The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) is strongly dissatisfied with the lack of access granted to foreign journalists in mainland China for the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF), which took place this month.
In line with a growing and concerning trend for Communist Party and government-organized events, such as the Twentieth Party Congress and the “Two Sessions” earlier this year, many resident foreign journalists were largely prevented from covering the forum in person.
In order to attend the BRF, journalists had to register for accreditation online using a special invitation code. These were distributed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials through WeChat. This process was not transparent, and many resident correspondents were not informed by their respective MOFA handlers and were unaware they missed the short registration window.
For those who were able to register, confirmation was only given shortly before the start of the event. They received a badge granting them access to a media centre — separate registrations were required for specific events, including the BRF opening ceremony.
Due to the complicated, multilayered and non-transparent registration process, a large number of foreign correspondents were not granted access and were unable to cover the opening ceremony or other events during the forum, such as a CEO summit and several press conferences, invitations for which were again sent to only a select number of journalists. This is in stark contrast to previous Belt and Road Forums.
China describes the Belt and Road Initiative as “open and inclusive.” As with previous government and Party events, a large number of journalists based overseas were flown into China, with state media reporting that “representatives from more than 110 media organizations of over 70 countries and regions” attended a media cooperation forum on the sidelines of the BRF. Again however, this process was not transparent, and foreign media based outside China were not able to independently register for accreditation or for temporary journalist visas, in contrast to previous Belt and Road Forums.
At the media cooperation forum this month, participants reportedly “agreed that media organizations from all countries should work together to carry forward the Silk Road spirit.” By systematically excluding foreign correspondents from events such as the Belt and Road Forum however, China hinders coverage of this important initiative and fails to practice what it preaches.