French journalist forced to leave China after article on Xinjiang

 

The departure of Ursula Gauthier, a reporter for the French current affairs magazine L'Obs, marked the first time in more than three years that a journalist has been forced to leaveChina due to a refusal by authorities to renew accreditation.

 

China's foreign ministry said on Saturday that Gauthier could no longer work in China because she did not make a publica pology for an article she wrote on Nov. 18.

 

Hours after President Xi Jinping told his French counterpart, Francois Hollande, that China stood by France in the wake of the Paris attacks in November, the article said,China's public security ministry announced the capture of suspects over a coal mine attack in September in Xinjiang.

 

"Beautiful solidarity, but not entirely free of ulterior motives," Gauthier wrote in her article.

 

On Nov. 20, the government announced that security forces in Xinjiang had killed 28 "terrorists" from a group that carried out a deadly attack at a coal mine in September under the direction of "foreign extremists". The government has given no details of the composition of the group.

 

Reuters has not been able to independently verify that the suspects were Muslim Uighurs, or if they had a role in the mine attack due to tight government reporting restrictions in Xinjiang.

 

Hundreds of people have died in unrest in Xinjiang, home to the Uighurs, and other parts of China over the past three years.

 

On Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Gauthier's article "openly supports terrorist activity, the killing of innocents and has outraged the Chinese public".

 

Gauthier said the government's decision meant that she had to leave Beijing on a 1 a.m. flight on Friday to Paris.

 

When asked whether Gauthier would be allowed to return to China, Lu told reporters on Thursday it was "up to her". He did not elaborate.

 

The European Union, in a statement released by its mission in Beijing, urged China to review its decision.

 

"The EU supports the principles of freedom of expression and independence of the media as underpinning every free society,"it said.

 

Gauthier, who has been based in China for six years, said she met foreign ministry officials three times starting in late November after the state-run Global Times published a commentary criticising the article she had written on China's policy in Xinjiang in the wake of attacks in Paris.

 

- Reuters