Foreign media given better access to NPC
3/3/2007 9:55
AS China relaxes decades-old restrictions on foreign media, the upcoming
annual sessions of the country's legislature and top political advisory body
will be more open to outside observers.
China captured worldwide
headlines last year with its 10.7 percent economic growth, a series of
corruption crackdowns and high-level involvement in international affairs,
including hosting talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.
These
developments and others have attracted unprecedented global attention to the
country's top political bodies - the National People's Congress and the National
Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. The
legislature opens on Monday, and the advisory body starts deliberations on
Saturday.
Late this week, the number of foreign reporters registering to
cover the sessions had reached 527, exceeding the figure for last
year.
"We are glad to see news organizations from Asia and Africa sending
reporters to cover the two sessions for the first time this year," said Cong Wu,
a press center official in charge of foreign reporters.
China has enacted
new regulations granting foreign journalists more freedom to report in the
country in the runup to and during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Under the
new rules, foreign journalists who are not resident in China will not have to be
accompanied by a Chinese official when they report in the
country.
Foreign journalists also no longer need to apply to provincial
foreign affairs offices for permission to report there but need only obtain
prior consent from the organizations or individuals they want to
interview.
Jaime Flor-Cruz, CNN's chief correspondent in Beijing, viewed
the new rules as "experimental and positive" changes in China's opening up to
foreign observers, despite skepticism over how earnest grassroots officials will
be in implementing the relaxed rules.
Flor-Cruz recalled the days of "hunting
the session participants" at hotels or in the lounge of the Great Hall of the
People, where the meetings are held.
"It was like we were playing the
hide-and-seek with interviewees. The worst is we finally got them but they
declined our request for interview by asking us to play the 'routine' - getting
the official permission first," said Flor-Cruz, who has worked in China for more
than 30 years.
The procedures don't necessarily mean that foreign
reporters can always get useful information from their interviewees, however,
especially from cautious officials.
NPC deputy Song Yuhua expressed mixed
feelings toward possible encounters with foreign media.
"I have not
received any interview applications from foreign media before, so I'm not well
prepared," she said upon her arrival in Beijing. "The two sessions will give me
a chance to learn how to deal with foreign media."
"I will be cautious as
I know little about them, but I will not say no to their requests," she
said.
xinhua
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