China asks last Indian journalist to leave by June end amid escalating media row
In a tit-for-tat approach amid an intensifying media row, the last Indian journalist in China has been asked to leave the country by the end of this month.
According to a Bloomberg report, Chinese authorities have instructed the Press Trust of India reporter to leave the country this month. His departure will wipe India’s media presence from the world’s second largest economy at a time when the ties between the two countries are deteriorating.
Indian media outlets had four reporters based in China earlier this year. The Hindustan Times reporter left over the weekend, while two journalists from public broadcaster Prasar Bharati and The Hindu newspaper were denied visa renewals in China in April. China’s foreign ministry and the Ministry of External Affairs did not reply to requests for comment.
Sole Chinese journalist left in India
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning had stated last month that there was one Chinese journalist left in India, who was still awaiting renewal of visa. Earlier, New Delhi rejected visa renewal applications from two journalists from Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television. The Indian government said earlier this month that Chinese reporters had been operating in the country without any difficulty, but this was not the case with Indian journalists in China. Both countries were in touch over the issue, it added.
Pleading anonymity, Indian officials familiar with the matter revealed that the visa spat started a few months ago over Indian journalists hiring assistants in China to help with reporting. Beijing imposed measures limiting employment to three individuals at a time who must come from a pool provided by the Chinese authorities, they said. India doesn’t have a cap on hiring.
The ties between Beijing and New Delhi have been tense since a deadly brawl on the Himalayan frontier in 2020. China has since sought to keep that dispute separate from the overall relationship and focus on trade and economic ties, but India has said relations cannot go back to normal until the border issue is resolved.
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Visa rejections amid G20, SCO meets
The visa rejections come as India hosts G20 and the Shanghai Cooperation Dialogue meetings this year. Xi is expected to attend the G-20 leaders’ summit in September as China looks to build its diplomatic and political presence globally.
Incidentally, China and the US have also been at loggerheads over journalist visas. After the Trump administration designated a handful of Chinese media companies as “foreign missions” and put caps on the number of Chinese journalists in the country, Beijing responded by revoking press credentials for reporters at US media companies.
In 2020, two Australian journalists based in China fled the country as diplomatic tensions worsened between the two nations. The two men were initially banned from leaving and spent five days under consular protection until Australian diplomats could negotiate their departure. That year, Beijing accused Canberra of raiding the homes of Chinese state-media staff and seizing their property.
