BEIJING — Apparently unnerved by an anonymous Internet campaign urging Chinese citizens to emulate protests that have rocked the Middle East, the authorities this week have launched a forceful and carefully targeted clampdown on activities by foreigners that the government deems threatening to political stability.
Public security officials have summoned dozens of foreign journalists in Beijing and Shanghai to be dressed down on videotape, warning them that they had broken reporting regulations by visiting locations that had been marked as protest sites in Internet postings. Journalists were bluntly warned that they faced the loss of their visas and possible arrest if they did not abide by newly declared limitations on their ability to interview and photographs Chinese citizens, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said in a statement.
In Shanghai, the authorities objected to the locale of an annual St. Patrick’s Day parade set for March 12 that had been expected to draw more than 2,000 people, prompting Irish organizations to abruptly cancel the event on Monday. The parade was to have taken place on a major street close to a cinema where the postings had urged people to gather every Sunday to show their displeasure with the Chinese government.
Full story: China Adds New Limits on Foreigners