China criticises foreign media's use of Chinese nationals as 'pawns' in Covid-19 coverage

BEIJING (BLOOMBERG) - China blasted foreign media organisations' use of Chinese staff to report on issues such as Covid-19 and Xinjiang, in an apparent escalation of Beijing's efforts to restrict critical coverage of the world's second-largest economy.

The official Xinhua News Agency criticised "Western media" for recruiting Chinese nationals "as pawns to propagate their China-bashing rhetoric" in a commentary on Tuesday (March 15), without naming the media outlets or providing specific examples.

The piece cited their involvement in coverage on the origins of the first known Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan and criticism of Beijing's rigid "zero-Covid-19" policies.

"Manipulating these journalists to misrepresent China and stir up ideological bias against the country has once again revealed that so-called 'press freedom' touted by the Western media is just a handy tool to advance a narrow political agenda," the commentary said.

China restricts its nationals to serving as news assistants for overseas media and bars them from independent reporting. Such staffers have come under increased pressure since the pandemic, with the South China Morning Post reporting in March 2020 that the authorities had revoked the work permits of Chinese nationals affiliated with the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Voice of America.

That same year, China expelled 18 journalists working for American news organisations in what they said was retaliation for similar action by the Trump administration in the United States.

There were about 127 journalists known to be jailed in China as at December, and at least 10 citizen journalists were arrested in 2020 for publishing details about the Covid-19 crisis in Wuhan, according to Reporters Without Borders.

The fresh attack on critical media coverage comes as China deals with its worst Covid-19 outbreak since Wuhan, with tens of millions of people including residents of the southern tech hub of Shenzhen facing lockdowns.

China has portrayed its unrivalled success in containing outbreaks as a personal achievement of President Xi Jinping, who is expected to secure a precedent-breaking third term at a Communist Party congress later this year.

The Xinhua allegations of a "smear campaign" involving Chinese media staffers is consistent with longstanding party practice of blaming "hostile foreign forces" or "black hands" for domestic problems.

China's own state media and social networks are heavily censored and dominated by nationalist, pro-government voices.

In recent days, Chinese diplomats have faced repeated questions from foreign news media over China's refusal to criticise Russia's invasion of Ukraine, fuelling public perceptions that Beijing supported the move.

China has expressed support for Russia's "legitimate security concerns" in Eastern Europe and the country's diplomats and state media have promoted conspiracy theories about US-backed biological laboratories in Ukraine.

The Xinhua piece on Tuesday also cited foreign media's coverage of the crackdown on the predominately Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang, which has prompted the US to accuse China of "genocide" and ban goods from the region.

China denies using forced labour or other human rights violations, arguing that it is attempting to reduce poverty and prevent terrorism.

The commentary said Chinese reporters had "cobbled together evidence" to support such allegations, which it rejected as "fabrications".

"The same ploy has also been manipulated to slander China as an irresponsible player on the international stage," the piece said.