Radio Free Asia Snubbed by Chinese
By Nick Grace
June 25, 1998
Before President Clinton had a chance to board Air Force One to head for Beijing, Chinese consular officials in Washington revoked press visas given to three Radio Free Asia (RFA) journalists on Monday.
The revocation of visas previously given to journalist Arin Basu, producer and technician Patricia Hindman and Mandarin broadcaster Feng Xiao Ming sparked a bitter battle within Washington circles this week as policy makers struggled to comprehend Clinton's agenda and strategy for his visit - the first visit of a standing U.S. president in nine years.
"This is censorship -- pure and simple -- and the U.S. government must not stand for it," House Speaker Newt Gingrich relseased in a prepared statement." If the Chinese government does not immediately return the visas... you should bring them with you in person on Air Force One."
RFA's work has been an uphill struggle since its beginnings as a 30-minute Mandarin broadcast in September 1996. Within a month of its first transmission, the Washington Times reports, Chinese diplomats stormed into RFA's modest Connecticut Avenue office / studio to demand information on its relay stations. The U.S. Department of State has lobbied governments in Central Asia and the Pacific to permit the retransmission of RFA programs via foreign transmitters. The Chinese government, in response, has pressured those governments to cease such relays and has methodically jammed RFA. Yet the station continues to receive mountains of letters a week praising RFA from listeners in its target countries, including China.
The White House called the revocation of the visas "highly objectionable" and said that the Clinton administration is committed to protesting the action. However, many within the U.S. government look upon RFA with distaste. U.S. Ambassador to China, James Sasser, is reportedly uncomfortable with Beijing's vocal opposition to RFA and its programs. Although he delivered a "strong demarche" to the Chinese Vice Foreign Minister regarding the diplomatic debacle on Wednesday, White House Spokesman Joe Lockhart issued a confusing statement that RFA is funded through taxes and cannot, therefore, be an "independent news organization."
Clinton's own committment is also questioned since the three reporters did not board Air Force One to accompany him as diplomatic guests. Instead they were allowed a symbolic interview hours before departure where he stated that he refuses to do "anything that I think will actually undermine my ability to get real results." He did, however, promise to raise the issue of jamming in his meeting with Chinese officials.
Articles from The Washington Times and Washington Post were used
to compile this article.
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