China to expel French journalist: reporter

Xinjiang is often hit by deadly unrest and China blames the violence on Islamist separatists, but rights groups point to Beijing’s own actions as a driver.

The foreign ministry did not immediately respond to calls and faxes on Friday seeking comment.

Ursula Gauthier, a long-time journalist for the French news magazine L’Obs, said late Friday that China’s Foreign Ministry demanded she issue a public apology and distance herself from any group that should present her case as infringement of press freedom in China.

In a written statement, Lu Kang, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said Gauthier was no longer “suitable” for her job in China and would not be issued press credential for 2016.

The article also criticized China’s fight against terrorism and “vilified and defamed” politics in the country, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said at a press conference in December.

Lu said the article provoked the strong indignation of the Chinese public.

If her press card is not renewed, Gauthier can not apply for a new visa, forcing her to leave China.

China confirmed the imminent expulsion of a French journalist in the first such case since 2012, accusing her of “flagrantly championing” terrorist acts in a statement on its foreign ministry’s website Saturday. “The abuse aimed at Ursula Gauthier makes it clear the government of President Xi Jinping is trying to force the same restrictions it has used to stifle its domestic media on the foreign media”, said Bob Dietz, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator.

“If I had actually written what they accuse me of, I deserve to be put in prison, not expelled”, Gauthier said. “It’s only meant to deter foreign correspondents in the future in Beijing”.

Ms Gauthier published her article after the attacks in Paris in November, suggesting China’s solidarity with France might have an ulterior motive, to justify its own crackdowns in Xinjiang.

RSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire, meanwhile, said the move was a sign of Beijing’s desire to “rein in foreign journalists like Chinese reporters”. They urged her to recant and apologize; Gauthier refused.

The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) condemned the attempts to intimidate Gauthier and Reporters without Borders described Beijing’s behaviour as a defamation campaign.

Ms. Gauthier spent 10 years in China from 1979 to 1989 and studied at Peking University before being accredited to L’Obs in 2009.