With no word on visas, Canada's CBC closes China bureau

Canada's public broadcaster CBC says it is closing its China bureau after the Chinese government ignored requests to base a reporter in Beijing.

CBC said its applications had been met “by months-long silence from Chinese officials.” The broadcaster's last correspondent left Beijing as China closed down amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The bureau, located in one of Beijing's high-security diplomatic compounds, had remained open in anticipation of re-staffing.

On Thursday, a plaque identifying the bureau remained posted on the outside wall but no one responded to knocks and doorbell rings.

Calls to the bureau's number published by the Chinese Foreign Ministry also went unanswered.

China has taken an increasingly hard line in foreign relations, and ties with Canada nose-dived after China, the US and Canada completed what was effectively a high-stakes prisoner swap last year involving a top executive from Chinese tech giant Huawei who had been charged with fraud by the US.

China jailed two Canadians shortly after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, Huawei Technologies' chief financial officer and the daughter of the company's founder, on a US extradition request.

They were sent back to Canada in September, the same day Meng returned to China after reaching a deal with US authorities in her case.

Many countries labelled China's action “hostage politics,” while China has described the charges against Huawei and Meng as a politically motivated attempt to hold back China's economic and technological development.

Canada has also banned wireless carriers from installing Huawei equipment in its high-speed 5G networks, joining allies in shunning the company that has close links with the ruling Communist Party and its military wing, the People's Liberation Army.

China has increasingly restricted the presence of foreign media in the country while boosting its own propaganda presence abroad.

The stance is in keeping with its increasingly confrontational relationship with the US and Western democracies over trade, human rights and territorial claims.

China blames the US for fuelling tensions after Washington cut 20 visas issued to Chinese state media journalists and required those remaining to register as foreign agents, among other changes.

China responded by expelling journalists working for US outlets and severely restricting conditions for those continuing to work in the country.

After being denied visas, many foreign media outlets have based correspondents in Taiwan and other Asian centres that protect free speech.

“There is no point keeping an empty bureau when we could easily set up elsewhere in a different country that welcomes journalists and respects journalistic scrutiny,” CBC News editor-in-chief Brodie Fenlon said Wednesday in a blog post.

“Closing the Beijing bureau is the last thing we want to do, but our hand has been forced,” Fenlon said.

CBC said Philippe Leblanc, a journalist with Radio-Canada, the broadcaster's French-language counterpart, would work from Taiwan's capital, Taipei, after China's diplomats ignored his applications.

Canada now joins Australia in no longer having a permanent media presence in the country following diplomatic disputes. CBC said it would be the first time in more than 40 years that the broadcaster has not been present in China.

The Asia correspondent for Canada's main newspaper, Globe and Mail, is based in Hong Kong because he has been unable to get a China visa.

China's media is tightly controlled by the Communist Party and Beijing regards the foreign press as an extension of the policies of their home countries, regardless of ownership and levels of state control.

China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)