On May 4, the spokesperson of the Chinese Embassy in the US sent a letter to editor to the Washington Post over its smearing message of China on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day. The letter was not published, which fully demonstrates its double standard and selective usage of the so-called "Press Freedom". The full text of the letter is as follows: 

On May 2, the Washington Post ran a full-page  advertisement on World Press Freedom Day to play up the case of Bloomberg News employee Haze Fan. This is an outright distortion of black and white and an interference into China’s judicial sovereignty under the pretext of "Press Freedom". We are gravely concerned about and strongly deplore such attack and slandering of China. 

The basics of the Fan case is that Chinese citizen Fan Ruoyi was arrested by China’s state security authority last July on suspicion of committing crimes endangering national security. At the request of Fan’s lawyer, China’s state security authority decided to release her on bail in January 2022 pending trial, in accordance with Article 67 of the Criminal Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China. The case is still under investigation according to law and Fan's legitimate rights and interests have been fully protected. It must be pointed out that the Fan case has nothing to do with her status as a foreign media employee, even less to do with the so-called "Press Freedom" hyped up by The Post. Using it to vindicate a criminal suspect and interfere in China's judicial sovereignty is an affront to the rule of law and a breach of press freedom itself.

The World Press Freedom Day is a good occasion to reflect on oneself, instead of hyping other countries’ judicial cases at the excuse of “press freedom”. Otherwise, it begs the questions: Are Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and whistleblower Edward Snowden aware of the press freedom in the United States? For the dozens of journalists who were beaten, pepper sprayed and arrested by the police in the wake of the George Floyd incident, do they think there is press freedom in the US? And bear in mind the journalists of Chinese media outlets in the US who are labeled as "Foreign Agents" and "Foreign Missions" — how do they feel about the press freedom of which the US touts itself as a champion?

It is hoped that The Post and those behind the advertisement will respect basic facts, and stop groundlessly attacking and smearing China. No one is allowed to engage in illegal activities or commit crimes in any country for any reason. "Press Freedom" should not become a pretext for interference in other countries' judicial sovereignty.