It felt as though China had broken its Olympic promises on day one. In securing the bid for Beijing to host the 2008 Games, the city’s representatives pledged that the world media would enjoy full freedom to report all aspects of China.
Yet less than 24 hours after the Olympic flag was handed to Beijing’s mayor last Sunday, there I was — The Guardian‘s China correspondent — detained and harassed for covering a peaceful demonstration that challenged the government’s position on Tibet.
My press pass was confiscated, and I was led away for questioning, accused of conducting an ”illegal interview”. My colleague — Sami Sillanpaa, a Finnish journalist — had the memory card of his camera seized, erased and made permanently unusable.
Our interrogator told me he was in charge of foreign media and had the power to decide whether our visas would be renewed. He then accused us of ”serious offences”.
The implication was clear: ”Do as I say or you could be kicked out of the country.”
There was no physical abuse, but it was intimidation, pure and simple.
Our offence was to have photographed and talked to two Tibetan rights activists — an American and an Australian — who unfurled a large red banner, close to the site of the 2008 Games, proclaiming ”No Olympics for China until Tibet is Free”.
It was hardly earth-shattering news. Chinese passers-by barely registered what was going on because the slogan was in English. When the protesters rolled up their banner and walked off after an uneventful five minutes, most of the dozen or so journalists present dismissed the stunt as something far too dull to report.
But the police came to the publicity-seekers’ rescue just as everyone was heading home. By detaining them and the two of us for questioning, a non-story became news around the world.
My experience is typical of the treatment of journalists in China. Most Beijing correspondents have been held for questioning at least once. Some veterans claim more than a dozen detentions.
Domestic reporters face far worse. Earlier this year, two editors of the Southern Metropolitan Daily were imprisoned in a clear case of retribution by the local authorities in Guangdong province. They were embarrassed by the paper’s revelations about the Sars cover-up, police beatings and official corruption.
To China’s shame, such abuses are a hangover from the old authoritarian system, large parts of which have been untouched by the momentous changes that elsewhere have modernised the economy and brought the Olympics to Beijing.
It was not supposed to be like this. Back in 2001, when Beijing was chosen as host for the 2008 games, the International Olympic Committee admitted its greatest concern was China’s human rights record. But Jacques Rogge, the IOC president, expressed confidence that the spotlight of the games would bring improvements.
So far, the record is patchy at best. Compared with a decade ago, fewer foreign journalists have been deported and restrictions on movement have been relaxed. But the police can still detain us at whim, as I found out on Monday.
When I asked about my ”offence”, my interrogator told me I had conducted an interview without getting prior permission. Never mind that the ”interview” in question was with two foreigners that I bumped into on the street, this was against the regulations. It is absurd. How can a journalist operate freely under such conditions?
According to Reporter sans Frontières China has one of the world’s worst records on media repression, with 27 journalists and 60 internet dissidents currently under arrest. If Beijing is to fulfil its Olympic promise to the world, this problem must be cleared up.
The good news is that there is the time and incentive to make a change. China is developing so quickly that anything is possible. Progressives in the government — thought to include the prime minister, Wen Jiabao — realise the media must be a watchdog rather than just a propaganda tool if the rampant problem of corruption is to be tamed.
And there has never been a better opportunity to push for change than the Olympics. China is treating the games as a ”coming of age” party for a fast-growing country that has overcome the chaos of the cultural revolution to reclaim its place as a leading player on the global stage.
But all the gold and the glory will be tarnished if basic rights — including free speech — are lacking. The Guardian will protest at my detention to the Chinese government, the IOC and the Vienna-based International Press Institute.
Hopefully, it will prove, as these things often are, an unfortunate misunderstanding. Under the current rules, it is unlikely to be the last, but with the global spotlight now on China, such clumsy harassment ought to be made a thing of the past.
Privately, government officials admit more transparency and greater press freedom are desirable. ”Just give us time,” they say. With four years until the Olympics, the countdown has started. – Guardian Unlimited Â