FCCC Visa Survey 2016
Introduction
China is demanding interviews with large numbers of foreign journalists before extending their visa credentials, a worrisome new tactic to apply pressure for more favorable coverage. Such interviews appear to have become an important part of the annual visa renewal process, and government officials are using them in an attempt to deter correspondents from covering human rights issues.
An annual visa survey by the Foreign Correspondents Club of China found that 85% of respondents were called to interviews with Foreign Ministry officials. One in five were called for interviews at the Exit and Entry Administration of the Public Security Bureau. Such treatment is a departure from past practice.
Some correspondents also reported being warned in these interviews about crossing “red lines” in their coverage. Though direct threats of visa cancellation remain rare, this is a troubling indication of willingness by the Chinese government to overtly demand that journalists shift their coverage to suit its desires.
All resident foreign correspondents in China must be accredited by Chinese authorities through a two-step process, first through an application for a government-issued press card, and then through the issuance of a visa. Both documents must be renewed annually.
The FCCC also remains gravely concerned at extensive delays in the issuance of visas for designated correspondents of media outlets whose coverage has been criticized by officials. Even more troubling, media organizations who have encountered such delays fear that speaking publicly about this treatment will only result in reprisals or worse.
The full results of the 2016 visa survey are below. Of the 222 correspondent members of the club invited to participate, 102 submitted responses.
Visa Survey
In 2016, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs introduced changes to the process for press card and J-visa renewal that proved confusing for correspondents. The changes ended the practice of a common renewal period for all foreign journalists, and were intended to increase flexibility, an improvement the FCCC notes with appreciation. But unclear communication about the new system created its own problems.
Wording of the announcement on new rules published by the IPC triggered misunderstanding among correspondents who applied for the renewal of their press card long before expiration of their previous one, thus receiving a new press card and visa with a duration of less than one year from previous credentials.
66% of respondents applied for a new press card one to two months before the expiration of their previous visa.
Among respondents, 5% experienced delay and problems while renewing their credentials, mostly during the renewal of their press card and for reasons related to news coverage by the correspondents involved. Last year, fewer than 4% experienced such issues.
The majority of respondents, 85%, were called in for an interview with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Although many of these report coming under indirect pressure in these interviews over the content of their coverage, only 2% of respondents were directly threatened with non-renewal of their press card. This is an improvement from last year, when just under 5% received such threats. (Because interviews at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were rare in previous years, questions on the practice were not included in previous surveys.)
In an interview, a MoFA official made multiple references to “red lines” in what could be reported in China. Though those were never clarified, I was directly told that I am writing too much about human rights. I was also told that any written reference to Tibet as an independent state would be considered “an assault on the sovereignty of China.”
-correspondent for western media
A MoFA official requested a meeting to discuss this renewal, which was broadly fine, but also brought up that he must mention we are pushing too hard in some areas, especially in the area of human rights, which is sensitive in China. After the interview our press cards were renewed without incident.
-UK media
The interviewer demanded that I “understand properly” and “report properly” about China, implying that I should not report on the issues that are inconvenient for China.
-Japanese media
The meeting lasted about 15 minutes. I remember a MoFA official asking me about my reporting background and what issues I planned to report on in China. The meeting was cordial, if a bit tense at times.
-American correspondent
19% of respondents were asked to attend an interview with the Public Security Bureau once their press card was issued and before applying to renew their J-visa.
About 20 minutes, together with my wife (who is on a family visa) – PSB official was friendly but weird (“I want us to have no problems if we meet outside”, “What are you planning for June 4th?” etc.)
-German media
It was not for my visa but for my colleague’s visa. They referred to the possibility that one of my colleagues might not be able to get his visa renewed because his attitude was considered to be bad when he submitted the documents. After a few days of the meeting, he finally got the visa. It was December 30th.
-Japanese media
For most correspondents, new press cards were issued within a week, but close to a quarter of correspondents reported having to wait longer, sometimes months, with no explanations given for delays. This is roughly in line with last year.
Approximately one month.
-American reporter
Must have been almost two weeks from the moment I delivered the paperwork until I got the new press card. Most of that time passed waiting to be given an appointment to be interviewed by the MoFA people – we were told we did not need to call, they would call us… and they took their time. They said they had to do many interviews with different media since most of the correspondents had applied at the same time.
