China orders departure of last Indian reporter

China orders departure of last Indian reporter


In a tit-for-tat move amid an intensifying media row, China has asked the last Indian journalist working in the country to leave by the end of the month.To get more china news service, you can visit citynewsservice.cn official website.
India had four reporters working in China this year. Two were barred from returning in April after their visas were 'frozen' and another journalist left Beijing last week.
The last Indian reporter in China, from the Press Trust of India news agency, will leave this month when his visa expires, according to a Bloomberg report.
Refuting Beijing's claims that Chinese journalists have been given 'unfair treatment' in India, External Affairs Ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi recently said that 'all foreign journalists, including Chinese journalists, have been carrying out journalistic activities in India without any restrictions or difficulties in reporting or doing media work'.

Bagchi said, however, that Indian journalists in China faced certain difficulties, "such as not being allowed to hire locals as correspondents or journalists".
"As you know, foreign media can and do freely hire local journalists to work for their bureaus in India, but China has not allowed this. In addition, Indian journalists also face various restrictions in gaining access and travelling locally," he added.
What triggered the row?
According to media reports, the row was triggered after Beijing barred Indian journalists working in China from hiring local correspondents or even travelling locally.
Beijing imposed measures limiting employment to three people at a time, who must be drawn from a pool provided by the Chinese authorities, the Bloomberg report said. India doesn't have a cap on hiring.

Tit-for-tat move
Beijing called the move an "appropriate measure" and said it took the decision to expel the journalists after India took similar action against two Chinese state media journalists in Delhi last month.
New Delhi had rejected the visa renewal applications of two journalists from Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television.
India had approved temporary visas for Chinese state media reporters visiting for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation foreign ministers' meeting in May.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said one Chinese journalist remained in India and was still waiting for his visa to be renewed.
Our journalists have been treated unfairly: China
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin claimed on Monday that "Chinese journalists in India have faced unfair and discriminatory treatment" in recent years.
"We hope India will continue to issue visas to Chinese journalists and remove the unreasonable restrictions and create favourable conditions for media exchanges," Wang said.
Wang said India had not approved any new visas for Chinese journalists since 2020, resulting in the number of Chinese correspondents there dropping from 14 to just one.
"It is very regrettable that nothing has been done on the Indian side," he said, adding: "China is willing to act on the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit to maintain communication with the Indian side, and we hope India will meet China halfway."