JAN. 30, 2014
WASHINGTON — The White House said Thursday that it is “deeply concerned” with China’s treatment of foreign journalists and expressed disappointment that Austin Ramzy, a New York Times reporter, had been forced to leave the country.
Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said in a statement that China should not be “restricting the ability of journalists to do their work,” and he urged the country’s leaders to remove any limitations that “impede the ability of journalists to practice their profession.”
“We remain concerned that Mr. Ramzy and several other U.S. journalists have waited months, and in some cases years, for a decision on their press credentials and visa applications,” Mr. Carney said. “We have raised our concerns about the treatment of journalists and media organizations repeatedly and at the highest levels with the Chinese government, and will continue to do so.”
Mr. Ramzy’s visa expired on Thursday and was not renewed despite repeated requests by the newspaper. The Times said in a statement that Mr. Ramzy had relocated outside of China and would continue to report on the country while seeking ways to return.
“Austin Ramzy has left Beijing and will be based in Taiwan for the immediate future,” said Danielle Rhoades Ha, a spokeswoman for The New York Times. “We will continue to work with Chinese authorities and hope to resolve the issue with his visa soon.”
The statement by Mr. Carney was the latest public effort by the Obama administration to protest actions by the Chinese government against foreign journalists. Mr. Ramzy is the second Times reporter in 13 months forced to leave mainland China because of an unprocessed visa application. Reporters for Bloomberg News based in China have also experienced visa delays.
The visa problems came after reporting by The Times and Bloomberg that prompted official criticism from the Chinese government. Bloomberg published a report in 2012 examining the investments held by the family of Xi Jinping, now China’s president. The Times reported in October of that year about the vast wealth that some family members of Wen Jiabao, then China’s prime minister, had accumulated.
After publication of the article about Mr. Wen, the Chinese government began blocking access to The Times’s website inside China.
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. raised the issue with President Xi, Prime Minister Li Keqiang and Vice President Li Yuanchao during a visit to China last month. Mr. Biden warned the Chinese leaders that there would be consequences for China, particularly among members of Congress, if they proceeded to oust the reporters, according to journalists who met with Mr. Biden afterward.
After Mr. Biden’s visit, the Chinese government began processing applications for some Bloomberg reporters, saying that the delays had simply been routine. But China has not acted on visa applications for some other Bloomberg reporters, and has not signaled that it will approve applications for two other New York Times reporters.
The Times hired Chris Buckley, a veteran China correspondent, from Reuters in the summer of 2012, but the Chinese have not approved a visa allowing him to return after he had to leave at the end of that year. The government has also declined to issue a new journalist visa for Philip P. Pan, the paper’s bureau chief in Beijing.
In Thursday’s statement, Mr. Carney said reporters in China faced restrictions that were not consistent with freedom of the press and that should be lifted.
“Foreign journalists in China continue to face restrictions that impede their ability to do their jobs, including extended delays in processing journalist visas, restrictions on travel to certain locations deemed ‘sensitive’ by Chinese authorities and, in some cases, violence at the hands of local authorities,” Mr. Carney said.
“We urge China to commit to timely visa and credentialing decisions for foreign journalists, unblock U.S. media websites, and eliminate other restrictions that impede the ability of journalists to practice their profession,” he added.
A version of this article appears in print on January 31, 2014, on page A9 of the New York edition with the headline: White House Urges China to Act on Journalists’ Visas. Order Reprints|Today’s Paper|Subscribe
