Government Agencies Launch Campaign to Ban Unauthorized Foreign Language Periodicals

Several Chinese government agencies, including the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), the State Council Information Office, and the National "Sweep Away Pornography and Strike Down Illegal Publications" (SAPSDIP) Task Force, issued a joint notice on July 19 announcing the commencement of a campaign to "investigate, prosecute, and ban" unauthorized foreign language publications, according to the People's Daily. The campaign is directed at "illegal foreign language newspapers and magazines that are primarily read by foreigners."

The notice states that the targets of the ban include foreign-language periodicals that are published without having first obtained an edition number, the distribution of which the government controls. Also targeted are newspapers and magazines that "are openly distributed without authorization from the commercial organizations of foreigners living in China." It demanded that local press and publication administrations "strengthen their supervision and management of newspapers, magazines, and other publications sold or given away at public places that relate to foreign affairs, and regulate the management of internal information publications of organizations of foreigners in China." The notice also called on local press and publication administrations to "rectify the printing and copying industry, and increase sanctions on illegal newspaper and magazine printing enterprises."

In addition to increasing the control of Chinese authorities over what foreign and Chinese citizens may read, the notice also appears to be a commercial measure designed to protect China's domestic newspaper and magazine publishers from foreign competition:

News offices at all levels must cooperate with press and publication administrations in their local jurisdictions, and be guided by foreigners living in China as their target readership, go through approved newspaper and magazine publishing units, strictly obey the country's relevant laws and regulations, deeply understand and analyze the reading habits and needs of readers, and enable the newspapers and periodicals that they publish to have greater focus, utility, timeliness, and readability, in order to do their best to satisfy the newspaper and magazine reading demands of foreigners residing in China.

In March 2005, the People's Daily Web site reprinted an article by Xiong Zhonghui, a Chinese media scholar, in which he expressed concern about whether Chinese media organizations can compete in a global marketplace. Xiong noted that Chinese news media companies face a serious problem: the primary purpose for their existence is to spread Chinese government propaganda.

This notice is the most recent in a string of government regulations intended to limit what one Chinese official referred to as "a clear increase in the illegal publications that foreign hostile forces are directing at our country."