was a public space such permission did not seem necessary. The police at no stage specifically insisted that such permission was required under Chinese law.

Partners Club

Me and the Media: FT’s Victor Mallet on his love for journalism

FT's Victor Mallet. Ayesha Sitara FT’s Victor Mallet. Ayesha Sitara

Victor Mallet is a journalist, commentator and author with three decades of experience in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. He is currently Asia news editor for the Financial Times. He is also an FCC board member.

Previously: Reuters

What made you want to work in media?

In my first few days at university I was confronted by a strange, dishevelled man who told me I should be a reporter for the university newspaper, and I shrugged and thought “Why not?”. I eventually became the editor, and he later became a senior British diplomat. Three years later, when it was time to find a job, I looked in horror at a long list of career options and realised there was absolutely nothing else that looked to be as much fun as journalism. I started as a graduate trainee at Reuters and stayed there for five years learning and working in the London head office, France and South Africa. I moved to the Financial Times while I was living in Africa and have been at the FT ever since, with short breaks to write books. The new one about the Ganges is called River of Life, River of Death and comes out in October.

 

It was hard to file from occupied Kuwait after the first couple of days, and when they started seizing hostages, I escaped with some friends across the desert into Saudi Arabia.

What has been a career high point?

It’s hard to beat the excitement of being a reporter for a news agency on the world’s biggest story. As apartheid collapsed in South Africa in the 1980s, we criss-crossed the country interviewing everybody from ANC radicals to white right-wing extremists, from business moguls to landless peasants. There was violence, there was singing, there was emotion. And there was a lot of news. If I remember right, one of my best moments was getting two stories from Cape Town in one day onto the front page of the International Herald Tribune (now the New York Times international edition); one was about the war in Angola and the other about the abolition of an apartheid race law, though sadly the IHT in those days hardly ever bylined the names of agency reporters – so the bylines just said “Reuters”.

What has been a low point?

This job is too much fun for that. Let me give you another (journalistic) high point: landing in Kuwait City in the early hours of August 2, 1990 because I and my then foreign news editor reckoned Saddam Hussein might invade. It turned out his troops had already crossed the border a couple of hours earlier, so I found myself in the middle of a wonderful scoop, made all the sweeter by the fact that almost all my press colleagues and rivals had flown back to London the previous day after a week of nothing much happening. It was hard to file from occupied Kuwait after the first couple of days, and when they started seizing hostages, I escaped with some friends across the desert into Saudi Arabia. I could go on… but we can discuss it in the bar.

What career advice would you give to your younger self?

Learn a foreign language. Then learn another one.

We want reunification dialogue with North Korea, but only after nuclear program is stopped – South Korea

Enna Park, centre, during her press conference at the FCC. Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC Enna Park, centre, during her press conference at the FCC. Photo: Sarah Graham/FCC

South Korea hasn’t taken its unification hopes off the table, but North Korea will need to ditch its nuclear program before such dialogue can begin, said South Korea’s Ambassador for public diplomacy.

Enna Park was talking at a press conference held at the FCC on June 27. She said that South Korea’s new president, Moon Jae-in, was keen to open up communication with the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) but that talks were unlikely unless sanctions, coupled with incentives to drop nuclear development, were to come to fruition.

“When the conditions are right, when North Korea feels more comfortable talking with South Korea, we will have dialogue with North Korea. We will not attempt to unify North Korea by any means. It doesn’t mean we’re not keeping up our aspirations for reunification,” she said.

When asked whether South Korea’s new government was seeking engagement with North Korea, and whether the time was right for engagement in light of the death American student Otto Warmbier at the hands of the regime, Park said: “Yes, engagement is on the menu. No, it is not the right time to engage North Korea. The government wants to open the room to engagement if conditions are right in the future. We do not have a very concrete, clear description about conditions. It is subject to further consultation.”

She added: “The death of Otto Warmbier is very horrible, it reminds us of the horrible violation of human rights by North Korea.”

