WASHINGTON, DC – China’s government is cracking down hard on Western journalists, threatening not to renew visas for reporters from the New York Times and Bloomberg in retaliation for their reporting on the corruption of senior Chinese officials. Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently penned an open letter to the Chinese government telling them that, because the top “cause of death of Chinese regimes in history is greed and corruption,” a free press is more likely to help than hurt.
华盛顿——中国政府正严厉打击西方记者。为报复纽约时报和彭博社记者对中国高官贪腐行为的报道，中国政府威胁不再为他们续签签证。泰晤士报专栏作家托马斯·弗里德曼不久前写了一封公开信致中国政府，指出因为“贪婪腐败是历史上中国政权灭亡的首要原因”，新闻自由更能帮助而不是伤害中国政府。