AP reported around 5 PM today that a group of foreign journalists had arrived in Lhasa -- the first international media to obtain permission to visit since the March 14 outbreak of violent unrest in Tibet. The press tour is slated to be extremely short (Mar. 26-28, including travel time, with basically one full day on the ground) and carefully managed by Chinese authorities. 

     The brevity of the trip is especially notable since most travellers who fly to Lhasa are encouraged to take it easy for a day, or even two, to acclimate to the high altitude. In the 80's and 90's, most of the times that I visited Tibet I spent at least half a day in bed, sick as a dog with pounding headaches and nausea.  But these days Diamox -- ah, the wonders of modern medicine -- alleviate many of the worst symptoms. I hope my colleagues had time to stock up on these extremely helpful little pills.

     Diplomats and journalists alike are poring over the list of invitees (Newsweek was not among them): 

AP and APTN (3)
Itar Tass (1)
Financial Times (1)
Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao (1)
South Korea's KBS (2)
Wall Street Journal (1)
Al Jazeera (2)
USA Today (1)
Kyodo (1)

Plus five to seven Taiwan and Hong Kong media organizations, and the China Daily, which is the state-run English-language daily.

I'm not going to get into the minutiae of who got in, who didn't, and why (though the buzz has already begun on that score).  I've been too busy trying to organize a response by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China, of which I am president (important disclosure). Here's the FCCC statement that was issued a few hours ago:

03/28/08 FCCC urges greater media access to Tibetan areas, protection of sources' rights
   
MAR. 26, 2008 -- Chinese authorities have arranged a trip to Tibet from March 26-28 for a small group of international media. This brief, tightly managed trip falls far short of fulfilling China's promise, made during its bid for the 2008 Olympic Games, of free media reporting.

The FCCC calls on the Chinese government to allow all other foreign correspondents who wish to report in Tibet, and Tibetan areas in other provinces, to be permitted to do so at the earliest possible date -- and to enable them to work and travel without government interference.

We also urge Chinese authorities to allow the foreign media group that departed for Tibet March 26 unfettered freedom to report, and to safeguard the Constitutional right of free expression for Chinese nationals who agree to be interviewed.  We are extremely concerned about recent
reports that sources in Tibetan areas and elsewhere have experienced various forms of intimidation.

Following unrest in Lhasa and other Tibetan communities, foreign correspondents have notified the FCCC of more than 40 violations -- nearly all by local officials --  of the Olympics-period foreign media reporting regulations which began Jan. 1, 2007. Although official efforts to assist journalists who've encountered interference are appreciated, we call on Chinese authorities to improve implementation of the new regulations as quickly as possible.