On eve of Olympics, China restricts entry of reporters, tightens up visa regulations

China may have given the impression of loosening its straightjacketed attitude in the run-up to the Beijing Olympic Games, but the truth is anything but that. From quelling protesters to restricting journalists, from blocking websites to introducing new visa regulations, the Communist nation is doing its utmost to project a sanitized image of itself to the world. Unfortunately for its masters, the international media has been quite vociferous in its protests.

Press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders today accused China of breaking its promises to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by preventing foreign journalists from freely covering the journey of the Olympic flame through Xinjiang and Tibet.

Only a few were allowed to go to Kashgar, Urumqi and Lhasa, and they were forbidden to talk to local people. The authorities also used the passage of the flame through these sensitive regions to mount a new propaganda campaign despite the government saying, like the IOC, that the Games must not be politicized.

''The Olympic flame relay journey has never been such a trumped-up operation where local people have been told to stay indoors because they are seen as a threat,'' Reporters Without Borders said. ''And never have foreign journalists been so restricted in reporting on an event that has been outrageously politicized by the Chinese government.

''Yet the IOC remains silent in the face of this new violation of the Olympic Charter by Chinese officials using the Olympic flame to justify political repression,'' it said.

Only about 50 foreign journalists were allowed to report on the passage of the flame through Lhasa on 21 June and nearly half of them were from media outlets in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan who were handpicked by the Chinese government. International news agencies and some TV stations with rights to broadcast the Beijing Games were allowed two days in Lhasa. Other parts of Tibet have been closed to foreigners for more than three months. No US or British daily paper was allowed in.

When they got to Lhasa, foreign reporters were barred from going to the Jokhang temple in the old part of the city and instead guided to Potala and the Sera monastery. "A large number of uniformed and plainclothes police filmed our every move and there were very few monks we could talk to and question,'' one journalist told Reporters Without Borders.

Journalists were kept in a park opposite the old summer residence of the Dalai Lama from where the flame set out. They were not allowed to follow the flame, go into the old city or talk to local people. Official guides also tried to deceive journalists about the situation in Lhasa. One Canadian reporter who asked why all shops were shut as the flame passed through the city was told that shops in Tibet were always closed on a Saturday (21 June), which is false.

The authorities later blocked Internet access in China to some of the reports filed by foreign journalists, such as the reporter of Canada's Globe and Mail.

Officials in Xinjiang strictly supervised the activities of foreign journalists allowed to report on the passage of the flame through Kashgar and Urumqi. Despite promises made to foreign media, reporters were banned from speaking to the local Uighur population at the roadside.

The few reporters present were surrounded by police who stopped them leaving the security area. The Xinjiang authorities even printed a guide for foreign journalists saying that if there was a sudden event, meaning demonstrations, they would be asked to leave at once.

As in Lhasa, those allowed to see the flame pass were Han and Uighur people chosen by the authorities, who had asked most people to keep off the streets and to watch the passage of the flame on TV.

Government-controlled media coverage included harsh comments, such as the Tibetan Communist Party chief's attack on ''the Dalai Lama clique'' that he said had to be destroyed. ''The red flag with its five stars will always fly above Tibet,'' he said.

One Tibetan official said most of the 1,300 people arrested after the demonstrations in March had been released, but there was no way to verify this. The authorities said an Amnesty International report on the imprisonment of more than 1,000 Tibetans did not have ''an ounce'' of credibility.

Additionally, with the Beijing Olympics less than two months away, hotel operators, travel agencies, and foreign businessmen say new Chinese visa restrictions are proving bad for business, casting a pall over Beijing during what was supposed to be a busy and jubilant tourist season leading up to the Games.

Chinese authorities acknowledged putting new visa restrictions in place in May, after foreign embassies reported fewer visas being granted and tighter, sometimes seemingly arbitrary, restrictions. As a result, the number of foreign tourists visiting Beijing fell sharply in May, dropping by as much as 14 per cent.

Businessmen, particularly from the United States, Hong Kong and Taiwan, have complained that new visa restrictions have prevented business meetings from taking place and crimped deal making. For example, the new rules require frequent and complicated applications, often including proof of a hotel booking, round-trip airline tickets, and in some cases, a letter of invitation.

The lower number of foreign travelers have had a domino effect on hotel reservations, which stood at only 44 per cent in four-star and 77 percent in five-star hotels, even seven weeks before the Olympic Games opening ceremony.