Beijing launches campaign against illegal foreigners

Beijing launched a 100-day campaign beginning May 15th against illegal foreign entry, residence and employment, the first such crackdown since the 2008 Olympics, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing state media. Beijing police will employ “checks of key neighborhoods, regular crackdowns in key places and strict examination of visa applications” to detect foreigners suspected to have either entered China illegally or are living or working in the city without the proper permits. The announcement took place one week after a video of a British tourist sexually assaulting a Chinese woman in public circulated on Chinese websites. Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of the Chinese media-tracking website Danwei and a Beijing resident since 1995, said the crackdown was most possibly a response to the controversy over the video. “I don’t think this necessarily reflects any general rise in anti-foreigner sentiment. What the police are doing isn’t particularly new,” he said.