From Financial Times:
The American Chamber of Commerce in China has denounced as a “step backwards” rules issued by Xinhua, Beijing’s state news agency, banning foreign rivals from dealing directly with local clients and requiring them to strictly censor their products.
The chamber’s condemnation of the rules, which have been widely seen abroad as a threat to the multimillion dollar China businesses of companies such as Reuters and Bloomberg, came as Xinhua announced the signing of the first deal with a foreign agency under the new regime.
Xinhua, which argues the rules will ensure “healthy and orderly news dissemination”, said Japan’s Jiji Press had signed the deal with China Economic Information Service (CEIS), a Xinhua subsidiary that is the only approved intermediary for foreign agencies.[Full Text]