WASHINGTON, May 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Following is a statement from Eileen O’Reilly, president of the National Press Club, and Gil Klein, president of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, on an open letter signed by leading journalists in support of Chinese journalist Yuyu Dong. Mr. Dong has been detained in Beijing for more than a year and was recently indicted on charges of espionage.
“We have signed the letter below in support of Mr. Dong, a career journalist from China’s Guangming Daily who was swept up by Chinese authorities for having lunch with a Japanese diplomat, which is not a crime under Chinese law, and held for 18 months before his recent indictment for espionage. Mr. Dong is well known to western media and scholars, and this is also not a crime under Chinese law. He is not a spy. Mr. Dong is a journalist, and journalism is not a crime. We encourage…