On the topic of South Korea’s plans to deploy a U.S. anti-missile system, and China’s reaction by urging boycotts of South Korean companies operating in China, Park said the government’s priority was protecting its people: “Probably it’s better not to try to please everybody. It is a critical asset to us to protect our own security. The priority is our national interest, our security. The top priority is not how to please the others.”

…we cannot rule out some intentional launch of missiles towards China under circumstances in the future.

She added that she was aware that China was concerned with how the system might be used – “they have their own concerns on the possible use of system to surveil what’s going on inside Chinese territory” – but said that her government was ready to discuss those concerns with China.

Having worked for many years at the Korean embassy in Beijing, Park also shed light on the threat felt by China from its ally North Korea. “The direction of missiles launched by North Korea is usually headed to South Korea western sea or eastern sea,” she said. “I think China had some worries about a possible mistake… or we cannot rule out some intentional launch of missiles towards China under circumstances in the future.”

Park also talked of the bridges South Korea is are attempting to build with Japan, with which it also has historical conflict, namely the use of Korean females as “comfort women” for Imperial Japanese soldiers during World War II. She said South Korea’s previous government had wanted to resolve historic matters before pressing on with any regional partnership.

“The previous government took the approach that we have to solve history problems first then liaise with Japan, but this approach actually didn’t bring any good result,” Park said. “So the new government has a two track approach: on one hand we’ll continue to work on history issues. On the other hand we will work with Japan to achieve common goals – solving the nuclear problems of North Korea and establishing peace in the region… creating synergy for economy, so many things that we can work together.”

When World War II ended in 1945, Japan lost control of Korea to Allied forces, leaving Korea to be divided in two, with the Soviet Union administering the northern half and the United States administering the southern half. Since then, the threat of nuclear annihilation as the north began developing nuclear capabilities has hung over the south.

Guangdong on track to become leading science and tech hub

Professor Huang Ningsheng talked about Guangdong's bid to become an innovation hub Professor Huang Ningsheng talked about Guangdong’s bid to become an innovation hub

Investment in Guangdong’s scientific research and development is expected to take up 2.58% of the province’s total GDP for 2016, according to the Director-General of its department of science and technology.

It is a figure that looks set to increase over the coming years as the province, which neighbours Hong Kong, seeks to enhance its competitiveness and further cement its reputation as an up-and-coming scientific and technical innovation hub.

During the November 30 club lunch, guest speaker Professor Huang Ningsheng told the audience of the push to not only attract talent to the province, but also to produce talent by way of creating new R&D institutions and universities.

The former Dean of the Guangdong Provincial Academy of Sciences said that support from the Chinese Government had been essential in making Guangdong province home to some of China’s fastest growing tech companies. He added that even President Xi Jinping had ‘provided us with a lot of guidance’.

He said that the NPC Standing Committee of Guangdong Province was this week reviewing legislation that could speed up the transfer of science and technology findings into business results. Guangdong Province will also benefit from the Chinese government providing subsidies for venture capitalists who invest in R&D institutions and tech companies.

“We’re seeing the new round of technical revolution and industrial revolution,” he said.

Professor Huang said the key factors in ensuring the province’s continued growth as a tech hub were the creation of more incubators – which help turn research findings into products that businesses can sell – and laboratories to engage in basic applied research. He added that legislation to protect intellectual property rights was also essential in attracting talent and investment to the province.

The focus for Guangdong is the production of smart robots, telecommunications and life science and health.

China was ‘lawless’ and ‘brazen’ in booksellers abduction incident, PEN America report finds

Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America, released the findings of a report into the Causeway Bay booksellers incident Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America, released the findings of a report into the Causeway Bay booksellers incident

China’s lawless and brazen actions in reaching across boundaries to detain five Hong Kong booksellers has set a chilling precedent that should not be allowed to happen again, according to the conclusion of a report by PEN America.

Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America, an association of prominent literary writers and editors that works to advance literature and to defend free expression, set out the findings of a report into the incident which made headlines around the world. She told a packed FCC on November 5 that the incident called into question the strength and force of the One Country, Two Systems framework, adding: “Around the world, the role and position of Hong Kong was called into question.”

