彭博社正努力解決香港記者簽證拒簽問題

Recently Yahoo News on-line picked up the following:

Bloomberg working to resolve visa denial for Hong Kong journalist

Reporting by Reuters Staff, Editing by William Maclean

Sat, August 23, 2025 at 6:27 a.m. PDT

2 min read

(Reuters) -Bloomberg said on Saturday it was working to resolve the situation of a correspondent in Hong Kong whose visa renewal application was turned down by authorities in the Asian financial hub.

Hong Kong declined to extend the visa of Bloomberg journalist Rebecca Choong Wilkins without explanation, according to a post from the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC) which Wilkins confirmed as accurate to Reuters on Saturday.

While Bloomberg said in a statement it does not comment on individual cases, it said it fully supports Wilkins and will "continue to work through the appropriate avenues to try to resolve the matter."

When asked to comment on Wilkins' visa situation, a spokesperson for Hong Kong’s Immigration Department said in a statement it does not comment on individual cases and says applicants have to "meet the eligibility criteria".

Industry watchdogs say China has been eroding press freedoms in Hong Kong since it was returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Local journalists have faced detention and harassment, while some foreign reporters have been denied entry or visas, often without reason.

Media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said nine journalists have had visa issues with Hong Kong authorities since the enactment of a national security law in 2020, leading to a fall in the city's ranking in a global press freedom index to 140th out of 180 countries and territories.

Wilkins, who had worked in Hong Kong for six years, was most recently a reporter on the Asia government and economy team at Bloomberg.

"This decision and the lack of explanation reinforces widespread concerns about the erosion of press freedom in Hong Kong, which is protected under the Basic Law and the Bill of Rights," said the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents Club in its post on Friday.

The Hong Kong Journalists Association said numbers of denials of visa applications by major foreign media are more than have been publicly reported, according to a post from Selina Cheng, the association's chairperson.

Hong Kong denies it curbs press freedoms.

Translation

彭博社正努力解決香港記者簽證拒簽問題

（路透社）- 彭博社週六表示，正在努力解決其一名駐香港記者的簽證續簽申請被香港當局拒絕的問題。

據香港外國記者協會（FCC）的一篇文章稱，香港拒絕為彭博社記者 Rebecca Choong Wilkins 延長簽證，且未給出任何解釋。 Wilkins 週六向路透社證實了消息的真實性。

彭博社在聲明中表示，它不對個案發表評論，但表示全力支持 Wilkins，並將「繼續透過適當途徑努力解決此事」。

當被問及對 Wilkins簽證情況的評論時，香港入境事務處發言人在一份聲明中表示，該處不對個案發表評論，並表示申請人必須「符合資格標準」。

業介監管機構表示，自1997年香港從英國回歸中國以來，中國一直在侵蝕香港的新聞自由。香港記者面臨拘留和騷擾，而一些外國記者則被拒絕入境或獲得簽證，而且往往毫無理由。

媒體倡議組織「無國界記者」表示，自2020年國家安全法頒佈以來，已有9名記者與香港當局發生簽證問題，導致香港在全球新聞自由指數中的排名下降至180個國家和地區中的第140位。

Wilkins 曾在香港工作六年，最近期是擔任彭博社亞洲政府和經濟團隊的記者。

香港外國記者協會在周五的帖子中表示： “這項決定以及缺乏解釋，加劇了人們對香港新聞自由受到侵蝕的普遍擔憂，而香港新聞自由是根據《基本法》和《人權法案》受到保護的。”

香港記者協會主席 Selina Cheng 在貼文中表示，主要外國媒體被拒簽證申請的數量遠高於被公開報道的數量。

香港否認它限制新聞自由。

 So, Bloomberg was working to resolve the situation of a correspondent in Hong Kong whose visa renewal application was turned down by authorities in Hong Kong without explanation. It is shocking to note that since the enactment of a national security law in Hong Kong in 2020, the city's ranking in a global press freedom index fall to 140th out of 180 countries and territories.