December 31, 2012
Visa Issue in China Forces Out Times Reporter
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
BEIJING — A correspondent for The New York Times was forced to leave mainland China on Monday after the authorities declined to issue him a visa for 2013 by year’s end.
Chris Buckley, a 45-year-old Australian who has worked as a correspondent in China since 2000, rejoined The Times in September after working for Reuters. The Times applied for Mr. Buckley to be accredited to replace a correspondent who was reassigned, but the authorities did not act before Dec. 31, despite numerous requests. That forced Mr. Buckley, his partner and their daughter to fly to Hong Kong on Monday.
Normally, requests to transfer visas are processed in a matter of weeks or a couple of months.
The Times is also waiting for its new Beijing bureau chief, Philip P. Pan, to be accredited. Mr. Pan applied in March, but his visa has not been processed.
The visa troubles come amid government pressure on the foreign news media over investigations into the finances of senior Chinese leaders, a delicate subject. Corruption is widely reported in China, but top leaders are considered off limits.
On the day that The Times published a long investigation into the riches of the family of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, both its English-language Web site and its new Chinese-language site were blocked within China, and they remain so.
In June, the authorities blocked the English-language site of Bloomberg News after it published a detailed investigation into the family riches of China’s new top leader, Xi Jinping. Chinese financial institutions say they have been instructed by officials not to buy Bloomberg’s computer terminals, a lucrative source of income for the company.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment on Mr. Buckley’s forced departure. Ministry officials have not said if they are linking Mr. Buckley’s visa renewal or Mr. Pan’s press accreditation to the newspaper’s coverage of China. In a statement, The Times urged the authorities to process Mr. Buckley’s visa as quickly as possible so that he and his family could return to Beijing.
“I hope the Chinese authorities will issue him a new visa as soon as possible and allow Chris and his family to return to Beijing,” Jill Abramson, the executive editor of The Times, said in the statement. “I also hope that Phil Pan, whose application for journalist credentials has been pending for months, will also be issued a visa to serve as our bureau chief in Beijing.”
The Times has six other accredited correspondents in China, and their visas were renewed for 2013 in a timely manner. David Barboza, the Shanghai bureau chief, who wrote the articles about Mr. Wen’s family, was among those whose visas were renewed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/01/world/asia/times-reporter-in-china-is-forced-to-leave-over-visa-issue.html?_r=0
Published: January 1, 2013 17:23 IST | Updated: January 1, 2013 17:23 IST
NYT journalist forced to leave China; website blocked
PTI
A New York Times journalist, who has worked in China over a decade, has been forced to leave the country after his visa was not renewed, in an apparent retaliation for the paper’s report that alleged Premier Wen Jiabao’s family had amassed USD 2.7 billion in assets.
Chris Buckley (45), an Australian who has worked as a correspondent in China since 2000 left for Hong Kong with his family on Monday. He joined the Times recently.
Mr. Buckley was to be accredited to replace a correspondent who was reassigned, but the Chinese authorities did not act before December 31, despite numerous requests forcing Mr. Buckley to leave with his family to Hong Kong, the Times reported.
Besides Mr. Buckley’s visa, China has also kept on hold new Beijing bureau chief Philip P. Pan’s accreditation, the report said adding Mr. Pan applied in March, but his visa has not been processed.
In a statement, the Times urged the authorities to process Mr. Buckley’s visa as quickly as possible so that he and his family could return to Beijing.
“I hope the Chinese authorities will issue him a new visa as soon as possible and allow Chris and his family to return to Beijing,” Jill Abramson, the executive editor of the Times, said in the statement.
“I also hope that Phil Pan, whose application for journalist credentials has been pending for months, will also be issued a visa to serve as our bureau chief in Beijing.”
Times believe that the problems relating to the visas of its journalists to its news report on Mr. Wen.
Ahead of the last November once-in-a-decade leadership change conference of the Communist Party, Times carried a news report stating that Mr. Wen’s family had accumulated USD 2.7 billion assets which included successful business by Premier’s wife Zhang Peili, a geologist turned businesswoman in diamonds.
“The visa troubles come amid government pressure on the foreign news media over investigations into the finances of senior Chinese leaders, a delicate subject. Corruption is widely reported in China, but top leaders are considered off limits,” the Times said in its report on Tuesday.
Smear campaign, says China
China officially termed the report as a “smear” aimed at discrediting the leadership.
Mr. Wen’s family denied the report and threatened to take legal action, which Times said will face it.
Subsequently the English and Chinese language websites of the Times were blocked in China.
Also the English-language site of Bloomberg News were blocked by firewalls after it published reports of accumulation of assets by Vice President Xi Jinping, who was elected as the new General Secretary of the Party replacing Hu Jintao.
Chinese financial institutions say they have been instructed by officials not to buy Bloomberg’s computer terminals, a lucrative source of income for the company, the Times report said.
According to the daily Chinese Foreign Ministry officials have not said if they are linking Buckley’s visa renewal or Pan’s press accreditation to the newspaper’s coverage of China.
The Times has six other accredited correspondents in China, and their visas were renewed for 2013 in a timely manner.
Significantly China has renewed the visa of David Barboza, the Shanghai bureau chief of Times who wrote the articles about Mr. Wen’s family.
This is second such incident in recent times a foreign journalist was denied visa in China. Earlier, Melissa Chan of Al Jazeera was denied visa reportedly due to her critical reporting from here.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/nyt-journalist-forced-to-leave-china-website-blocked/article4262081.ece?css=print