China Confirms Expulsion of French Reporter for Terrorism Article

 

BEIJING – The Chinese government confirmed on Saturday that it will not renew the press credentials of French journalist Ursula Gauthier of L’Obs magazine because of an article she wrote about terrorism and Beijing’s response to the jihadist attacks in Paris, which consequently obliges the reporter to leave the country before Dec. 31.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang accused Gauthier in a statement of “defending terrorist acts” and of provoking “rage” among the Chinese people with an article published by the French magazine last Nov. 18.

In that story, the correspondent addressed the situation in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, the scene of frequent strife between the ethnic Han Chinese majority and the Muslim Uighur minority, after China declared itself a victim of terrorism following the Paris attacks.

The article sparked a strong rejection by the Chinese government, which summoned the journalist to the Foreign Ministry and canceled the renewal of her press credentials in hopes that she would retract what she reported.

“Since she never seriously apologized to the Chinese people for her erroneous reporting about terrorist acts, it is not right that she should remain in China,” Lu said with reference to Gauthier.

Gauthier’s article talked about the Xinjiang region, which has suffered several attacks in recent years that Chinese authorities associate with jihadist groups, though Uighur groups in exile consider them a reaction to the repression their community has suffered at the hands of the Communist regime.

In the week after the Paris attacks last Nov. 13, the Chinese government asked the international community to consider it another terrorist victim because of the Uighurs, and reported how they attacked a mine in Xinjiang two months earlier on Sept. 18 that had been kept secret until then.

The French correspondent had already been criticized several weeks ago in defamatory articles that appeared in official Chinese dailies and was also targeted with threats in the online editions of those publications.