Al Jazeera shuts Beijing bureau
9 May 2012 5:16 AM GMT
Al-Jazeera said on Tuesday that it has shut its English-language bureau in Beijing after Chinese authorities expelled its correspondent Melissa Chan and failed to grant visas to other journalists.
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China (FCCC) said it was 'appalled' by Beijing's actions, calling the refusal to grant Chan a new visa a 'grave threat to foreign reporters' ability to work in China'.
'This is the most extreme example of a recent pattern of using journalist visas in an attempt to censor and intimidate foreign correspondents in China,' the organisation said in a statement. 'The FCCC believes that foreign news organisations, not the Chinese government, have the right to choose who works for them in China, in line with international standards.'
Chan is thought to be the first journalist to be expelled from China since 1998, when Juergen Kremb of the German magazine Der Spiegel was accused of possessing state secrets and ordered to leave the country.
Al-Jazeera said it had no choice but to close its English-language bureau, after China also failed to grant visas to other journalists working for it, but that it would continue to work with the government to reopen.
'We are committed to our coverage of China,' it said.
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China (FCCC) said it was 'appalled' by Beijing's actions, calling the refusal to grant Chan a new visa a 'grave threat to foreign reporters' ability to work in China'.
'This is the most extreme example of a recent pattern of using journalist visas in an attempt to censor and intimidate foreign correspondents in China,' the organisation said in a statement. 'The FCCC believes that foreign news organisations, not the Chinese government, have the right to choose who works for them in China, in line with international standards.'
Chan is thought to be the first journalist to be expelled from China since 1998, when Juergen Kremb of the German magazine Der Spiegel was accused of possessing state secrets and ordered to leave the country.
Al-Jazeera said it had no choice but to close its English-language bureau, after China also failed to grant visas to other journalists working for it, but that it would continue to work with the government to reopen.
'We are committed to our coverage of China,' it said.
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