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2 Beware the 'old China'
syndrome By Sunny Lee
BEIJING - Perhaps it's time for Beijing to
put an end to one of its old habits: tapping
foreign journalists' phones and reading their
e-mails as well as rummaging through their mail.
It's also time for Beijing to graduate from its
Cold War practice of stalking foreign journalists
and monitoring where they go and whom they meet.
Wait!
The above statement may have
a flawed premise to begin with. Perhaps the
statement is not factually based. After all, this is
modern
China. It may be simply wrong, wholly wrong and
nothing but wrong to describe China that way.
Perhaps China today doesn't do any of this at all.
Further, any statement with such an insinuation
may deserve a strong condemnation and protest from
Beijing for "misrepresenting" the country.
Unfortunately, however, this is how China
is still viewed by some foreign journalists - a
country that will host the Summer Olympic Games
next year, a country that has the presence of 480
of the Fortune 500 companies; a country that has
become the world's economic magnet. And, alas,
foreign journalists point out that it's China to
blame for feeding this negative impression.
Maybe there is a deep misunderstanding by
foreign journalists on China. If so, China perhaps
could help itself by helping foreign journalists
to have a truthful understanding of the country.
So here are a few examples to think about.
A new foreign journalist in China working
for a US news agency visited a Foreign Ministry
office that processes journalist accreditation. He
was quite impressed by the cordial and
businesslike attitude there. The whole procedure
took only about 10 minutes. His next step was to
go to the police bureau in Beijing where his visa
would be processed.
His Chinese office
assistant told him that in the past the
authorities didn't require foreign journalists to
go to the police bureau in person. The office
clerk would take the journalist's passport to the
police office and get it stamped. That was it. But
nowadays, she said, the police want to "have a
little chat" with foreign journalists. The office
assistant assured him that there would be nothing
to worry about, though.
At the police
station, the officer in charge asked the
journalist a couple of questions in Mandarin, such
as what he thinks about China, and complimented
him on his Chinese-language skills. Up to that
part, everything went as expected, because he had
been told by the office assistant that this was
what they would normally ask foreign journalists.
But then something unexpected happened.
The
police officer started to chat with the Chinese
person who drove the journalist to the office
about what the situation was at the news bureau.
The officer also asked the driver whether there
was any new book on China published by a foreign
reporter in the bureau. The driver said yes. The
officer told the driver to bring the book next
time because he wanted to have a look.
The
foreign journalist was surprised to see that the
Chinese driver, who works at the news bureau, was
reporting to the police on internal office
matters. He was further surprised that this whole
conversation was carried out right in front of
him.
"It's an intimidation strategy. They
are signaling to you that you will also be
watched," said a Beijing-based Western journalist,
who also said that his mail often came with a
"resealed" mark. Apparently, he said, somebody
peeks at his mail before it is delivered to him.
A former South Korean correspondent, who
often wrote unflattering articles on China and
interviewed dissidents and pro-democracy
intellectuals, always worked as a team with his
wife. His wife's role was simple but important.
When he went out to meet his contacts, he told his
wife that if she didn't receive a text message
from him at every 30-minute interval, she should
call for help. That was his way of ensuring his
safety.
The Korean journalist said his
phones, both mobile and home, were bugged, and his
computer was hacked. "The Chinese can access my
e-mails as freely as they enter their own house,"
he said, adding that he captured evidence of this
with his digital camera.
The Korean
journalist noted that faxing is just as insecure
as e-mail and phones. "The Chinese will receive a
free copy of any fax document arriving to me. The
lines are all intercepted." He also said the
Chinese knew his whereabouts very well. One time,
he said, he made an unannounced trip to a province
only to be greeted by a police officer who was
waiting for him at the airport.
To some,
the South Korean journalist's caution may sound
eerie. After all, living in Beijing or Shanghai
today makes one feel as though he is in New York
or Tokyo. They are very modern and globalized
places. Although the British Broadcasting Corp
and
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