Referring to China and India rejecting each other’s journalists’ visa renewals during a press conference in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry (FM) spokesperson Mao Ning said China will maintain communication with India under the principles of mutual respect, equality, and mutual benefit as long as New Delhi is willing to normalise relations between both countries’ media organisations.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson slammed the Indian side for giving unfair and discriminatory treatment to Chinese media workers based in India, warning that the renewal of visas for Indian journalists based in China will depend on whether India will work in the same… pic.twitter.com/uI4oJ3bjTd
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) May 31, 2023
Overview
Responding to queries about a Wall Street Journal article, which reported that China and India have kicked out a large number of each other’s journalists recently by denying visa renewals, Mao said that Chinese journalists had “suffered unfair and discriminatory treatment in India for a long time.”
She mentioned that India shortened the validity of visas for Chinese journalists in India in 2017 to three months or even one month without giving any valid reason. “Since 2020, the Indian side has refused to review and approve Chinese journalists’ applications for stationing in India,” said Mao. This has resulted in reducing the number of Chinese journalists stationed in India from 14 at the usual time to just one.
Further, the FM spox mentioned that the Indian side has still not renewed the visa of the last Chinese journalist in the country, and if it does not, the number of Chinese journalists stationed in India will drop to zero.
“Considering this, the Chinese side has no choice but to take appropriate counter-measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese media organisations,” Mao said.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to “freeze” the visas of two Indian journalists based in #Beijing, indicating that more “counter measures” could follow against other Indian journalists.https://t.co/60w4IWqPrX
— The Hindu (@the_hindu) April 5, 2023
Restoring Normal Exchange Between Media Firms
The FM spox said that Beijing hoped that New Delhi would work in the same direction as China, and seriously respond to the country’s legitimate concerns. She highlighted that China had been actively providing assistance and convenience to Indian journalists working and living in China.
Saying that some Indian journalists have been working and living in Beijing for over ten years, she said that China treats Indian journalists like friends and family. She said, “The current situation is not what we want to see.”
Mao expressed hopes that India would take concrete steps as soon as possible to create favourable conditions for restoring regular exchange between the media organisations of the two countries.
China had earlier urged India to show goodwill and welcome Chinese journalists into the country. The deterioration of relations between the two countries has resulted in the dwindling of the number of journalists living in each other’s countries.