Nossel also warned that China’s willingness to insist that ethnicity trumps nationality – one of the booksellers was Swedish, another British – was a ‘really worrying development’ which could in the future impact on Chinese people around the world.

Lam Wing-kee, one of the abducted men, spoke as a member of a panel at the FCC which also included the most senior member of the Hong Kong legislative council, James To, and Bao Pu, a well-known Hong Kong publisher of books about the Chinese government. Lam accused Chinese president Xi Jinping of being a ‘stubborn and close-minded’ authoritarian desperate to keep his CCP members in check. He said officials like Zhou Yongkang and Bo Xilai – both jailed for corruption – were ‘pushed off their thrones’ but added: “There are plenty we don’t know about.”

Speaking through an interpreter, Lam, the founder of Causeway Bay Books who was detained in China for eight months and made to give a false confession, warned that China was intent on restricting the freedoms of the people of Hong Kong. He said: “This case shows undoubtedly that the Chinese government is tightening its rule over Hong Kong.”

He cited the recent announcement from Beijing that it would issue a new interpretation of the Basic Law – Hong Kong’s constitution – following the controversial swearing in of two young pro-independence lawmakers, as well as the Hong Kong government’s call for a judicial review on the matter. “This not only shows that the Hong Kong government has been reduced merely to a pawn of Beijing, it also shows Beijing wants to maintain control over Hong Kong as soon as possible.”

Lam said that the rise of the pro-democracy and pro-independence movements in Hong Kong was a result of ‘the Chinese government’s severe interference with Hong Kong affairs’ since the handover. But he added: “Hong Kong people are still fighting and should not give up.”

Bao explained to the press conference how the Chinese government was using its AVIP project – China’s crackdown on what it sees as insulting or vulgar content – to silence those publishing any material potentially embarrassing to the government. Since 2010 it was also tasked with ensuring that such material was not distributed in Hong Kong, including a move to suppress media outlets in the city and target those printing such material.

He added that the legal framework supporting One Country, Two Systems was Hong Kong’s greatest asset, and that China’s recent actions were ‘not strictly legal.’

Rémi Carrier: War on terror could lead to a battlefield without doctors

Rémi Carrier tells an FCC audience how the rules of war have changed - and they're no longer protecting medics Rémi Carrier tells an FCC audience how the rules of war have changed – and they’re no longer protecting medics

A change in military strategies due to the war on terror risks a battlefield without doctors. That was the stark warning from guest speaker Rémi Carrier, executive director of Medecins San Frontieres (MSF) during a talk about the increasing level of attacks on hospitals and aid convoys in war-torn areas.

Carrier appealed to all governments to revoke their ‘license to kill all’ and once again guarantee protection to those brave medics working at the front line. He was also critical of the UN Security Council and U.S. government in failing to help establish responsibility for recent attacks on hospitals in Syria and Afghanistan.

“We seek accountability, not justice,” he said.

Speaking on November 3 at a talk titled Targeting Hospitals and Aid Convoys: Old War Crime or New Tactic?, Carrier explained how previously governments in war-torn countries had honoured the Geneva Conventions that cover the rules of war, as well as other international laws designed to protect hospitals and medical staff. However, in recent years the war on terror has led to a change in the rules and many countries now do not safeguard hospitals on the frontline. This has led to devastating attacks on medical facilities including Aleppo and last year’s atrocity in Kunduz, Afghanistan.

Of the Kunduz incident, in which 42 people – including medical staff – were killed after a sustained bombing of the hospital, Carrier said that the only official response to questions of why it had happened had come from the U.S., who had produced a report citing ‘mistakes’ and technical errors. Carrier told how the raid had begun in the early hours and lasted 45 minutes, during which time patients burned and those fleeing the hospital were shot from the air. There had been a strict no weapons policy at the hospital, meaning there was supposed to be an understanding that it was not a legitimate target.

