Customs confiscate documents from departing correspondent’s shipment

Nov 23, 2014

In November 2014 a European correspondent left China after several years working for a news agency. Before his departure, his private belongings were apparently approved to be shipped a few weeks later. He was then informed by his shipping company, after leaving Beijing, that customs officers confiscated 40 books and dozens of magazines and other documents, including print-outs of his own stories, research material, notes and other stories, mostly covering human rights and political topics. The books and documents were all deemed to contain “political or sensitive” material, including publications in English, Chinese and Japanese. Some of the books are banned in China but others are available in bookstores – including two books in English about the Communist Party from official publishers. All of the confiscated books were either imported into China for personal use or, in a few cases, bought from official bookstores.