CHINA:Ten questions for Barack Obama to put to Hu Jintao

By RSF
Nov 13, 2009 – 12:45:47 AM

http://www.rsf.org/Ten-questions-for-Barack-Obama-to.html

Reporters Without Borders calls on US President Barack Obama to put 10 questions about freedom of expression to his counterpart, Hu Jintao, during his visit to China. “If President Obama asks these questions and gets answers and undertakings from the Chinese leader, the cause of free expression and press freedom will have progressed,” the organisation said.

Why are the websites of the US companies Twitter and Facebook blocked by the Chinese authorities?

Why do the Chinese authorities jam the programmes that are broadcast in Mandarin, Tibetan and Uyghur by the US-funded stations Radio Free Asia and Voice of America?

Is he going to pardon the hundreds of imprisoned journalists, intellectuals and bloggers, including Liu Xiaobo, Hu Jia, Shi Tao and Qi Chonghuai, who did nothing but express their opinions peacefully?

Why are foreign journalists, including American journalists, unable to visit Tibet without a permit?

Why is the Tibetan filmmaker Dhondhup Wangchen being tried on a charge of subversion when all he did was film interviews with Tibetans?

Why are international news agencies, including US news agencies, unable to sell their services directly to Chinese news media?

Why does the Propaganda Department routinely censor international news reports, including some aspects of the growing dispute with Iran over its nuclear programme?

Why do the Chinese security forces prevent journalists from freely doing investigative reporting in the area along the border with North Korea?

Why have the communication services (including Internet and telephone services) of the inhabitants of Xinjiang been blocked or kept under close surveillance for nearly four months?

Why are investigative journalists, especially those trying to cover business and corruption cases, still being harassed by the police and Propaganda department, a problem that led to the recent joint resignation of many of the editors and reporters employed by the leading magazine Caijing?

More information about press freedom in China: http://www.rsf.org/en-pays57-China.html