BEIJING — China took a further step toward opening itself to the world, announcing Friday that an easing of restrictions on foreign journalists enacted for the Olympics would become permanent.
Premier Wen Jiabao signed the decree, which took immediate effect, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao at a news conference. Under the new regulations, which had been anticipated by journalists, foreign reporters would not be required to get government permission to travel within the country or to interview Chinese citizens.
“This is not only a big step forward for China in opening up to the outside world, it is also a big step for further facilitating reporting activities by foreign journalists,” Liu said.
China had loosened its decades-old controls on foreign reporters, which included requiring government permission for all interviews and travel, at the beginning of 2007. The changes were part of the Communist country’s pledge to increase media freedom, which helped Beijing’s bid to host the 2008 Olympics. The Olympic rules were set to expire at midnight Friday.
Even under the relaxed rules, foreign journalists and monitoring groups complained that Chinese authorities still harassed and occasionally detained journalists in the run-up to the Olympics. During the Games, there were at least 30 cases of reporting interference, according to the Foreign Correspondents Club of China. The Associated Press
