China retreats on free press

USA Today
December 11, 2007

The Olympics, to be held next summer in Beijing, are a source of immense national pride. China's communist government is presenting the Games as one huge coming out party, proof that it's a respected international power. To get the Olympics, it made promises on improving human rights in general and press freedom in particular.

Those promises, however, are looking increasingly empty.

In the past few months, at least 60 foreign journalists have been obstructed or detained by Chinese police -- this after China agreed in January to relax restrictions on foreign reporters, allowing them to travel more freely.

Swiss TV correspondent Barbara Luthi, for example, was recently hit and detained by authorities in Shenyou, a village near Beijing where unrest led to the deaths of several people two years ago. Two more Swiss journalists were detained as they reported on villagers who had been threatened in connection with a land dispute.

China also plans to conduct ID checks on 20,000 or more journalists covering the Games. The checks could be used to bar those who want to report on sensitive issues. "If they do not pass the tests, their accreditation requests will be refused," said Chinese official Yang Minghui, according to the press watch group Reporters Without Borders.

That China is hugely sensitive to criticism now is plain. Complaints by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) led to the easing of rules on foreign journalists. And when Hollywood stars threatened to call the Summer Games the "Genocide Olympics," Beijing belatedly pressured Sudan, where it buys oil, over Darfur. With pressure off on both those issues, the Chinese authorities are backsliding. This is no time to let up.

China has changed rapidly over the past quarter-century, but political freedoms haven't kept up with economic ones. Reporters Without Borders has documented about 100 Chinese journalists, cyberdissidents and free-speech activists jailed for "subversion" or "disseminating state secrets" -- often for revealing things the authorities want to hide, such as environmental dangers.

This moment, when the Chinese are susceptible to pressure, is a unique opportunity for the IOC to promote the cause of press freedoms. The more China opens up before the Games, the harder it will be to shut back down once the torch moves on.