FCC Correspondent Governor Florence de Changy with Rémi Carrier ahead of his talk today on the dangers faced by medics on the frontline FCC Correspondent Governor Florence de Changy with Rémi Carrier ahead of his talk today on the dangers faced by medics on the frontline

He said MSF did not accept the findings of the report and was pushing for an independent inquiry to provide accountability. When pressed, Carrier said: “(There were) Special Forces on the ground. There was technology. A very expensive plane. A report about technical issues and radios with no batteries. It’s a bit too much… We’re doubting and we do not believe what we have read.”

Carrier said new anti-terror framework now meant that international laws were being ignored, and that governments believed they could go after their enemies in ‘unrestrained fashion’ – meaning ‘today everybody is an enemy’.

He added that the recent escalation in attacks on medical facilities had led to extremely low morale among some of the 35,000 medics working for MSF. “It’s terrible. It has been a big shock for the organisation.”

MSF plans to reopen the hospital at Kunduz, although it is seeking a new facility because ‘our staff on the ground are saying they don’t want to work again in places their colleagues have been killed’.

Donate to MSF here

Philippe Metoudi: Why China’s billion dollar investment in Israel is only going to grow

Guest speaker Philippe Metoudi on Israel's relationship with China Guest speaker Philippe Metoudi on Israel’s relationship with China

China’s two-way trade with in Israel has gone from zero to US$4bn in the last three years, as the mainland seeks to position itself at the cutting edge of technological development, according to Philippe Metoudi, guest speaker at the October 25 club lunch.

Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing has the largest investment in the Middle Eastern country – with more interests there than he has in the U.S. – but it appears online shopping giant Alibaba is also looking to invest significantly in Israel after owner Jack Ma bought Visualead, a QR code generator created in Tel Aviv. In fact, a growing number of China’s state-owned enterprises are acquiring Israeli tech companies, Metoudi said.

Why? In part because Tel Aviv is now widely considered second only to Silicon Valley in terms of its development of technology. And China’s powerful manufacturing capability at low cost is an attractive prospect for many Israeli firms, he said.

Metoudi, co-author of Israel and China: From Silk Road To Innovation Highway, recounted the long relationship between China and the Jewish state, a relationship set to prosper even further under President Xi Jinping’s plan to connect China with Eurasia – the so-called Silk Road Economic Belt – a feat Metoudi said could not be achieved without going through Israel. He said even Cathay Pacific was, from next year, going to introduce a new route to Israel for the first time.

But as far as Hong Kong’s tech start-up scene was concerned, the outlook wasn’t so rosy. Asked whether Hong Kong could catch up to Tel Aviv or even Silicon Valley, Metoudi said it was unlikely.

“There are two things lacking in Hong Kong. One is the mix of engineers. In Israel you get British engineers, Russian, French…” He said of the second: “A lot of people would be reluctant to be in Hong Kong due to the proximity of China.”

Having presented slides showing the China’s growing investment in Israeli companies, Metoudi concluded: “This is only the beginning. In five years I can guarantee that all the numbers I have shown you will be higher.”

Invitation for specialists on House Committee

Dear Members

 

Invitation for specialists on House Committee

 

The FCC would like to reach out to members with strong experience working as project managers on building projects to join the House Committee as it prepares for a number of capital projects in the coming year. We are seeking individuals with professional experience who can devote time to scrutinizing contractors and assist in the preparation of tender documents. Projects include a refurbishment of the main dining room to take place next summer; a short list of interested designers has been identified and the committee is in the process of preparing a referral-for-proposal. In addition, the club plans a significant upgrade of its audio visual systems and would welcome input from members with professional experience in the field.

 

If you are interested to get involved, please contact Joanne Chung on [email protected] with a cover letter/CV outlining your relevant professional experience.

 

Simon Pritchard
House Committee convener & Club Secretary

Clare Hollingworth’s 105th Birthday Party

Friends are invited to toast the grande
doyenne of war correspondents on
Monday, October 10, 2016
In the Bunker
12:30pm
Canapés by FCC, drinks on members’ own accounts
Please let us know if you would like to come, (tel) 2521 1511
(fax) 2868 4092 or (email) [email protected]

 

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