China’s flood rescue is a no-go zone for foreign media, what does it have to hide?

September 2, 2026 — 4:07pm

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Beijing: Late last Wednesday night, a Tibet Daily reporter filmed a video from inside his car as it pelted down China’s National Highway 219 in heavy rain.

He was racing from Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, to Gyirong Port at the border with Nepal where a great human tragedy was unfolding.

They were due to arrive at the port – or what was left of it – around 4am, he explained, their 14-hour drive delayed by the severe weather.

“Upon arrival, we will bring you the latest updates on the disaster situation and emergency relief efforts at the scene as soon as possible”, the reporter said in the video posted to Tibet Daily’s WeChat account, a Chinese social media platform.

By that stage, the world had seen the first video of the gargantuan wall of mud and ice that had ripped through the immigration crossing that morning at the Tibet-Nepal border, swallowing everything in its path. That clip would soon be scrubbed from the Chinese internet by censors.

The scale of the event would become more apparent in coming days, but by then it was already clear than many people were dead.

This scramble – dropping everything and running towards the disaster – is a universal journalistic imperative. It’s what is expected of journalists, especially when your country’s citizens are caught up in tragedy. Credit where it’s due to the Tibet Daily journos.

But it’s an imperative the Chinese government has denied foreign journalists like me, despite repeated requests for access to the........

© The Sydney Morning Herald