-European correspondent
After obtaining new press cards, the J-visa renewal process was smooth for 91% of respondents (an improvement over 87% last year). The requirement to leave a passport at the Public Security Bureau for 10 working days affected the work of 23% of respondents, who found it impossible to travel or accomplish daily necessities such as bank transactions without their passport in hand (correspondents receive a temporary yellow sheet of identification during this process, but it cannot be used for international travel). This was nonetheless an improvement from recent surveys. Last year, one third of respondents reported problems with this delay.
Because I had handed in my passport for visa renewal I was unable to travel to Taiwan to report on reactions following Trump’s surprise call with Tsai Ing-wen”
-American reporter
This time did not have any direct impact. But it is definitely a constraint having your passport seized for so long time. You just don’t plan anything important for those days so as to avoid possible problems with that.
-Spanish media
The yellow card will get you on an airplane but it’s very difficult to get a hotel room with the temporary document.
-American reporter
Among those who responded to the survey, 2% were directly threatened with cancellation or non-renewal of their visa, a slight improvement from last year.
I was threatened at the PSB in 2016 while I was handing in my visa application. A 30-minute conversation with a policeman begun with the police asking me to make sure the name of the person who had answered the phone to confirm my appointment (the person who answers the phone does not give a name) and included requests for showing a CV, and he reacted in a surprisingly negative way when I asked whether this was a new additional requirement to the application. He replied by pushing the unopened letter from the MFA aside on his desk with the words: “WE decide about your visa”. I was told he and I had to “become friends”, and he asked me aggressively whether I wanted to “come along behind” etc. After 30 minutes three policemen told me I should apologize to their colleague (assumingly for asking whether bringing a CV was a new compulsory). One of them pointed to my handwriting and said that they could not accept the application for me and my family because it was “not clear”. I had to ask my husband to call with excuses (that I had been ill etc.) and to go back the day after. I faced now new interrogation, just a smile. I also heard about a colleague who had been asked at the same office about which of his twin children was the first born etc. with a similar result as mine.
-Swedish reporter
No, but in Summer 2016 the Press Officer from the Chinese Embassy in Berlin flew to Munich to see my editor and gave him a nearly two hours long talk about my supposedly negative reporting and how there is a limit to China’s patience. Then at the end of November before the issuance of the press card I had to go and see the department head of the press department in the Foreign Ministry and again was given a 90-minute lecture about my one-sided reporting. But they never explicitly threatened to withhold my visa. And they didn’t withhold it in the end.
-German reporter
Among the 43% of respondents who have applied for a new visa since January 2016, 70% waited up to three months to be granted a new journalist visa for a position that existed before. 9% waited more than four months, a significant improvement from 19% last year. Visas for a new position that did not previously exist took three or fewer months for 50% of those who applied, a slight decrease from 54% last year.
Problems persist for those who apply from abroad for J-2 visiting journalist visas. The survey found multiple occasions on which journalists were obliged to abandon plans for reporting trips because of lengthy delays in the provision of J-2 visas. The full number of cancellations is unknown, but we believe it may be much higher given that journalists applying for J-2 visas are typically based outside China and therefore aren’t FCCC members.
Happens all the time. Journalists who are invited eg: by in my case an Australian company to report on an event; or who seek to report on an issue or event on their own bat, are denied a visa because they lack a “visa notification” that can only be granted by a party/government agency or company. No journalist is allowed to report in China ever, at all, who is not either accredited annually (as are most FCCC members) or who is not sponsored in some way by a party/government agency. This is a major issue that I have raised many times. In years past, the All China Journalists Association used to provide a “visa notification” if it was satisfied that the applicant was a bona fide journalist, and as long as that journalist made some contact with them – perhaps used a service such as translation provided by them (and paid for by the journalist of course) during the visit. This was a compromise that worked sensibly and well. But over the last decade the ACJA has ceased, for whatever reason, to provide this service.
-Australian reporter
Besides what happened to my colleague last year, our previous bureau chief did not get visa for two years. He moved to other section without stationing in China, but we did not get official justification for that.
-Japanese media
In case of delay and denial, respondents typically do not receive any official justification for the reasons.
When they encounter setbacks in their visa application or renewal process 23% of respondents consult with their Embassies, however they remain skeptical of the real impact this can make.
Have done over the past few years, before I returned as a full-time correspondent, when I have sought visas for short visits. Don’t believe diplomats have been able to help however in a
material way.
-foreign correspondent
People of our embassy asked for improvements when they had official meeting with their counterparts on the issues of visas/license.
-Japanese media