TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) on Wednesday (Nov. 2) announced that because China had failed to approve a work visa for its journalist, it is shuttering its Beijing office and will instead dispatch a reporter to Taiwan.
Brodie Fenlon, editor-in-chief of CBC News, wrote in a blog post that CBC has negotiated with Chinese officials in Montreal numerous times over the past two years to obtain a work visa for China correspondent Philippe Leblanc in 2020. However, despite repeated requests for the visa over the past two years, Chinese officials have stonewalled the news agency.
Although China has not officially expelled CBC's journalists, Fenlon wrote that "the effect was the same." Given the fact that CBC cannot obtain work visas for its reporters, he wrote that "there is no point in keeping an empty bureau," when another could be established in "a different country that welcomes journalists and respects journalistic scrutiny."
Philippe Leblanc (left) interviews Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on Sept. 7. (CBC Radio-Canada photo)
While searching for a suitable location for a new bureau to cover China and East Asia, Leblanc will be posted in Taipei for a period of two years. Leblanc began covering news about Taiwan and Asia from Taipei in mid-June.
According to a statement issued by CBC, this marked the end of a continual presence in China for over 40 years. While the expulsion of its reporters from Moscow in May signaled the end of a 44-presence in Russia.
Fenlon expressed his hope that China will "someday open up again to our journalists," and that Russia will eventually allow it to restore its presence as well.
The news of CBC's move to Taiwan comes a little over a month after CNN International announced that it has opened a new bureau in Taipei that includes Senior International Correspondent Will Ripley. CBC and CNN join 29 other foreign media outlets and 63 reporters that have moved to Taiwan since 2020, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
Philippe Leblanc. (CBC Radio-Canada photo)
