The FCCC has received the following harassment report. The FCCC media freedoms committee would like to know if others have experienced similar treatment or been accused of spying in any way in relation to the recent campaign. If so, please send an email to fccc.incident@gmail.com.
I¹m an American journalist working for a European TV station and freelancing for an American outlet, neither of which have me covering especially sensitive topics. I got my J-1 visa and press card a couple of months ago, and have since received an unusual amount of attention from the police.
The area where I live has lots of military facilities and buildings with military or military police guards. A day or two after I registered my official residence permit with the police station, I was visited by two policemen after 9pm at night.They asked for and took down my documentation and phone number, as well those of my girlfriend, who lives with me and is Chinese. They checked her ID in their system on a small electronic device as well. They also told me that whenever I left Beijing, or came back, I was to call them. Upon the advice of the very helpful FCCC, I emailed the IPC person I had been in contact with for the visa process, but didn¹t get much of a response.
Over the past week (a few weeks after the police visit), my landlord, my girlfriend and I all received calls from the police station asking how I met the landlord and about the nature of my work (what I areas I cover, how I do the reporting, where it can be seen, etc.).
Most recently, right after the rewards for reporting spies in Beijing were publicised, the police talked to the landlord about the possibility of me being a spy.
I strongly suspect this is mostly due to living near lots of military places as a foreign journalist. In fact, the landlord mentioned the idea that the police may just be trying to force me to move away, which I find very possible.
– Submitted by an American journalist, April 2017