Posted：由 wtanaka (648) 于 周六, 2006-07-08 08:04 提交。 | 主题：China Holds German Reporter in Yunnan for `Illegal Interviews'

July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Chinese authorities arrested a reporter from Germany's Die Zeit newspaper and held him for five hours for conducting "illegal interviews" with villagers about a dam project in the southwestern province of Yunnan.

The journalist, Georg Blume, was detained by two police patrols in the village of Xiao Shaba after he interviewed farmers near the Nu river about their impending relocation, Die Zeit reported on its Web site. He was taken to a police station, where authorities asked him to turn over his notes and film material.

Blume refused to hand over the documents and signed a declaration that he wouldn't conduct any more interviews and would leave the region immediately. He was released after he'd destroyed a portion of his documents himself, Die Zeit said. The newspaper said it had spoken with Blume by mobile phone.

"An employee of the propaganda office said I was being held for my own protection," Die Zeit quoted Blume as saying.

As part of the construction of a hydroelectric plant, Xiao Shaba's 400 residents are scheduled to be moved to a settlement that's now under construction, though the relocation hasn't yet been finalized by the Beijing government because of possible protests from the Environment Ministry, Die Zeit said.

The Nu is one of the last remaining untouched rivers in China and was designated a World Heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Unesco in October 2004 called on the Chinese government to allow the river to flow untouched through the natural area, according to a statement posted on its Web site.

Die Zeit's Blume found that the village residents hadn't rejected the relocation and would welcome better living conditions because they already had problems with access to drinking water, Die Zeit said.

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