CBC News to close China bureau after unanswered visa request for journalists

OTTAWA, Nov 2 (Reuters) – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation announced on Wednesday that it was closing its press office in Beijing after waiting in vain for two years for a work permit in China for its journalists.

The state-owned media has had numerous exchanges with Chinese officials in Canada over the past two years over visas, but without resolution, CBC News editor Brodie Fenlon said in a blog post.

A letter sent to the Chinese ambassador to Canada in April was acknowledged but not acted upon, Fenlon said.

The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The decision comes months after CBC News, which has had a bureau in China for more than 40 years, was forced to close its Moscow bureau by the Russian Foreign Ministry in response to the Canadian TV ban. of Russian state Russia Today. Read more

A correspondent for CBC’s French-language service Radio-Canada was still waiting for a visa from China after applying for one in October 2020, Fenlon said.

The English-language CBC reporter who returned to Canada when China began to lock down at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was also unable to return as a permanent correspondent.

“While there were no dramatic expulsions or pointed public statements, the effect is the same. We cannot obtain visas for our journalists to work there as permanent correspondents,” said Fenlon.

CBC will seek a new location to cover East Asia over the next few months, while Radio-Canada will station its reporter in Taiwan for the next two years, Fenlon added.

Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Ottawa Editing by Chris Reese

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