RSF appalled by threats to French journalists, allegedly sent by the Chinese police
Two French investigative journalists received threats which they believe were sent by the Chinese police, following the release of their documentary on a dissident from China. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is alarmed by these attacks, and what may be Beijing’s repeated transnational repression against journalists, and calls on the French authorities to identify and prosecute those responsible.
“You are humiliating the Chinese people.” “Enjoy your life.” “I will find your addresses.” These texts were recently sent to the French phones of Antoine Izambard, a reporter with the French weekly magazine Challenges, and his co-director, filmmaker Thomas Lafarge. They believe the number behind the threats is affiliated with the Chinese regime.
The messages follow the broadcast of their documentary, aired on May 1 2024 on the public TV channel France 2, about the Chinese overseas police’s attempt to forcibly repatriate Chinese national and dissident Ling Huazhan.
“After targeting Chinese journalists in exile, the Chinese police now appear to be shamelessly threatening foreign journalists in their home countries. Beijing’s new manoeuvre to control information beyond its borders must be stopped by the French authorities. We call on them to identify and prosecute those responsible, to prevent Chinese police from operating on French soil with impunity, and to protect journalists from intimidation, no matter where it comes from.
Hours before the documentary was due to be aired, an unidentified individual named Mr. X hacked into the journalists’ group chat on an encrypted messaging platform and sent messages in Chinese dissuading them from releasing the video. Following the broadcast, the Chinese embassy in France claimed the report was “based on lies and a fabricated story.”
Between 27 May and 3 June, Thomas Lafarge received a dozen calls and written threats from a Chinese number. According to the two journalists, who conducted their own investigation into the sender’s identity, the caller is likely affiliated with the Chinese police. On 1 June, the reporters’ group chat was infiltrated again, by an individual accusing them of “fabricating a false story,” “humiliating the Chinese people,” and threatening to “find [their] addresses.”
This anonymous blackmail is “aimed at silencing journalists who report on the Chinese Communist Party’s militancy abroad. Such tactics, which, unfortunately, are nothing new, are clearly aimed at intimidating us and instilling fear," explains Antoine Izambard.
China’s transnational repression of journalists
This would not be not the first time that overseas journalists reporting on Chinese dissidents have faced Beijing-backed harassment and intimidation. In March 2023, Germany-based Chinese journalist Su Yutong received rape and death threats after she reported on Wang Jingyu, an exiled Chinese dissident. In late 2022, an anonymous informant accused Marije Vlaskamp – a Dutch journalist who covered Jingyu’s harassment for the daily newspaper de Volkskrant – of planning to bomb the Chinese embassies in the Netherlands and Norway.
China, the world's biggest jailor of journalists and defenders of press freedom, counts at least 118 of these detainees and is ranked 172nd out of 180 countries in the 2024 RSF World Press Freedom Index.
