Hong Kong declines to renew visa for Economist journalist

Sue-Lin Wong

The Economist editor in chief Zanny Minton Beddoes issued the following statement on Friday:

The Hong Kong immigration authorities have declined to renew the employment visa of our correspondent, Sue-Lin Wong. We regret their decision, which was given without explanation. Sue-Lin is not currently in Hong Kong. We are proud of Sue-Lin’s journalism. We urge the government of Hong Kong to maintain access for the foreign press, which is vital to the territory’s standing as an international city.

Wong is The Economist’s China correspondent, focusing on society and politics in mainland China and Hong Kong. Prior to joining The Economist, she was South China correspondent at the Financial Times where she covered Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests in 2019 and the rise of China’s technology companies.

Before that, she was a correspondent at Reuters covering topics including the Chinese economy and North Korea. She opened the Shenzhen bureaus of the Financial Times and Reuters.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.