From Financial Times:
China has relaxed restrictions on foreign journalists in the period leading up to and during the 2008 Olympics in a sign the games may at least temporarily soften Beijing’s treatment of its critics and the media.
Liu Jianchao at the foreign ministry said on Friday foreign journalists would no longer require the permission of local authorities to travel to areas outside their base.
Foreign journalists, who are mostly based in Beijing and Shanghai, cannot do interviews outside of these cities under the existing rules without first getting approval from the government in areas they want to visit.[Full Text]
