China refuses to renew French journalist’s credentials

Ursula Gauthier is set to be the first foreign journalist to be shown the door since 2012 after writing an article which criticized Chinese government policy towards Uighurs in Xinjiang.

Gauthier was no longer “suitable” to work in China because she supported “terrorism and cruel acts”.

An Weixing, an official with the public security ministry, told journalists Sunday that terror attacks were a rising issue in China.

It said it was “appalled” by the decision, and expressed concerns that Beijing was using the accreditation and visa process to threaten foreign journalists. The president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Peter Ford, has complained that there is “a general sense of official mistrust of outsiders”.

China said Saturday that it would not renew a French journalist’s press credentials, the Associated Press reports.

Ursula Gauthier’s article’s controversy centered around the Uyghurs, a Muslim, ethnic group that live in the northwestern semi-autonomous province of Xinjiang. Strict security measures makes independent reporting on such incidents virtually impossible. Foreign experts, however, have argued that there is no proof of foreign ties and that the violence in Xinjiang might be homegrown. She claimed Beijing had refused “to acknowledge its own responsibility for the rising exasperation of its minorities”.

She said she was also asked to distance herself from any support group that presents her case as infringement of press freedom in China.

Ms Gauthier printed her post in November following the strikes in Paris, indicating the solidarity with France in China might have an ulterior motive, to warrant its crack downs in Xinjiang.

Paris: A French reporter about to be thrown out of China after being accused of supporting terrorism said today the Chinese authorities were trying to “muzzle the worldwide press”. Gauthier declined to do so.

Gauthier denied the accusations, saying she has the impression that no one inside the ministry has read her article. “They say I should do the apology to the Chinese people because I have hurt their feelings”. It is not the real issue.

Armed paramilitary police guard Beijing’s popular shopping and tourist area of Wangfujing on Sunday. They want me to say that publicly.

China faced a serious threat from terrorism and needed to improve its legal framework to deal with the problem, Hong added. China called it a coordinated terrorist attack; Gauthier’s report suggested otherwise.

Meanwhile, Chan has supported Gauthier in a tweet.

China’s foreign ministry said Monday Gauthier had made critical comments in a decade of reporting from the country but that her article on Xinjiang was particularly offensive and justified her expulsion.

“China’s retaliation against Ms. Gauthier for doing her job is a deeply unfortunate development and another sign that China is unwilling to brook criticism of its actions”, Griffen said.