Government and Policy

China pledges to facilitate foreign news reporting

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-12-29 18:51

BEIJING - The Chinese government Tuesday vowed to facilitate foreign journalists' work in China, but called on them to obey Chinese laws when covering breaking news.

"We will stick to opening-up policies and continue serving domestic and foreign journalists. This principle has never changed," said Wang Chen, director of the Information Office of the State Council, at a press conference.

Wang cited the emergencies this year such as the outbreak of A/H1N1 flu and July 5 riot in Urumqi, as instances in which the government provided information promptly, held regular press conferences and organized reporters to cover the news on site.

But he admitted the authorities faced a new challenge to balance news reporting and maintaining law and order on the ground at accidents or incidents.

"We still need to figure out how to facilitate reporters' work while enabling law enforcement departments to maintain order," he said.

Wang hoped that foreign journalists would abide by Chinese laws and temporary regulations imposed by the authorities when covering breaking news.

"Such measures are taken not only to resolve incidents effectively, but also to protect journalists."

In October last year, China issued new rules on reporting activities by foreign correspondents, lifting several restrictions.

Under the rules, foreign reporters are allowed to conduct interviews without applications to foreign affairs departments and resident reporters need not to renew their press cards annually.

Wang said the establishment of a spokesperson system for the Communist Party of China (CPC) committees would be a major task next year.

"We'll push forward the spokesperson system in departments of the CPC central committee and provincial-level CPC committees" to enable them to release information on CPC affairs by holding press conferences and providing interview opportunities, he said.

The CPC central committee first explicitly proposed to set up the system in a decision endorsed by the Fourth Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee held in September, said Wang.

So far, the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the CPC central committee's Organization Department, the United Front Work Department, the International Department, the Party History Research Center, the Party Literature Research Center, the Taiwan Work Office, and the Central Archives had already set up the system, said Wang.

The government also worked to improve transparency in the past year, Wang said.

According to the State Council, the central and provincial government departments held 1,646 press conferences this year as of Tuesday, 59 more than last year's figure.

The office also announced a list of contact numbers of spokespeople of 74 central government departments, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate and 31 provincial and autonomous region governments.