Emmanuel Thomas with agency reports
December 26, 2015 – Unless the government of China has a change of mind, French journalist, Ursula Gauthier must pack her things and leave China by December 31 when her press credentials are due for renewal.
The Chinese Government has said it will not renew her credentials for writing article critical of China. Gauthier, who works for French news magazine L’Obs is accused by China of supporting terrorism and cruel act that killed people for writing unofficial account about the unrest in Xinjiang.
China’s foreign ministry confirmed today that it would not renew Gauthier’s press card, saying she had failed to make a “serious apology” to the Chinese people and was no longer “suitable” to continue working in the country.
“China will never support the freedom to champion terrorism,” it said. Gauthier called the claims “absurd” and said Beijing was trying to deter foreign reporters in the country.
“I said I never supported terrorism – how do you want me to apologise for something I have not written? I am convinced that they are very clearly trying to intimidate foreign press in China because they don’t want anyone to say things which are different from the official version of the question”, she told BBC.
In 2012, China expelled al-Jazeera correspondent Melissa Chan also for critical commentary on China.
China attributes unrest in western autonomous Xinjiang region to Islamist separatists, whom it says have foreign ties. Whereas Muslims among the ethnic group attribute the violence to religious repression by the state of China.
