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BEIJING – China's expulsion of an American reporter working for the pan-Arabnews network Al-Jazeera has drawn criticism from other journalistsand the United States, and in turn a particularly tight-lippedreaction from Beijing. Melissa Chan is the first accredited foreign journalist to beexpelled from China since 1998. The move, made public Tuesday byAl-Jazeera, is seen as China's latest attempt to punishinternational media whose reports the authoritarian governmentdislikes and sees as besmirching its global image. The expulsion "seems to be taking China's anti-media policies to anew level," Bob Dietz, the Asia coordinator for the Committee toProtect Journalists, said in a statement. Chan was Al-Jazeera's only English-language reporter in China, andthe Qatar-based network said in a statement that it had to closeits English-language service's bureau because her press credentialsand visa were not extended. Chan is a U.S. citizen who worked for the network in China for fiveyears. She had reported extensively on sensitive topics such asillegal seizures of farmland and the imprisonment of petitionersfrom the countryside in unofficial "black jails." Fourteen of the 18 questions posed at the Foreign Ministry'sregular briefing Tuesday concerned Chan, but spokesman Hong Leiwould not discuss her status, saying only that journalists mustfollow China's laws and regulations. All the questions about Chanwere missing from the official transcript later posted on theministry's website, in keeping with Beijing's occasional practiceof ignoring sensitive questions. An official at the ministry's news office said she was unaware ofgaps in the transcript and asked for a faxed list of questionsabout it. Though widely reported in international media andcondemned by government's and professional groups, Chan's expulsionhasn't been mentioned in Chinese state media. The U.S. State Department said it had followed Chan's case closelyand was disappointed in the Chinese government's decision not torenew her accreditation. "To our knowledge, she operated and reported in accordance withChinese law, including regulations that permit foreign journaliststo operate freely in China," spokesman Mark Toner told a newsbriefing in Washington. Al-Jazeera said no permission to replace Chan was given and itsrequests for additional visas for correspondents had goneunanswered. The expulsion does not impact Al-Jazeera'sArabic-language service, which maintains several accreditedjournalists in its Beijing bureau. Foreign reporters in China often experience harassment,surveillance and visa problems when government officials are angryat their reports. Over the weekend, police called in about a dozenforeign reporters, threatening to revoke their visas for allegedlybreaking rules in reporting the case of blind legal activist ChenGuangcheng by entering the parking lot of the hospital where he isreceiving medical care. Al-Jazeera did not say if any reason was given for expelling Chan,who was not among the journalists called in. The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China said Chinese officialsaccused Chan of unspecified violations and were unhappy with someof Al-Jazeera's coverage, particularly a documentary that Chan hadnot been involved in. The documentary, which aired in November, wasabout China's system of sentencing minor criminals and politicalprisoners to labor camp prisons. The club issued a statement Tuesday saying it was "appalled by thedecision of the Chinese government to take this action." Al-Jazeera reported extensively on last year's Arab Springanti-government uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere —events that profoundly spooked the Communist Party leadership.After calls were posted online for similar protests in China,Beijing responded with a harsh crackdown on media, lawyers, writersand government critics. The director of news at Al-Jazeera English, Salah Negm, defendedChan and the network's coverage. "We constantly cover the voice of the voiceless and sometimes thatcalls for tough news coverage from anywhere in world. We hope Chinaappreciates the integrity of our news coverage and our journalism,"Negm said in the network's statement. A German reporter and a Japanese reporter were the last foreignjournalists expelled from China, in late 1998. Chan has left China and will be returning to California, where shewill be taking up a Knight Fellowship at Stanford University. ____ Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington in Washingtoncontributed to this report. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Rechargeable Lead Acid Batteries Manufacturer , Lithium Mno2 Battery, and more. For more , please visit Rechargeable Nimh Batteries today!
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