tibet

New York, March 31, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the Public Security Bureau in China's Gansu province to disclose the whereabouts and legal status of Kunga Tsayang, a monk from the Amdo Labrang Tashi Kyil Monastery who has written online political commentary.

New York, March 18, 2009--Chinese public security officials in northwest Gansu province should release two Tibetan journalists detained in the past month or charge them with an offense, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. 

New York, March 9, 2009--Chinese authorities in Tibet should open the region to foreign journalists and release imprisoned Tibetan journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Tuesday is the 50th anniversary of an uprising against Chinese rule.

When the International Olympic Committee released its review of Beijing's August Games a few days ago, it didn't hold back from patting itself or China's government on the back. The Games were, to quote the IOC's fact sheet, "by almost every measure, an indisputable success." One of the intangible results the IOC mentioned was that "unprecedented international attention from journalists, activist organizations and foreign leaders highlighted China's strengths as well as its shortcomings." 

New York, November 21, 2008--A court in China's southwestern Sichuan province sentenced a writer critical of the government to three years in prison today on charges of inciting subversion of state power, his wife told the Committee to Protect Journalists. 

New York, October 17, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the detention in western China of a filmmaker and his assistant, who have been held for nearly seven months after taping interviews with Tibetan residents about their lives under Chinese government rule. 

"The reports that China has agreed to extend the temporary regulations allowing foreign reporters to travel freely in China and openly interview Chinese citizens is good news. The problem lies now with their implementation," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "China has already violated the new travel guidelines in Tibet and in Sichuan, and has stifled foreign reporters trying to cover the ongoing public health scandal of tainted milk products. And it is common practice for security personnel to question people who are seen talking with foreign reporters." 

"We also believe these guidelines should be extended to Chinese journalists," Simon added. 

China's decision to extend or end the eased restrictions on foreign journalists it put in place for the Olympics is almost a moot point. The decision is expected to be announced tomorrow, and in the past, officials have suggested the new rules will be extended. But a change in the rules will be largely irrelevant to how reporters, foreign and Chinese, operate in China. The government's censorship apparatus is still operating at peak strength, and there will be no change in its policy of controlling media coverage. 

Watch carefully as the Chinese media report on the explosive story of tainted baby formula. The most recent break came from Central China Television (CCTV), the government's official, flagship broadcaster. CCTV reported that an industrial chemical, melamine, has been discovered in milk products--everything from yogurt to ice cream as well as baby formula--from 22 companies nationwide. So far, products from more than 100 companies had been tested. The first company to admit to a problem was Sanlu, the third-largest milk product manufacturer in China.