Netherlands: China Threatens Dutch Reporter Marije Vlaskamp — CFWIJ Calls For Swift Investigation
Location: The Netherlands, Hague
Date: April 11, 2023
Photo Credit: Jiri Büller
De Volkskrant reporter and former China correspondent Marije Vlaskamp receives threats of Chinese origin. The Coalition For Women In Journalism condemns these malicious attempts at censorship. We urge Dutch authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the case.
On October 15, 2023, the Chinese embassies in The Hague and Oslo received bomb threats made in journalist Marije Vlaskamp's name. Earlier, Vlaskamp was pressed online to withdraw a piece criticizing China.
Refusing to do so, the journalist received an email from the site Booking.com thanking her for her booking a hotel located near the Binnenhof in The Hague, the Dutch political hub. The email was sent to Vlaskamp's work email address in Chinese.
Vlaskamp believes the ordeal is closely linked to Wang Jingyu, an exiled Chinese dissident critical of Hong Kong and China. In 2021, Jingyu fled China to avoid arrest and sought asylum in the Netherlands. Beijing said it was determined to wreak havoc on the activist’s life wherever he settled.
Weeks before the hotel reservation incident, Vlaskamp contacted Jingyu and wanted to pen a story regarding how the Dutch authorities dealt with Beijing’s long arm of the law. Jingyu's situation was to serve to illustrate the case.
“One tip from me, and the police will come and arrest you and your journalist friend.”
Jingyu also received a booking confirmation for a hotel room in the same hotel. Jingyu forwarded Vlaskamp a message he received via Telegram. The message, written in Chinese anonymously, read, "One tip from me and the police will come and arrest you and your journalist friend."
Neither Vlaskamp nor Jingyu had booked any rooms, but clearly, someone had illegitimately done so under their names.
The assailants made no attempts to hide that the threat was of Chinese origin.
Vlaskamp alerted her supervisors at De Volkskrant, who swiftly contacted the police and the Justice Department on her behalf. The prosecutor found some threats came from IP addresses in China and Hong Kong.
As a China correspondent for nearly 25 years, reporter Marije Vlaskamp knows all too well the great lengths the Chinese are willing to go when they want to censor someone: death threats, bomb scares, stalking, and harassment, to name a few.
Journalists, specifically women journalists of Asian descent in China and abroad, have experienced similar harassment. The CFWIJ has spoken to exiled Chinese women journalists and women journalists of Chinese descent who have faced similar intimidation.
However, Vlaskamp's case is surprising. The Chinese seldom threaten Western journalists outside of its borders this severely.
Marije Vlaskamp is a Dutch reporter who worked as a correspondent in China from 2001 to 2019. She has covered the prolonged cruel and unjust treatment of Uyghurs and Chinese dissidents in the Netherlands. She currently works as a foreign editor for De Volkskrant in the Netherlands.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism strongly denounces the intimidation campaign against Marije Vlaskamp. We call on the Dutch authorities to thoroughly investigate the threats. The aggressors must be held accountable and brought to justice. Journalism is not a crime.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
If you have been harassed or abused in any way, and please report the incident by using the following form.