TORONTO - Prime Minister Paul Martin said Friday the Chinese Embassy has been asked for an explanation after a Toronto television station was denied visas to accompany him on an upcoming trade mission to China.

A reporter and cameraman for New Tang Dynasty Television Canada were granted visas Wednesday, but the Chinese Embassy retracted them Thursday, two days before Martin was set to leave for his trip to Asia. Danielle Zhu and David Ren say the withdrawal of their visas shows how far the Chinese Communist government will go to quash freedom of the press.

"I came to Canada in search for freedom," said Zhu, near tears.

"And now I found that even with a Canadian passport, I'm not enjoying full freedom like I should be . . . because Chinese power has extended to Canada."

New Tang Dynasty Television Canada, an independent Chinese-language broadcaster, has asked Martin to step in and demand the reissuing of the visas.

"This is a very serious issue," Martin said in Ottawa, adding that Zhu and Ren should be allowed to accompany him on his trip.

"We believe fully in freedom of the press. We have asked the Chinese Embassy here in Ottawa for an explanation. Our ambassador in China has asked for an explanation of the government."

Officials of the Chinese Embassy could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

At a news conference in Toronto, Joe Wang, president of New Tang Dynasty Television Canada, said this wasn't the first time the Chinese government has attempted to stifle the station's reporting.

Wang said the Chinese government has been "harassing" the network, which has stations around the globe, since its North American launch in February 2002 "in an attempt to have its control over Chinese language Media overseas."

PEN Canada, which fights for freedom of expression, criticized the Chinese government's actions Friday and called for an immediate reinstatement of the visas.

"We believe that this action infringes upon the reporters' and NTDTV's right to report freely," said PEN Canada president Haroon Siddiqui in a statement.

Wang told reporters that the government has unjustly labelled the network, which features news, entertainment, sports, business and children's programming, as "Falun Gong media."

"I can tell you now that NTDTV is an independent media," he said.

"It's not a Falun Gong media, but we're not shying away from reporting on these issues, and we do have volunteers that are Falun Gong practitioners."

Zhu and Ren are both Falun Gong members, but say that doesn't justify the withdrawal of their visas.

Falun Gong gained wide exposure in China in the early 1990s, and within a few years it had up to 60 million practitioners, rivalling membership in China's Communist party.

In 1999, former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin ordered an official ban on the practice, which includes exercise and meditation.

Martin departs for his trip to China early Saturday, with stops in Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and Japan.

It will be Martin's first official visit to Beijing as prime minister.

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