03 June 2008
Reporters NGO welcomes openness in Sichuan; critical of controls in Tibet
(RSF) Reporter Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders) has issued a statement that welcomed the policy of transparency currently being applied to the foreign press in the areas hit by the 12 May earthquake and called on the Chinese authorities to apply the same policy to Tibetan regions, where the security forces continue to prevent travel by foreign journalists. "The government is allowing the foreign media a remarkable and unprecedented level of freedom in Sichuan", RSF said. "It should be extended to the Tibetan regions which the international press has not been able to visit freely since the Lhasa riots on 14 March. The government is clearly trying to prevent the foreign media from confirming the few reports emerging about arrests of Tibetans and re-education campaigns being carried out since then".