MCLC: NYT reporter "broke rules"

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Paul Mooney <pjmooney at me.com>
Subject: NYT reporter "broke rules"
***********************************************************

Had China approved Austin's visa many months ago when he first applied he
would not have had a problem. They stalled on purpose. Qin is lying when
he says that Austin did not apply for a new visa with the NYT. Of course
he did. And what about Phil Pan and Chris Buckley? What's Qin's excuse for
the failure to give them visas? Or the many others who are still waiting
for visas? It's time the US began to exercise its sovereign right
regarding granting visas to China's state journalists, many of whom are
not legitimate journalists anyway.

Paul

==========================================================

Source: Reuters (1/27/14):
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/27/us-china-newyorktimes-idUSBREA0Q0
LV20140127

China says New York Times reporter broke visa rules, will leave

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry said on Monday that a
China-based reporter for the New York Times broke rules on residence visas
and would be leaving the country before the end of the week, in a case
which could sour Beijing's relations with Washington.

The issue of media freedom for foreign reporters in China has attracted
high-level concern in the United States, especially over worries that the
government is denying visas for organisations that carry negative stories
about China.

Last month, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden expressed concern, while on a
visit to Beijing, over China's efforts to restrict the activities of
foreign news organisations.

Neither the New York Times Co nor Bloomberg News has been given new
journalist visas for more than a year after they published stories about
the wealth of family members of former Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and
current President Xi Jinping, respectively.

The New York Times applied for a journalist accreditation in China for
U.S. national Austin Ramzy in the middle of last year, after he left Time
magazine.

Ramzy remained in the country on the visa that he had received while
working for Time, which was valid until the end of 2013. Chinese
authorities then issued him a 30-day visa, valid until January 30,
ostensibly to give him enough time to prepare to leave the country.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Ramzy informed them in May that
he was no longer working for Time magazine and he handed back his
government-issued press card, which foreign reporters are required to have
to report legally in the country.

"But Austin Ramzy did not, in accordance with Chinese regulations, apply
to other Chinese departments to change his visa type and his residence
permit type, which previously was for Time," Qin told a daily news
briefing.

"Regretfully, Austin Ramzy did not do this, and he continued to use his
existing residence permit to come and go from China. So his actions were
in contravention of China's rules," he added.

Residence permits in China are contingent upon employment, and foreign
nationals are supposed to leave the country when they no longer work for
the organisation which sponsored their residence permit, or else convert
to another visa type.

Ramzy declined to comment when reached by Reuters, and the New York Times
did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

"The NY Times, following rules, handed Foreign Ministry a visa application
for Austin Ramzy last June. They have not approved it," Edward Wong,
acting Beijing bureau chief for the Times, said on Twitter.

Qin said that both the New York Times and Ramzy had admitted to the
Foreign Ministry to contravening China's rules, and that the ministry had
granted Ramzy a visa valid until the end of January to give him time to
sort out personal affairs.

Qin added that the Foreign Ministry was currently handling the New York
Times' request for accreditation for Ramzy, but that it would not be
completed before January 31, implying that he would have to leave when his
visa expires on January 30.

If that happens, Ramzy's case will be the second time in 13 months that a
New York Times reporter has had to leave China. Chris Buckley, a former
Reuters journalist, had to leave Beijing in December 2012 after the
government did not approve his accreditation for the New York Times.

Buckley has not yet received approval to return to China as a resident
journalist. He works from Hong Kong.

The newspaper has another outstanding China visa application, for Philip
Pan, its Beijing bureau chief in waiting.

Asked whether China would grant journalist visas to either Buckley or Pan,
Qin said it was China's sovereign right to decide to whom it granted
journalist accreditations and visas.

Foreign reporters working in China face numerous difficulties, including
interference, or even violence, when covering sensitive issues such as
protests and dissidents' trials. China says foreign media are granted
wide-ranging freedoms.

In November, the Chinese government rejected a visa application by Paul
Mooney, an American journalist to whom Thomson Reuters had extended an
offer to work in China. The government gave no reason for the rejection.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Neil Fullick)