HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s foreign press club said Thursday that reporters in the territory were experiencing “highly unusual” visas problems, and called on China and the United States to stop using the media as a political weapon.
Journalists have been caught up in spiraling US-China tensions, with both sides placing limits or expelling reporters from their territories in recent months.
Now the spat is filtering into Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous city and regional press hub nominally in charge of its own immigration policies.
In a statement released Thursday, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong (FCCHK) said multiple media outlets had reported delays getting visas in recent months.
Hong Kong’s government has not explained any change to its policy despite multiple inquiries from media.
On the authoritarian Chinese mainland, where the press is heavily censored, foreign journalists must apply for specific visas and face routine harassment.
Reporters only need a regular business visa to work in Hong Kong, however. (AFP)
