Monday, 11/11/13
American journalist Paul Mooney, to whom the Chinese Government has denied a work visa after more than 18 years as correspondent in the country, aseguró hoy a Efe que la represión "ha empeorado gravemente" with the arrival of Xi Jinping to power a year ago, as demonstrated by the current siege on the media.
Beijing, 11 nov.- American journalist Paul Mooney, to whom the Chinese Government has denied a work visa after more than 18 years as correspondent in the country, aseguró hoy a Efe que la represión "ha empeorado gravemente" with the arrival of Xi Jinping to power a year ago, as demonstrated by the current siege on the media.
"Me sorprendió mucho cuando los observadores de China They predicted that he would carry out reforms, and the opposite has happened. Since Xi came to power, the situation of the human rights ha empeorado gravemente", Mooney noted., collaborator from China in different media from 1994.
"Las condiciones son ahora mucho peores que bajo el régimen de Hu Jintao (Xi's predecessor)", Mooney added., quien predice que "las cosas se van a poner mucho peor y seguirán así hasta que los líderes del Partido Comunista sean duramente presionados y admitan que la represión ya no funciona".
Mooney has spent eight months waiting for the Chinese Government to process his application for a journalist visa to work at the Reuters agency and finally the 8 November he was informed that he would not be granted.
"Es obvio que se me ha rechazado por informaciones que he estado haciendo sobre derechos humanos, social justice, Tibet, Xinjiang y temas relacionados", the reporter highlighted to Efe, who, however, stressed that he has not been given an official explanation for the rejection of his visa.
For the journalist, who expressed surprise at the international relevance that his case has had, This is part of a more worrying general trend, "la única táctica del Gobierno chino, que es suprimir a cualquiera que alza la voz".
It, Explain, It has occurred at a time when the rise of social networks in China has made it more complicated to censorship, Therefore, Beijing has increased controls on Chinese citizens and the media inside and outside the country..
Since Xi came to power there have been several cases of coercion of important Chinese media, which were responded to defiantly in some cases., como la huelga de la revista "Southern Weekend" a principios de año o la primera página del diario "New Express" which demanded the release of one of its journalists arrested last month.
In addition, Methods that evoke the times of the Cultural Revolution have returned, con famosos periodistas y expertos críticos con Pekín que comparecen en televisión para pedir perdón por "difundir rumores".
The spokesperson of Ministry of Foreign Affairs chino Qin Gang fue preguntado hoy en la rueda de prensa diaria de su departamento por la denegación del visado a Mooney y se limitó a señalar que China procede en la tramitación de estos permisos "de acuerdo con la ley".
(EFE agency)
