New Delhi: There are now no Chinese journalists left in India, after the last remaining reporter left India after his visa was not extended, it is learnt.
The Hindu had first reported today the reporter with the state-run Xinhua news agency left India last week. The Wire has also confirmed from sources that the Chinese reporter is not in India anymore.
It will be the first time since the normalisation of India-China ties in the 1980s that there won’t be a Chinese media representative based in New Delhi.
This means that the only Indian journalist in Beijing is likely to get marching orders soon in a reciprocal move. So far, the status of the veteran PTI reporter, KJM Varma, has not changed. His visa’s validity remains till the end of August.
Earlier, on June 12, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin had said that the Indian side had still not given a response on renewing the visa “of the last Chinese journalist”.
In recent years, there were around 14 Chinese journalists in India, and the Indian media had stationed four correspondents in the Chinese capital.
China had stopped the return of two Indian journalists to their posts in Beijing in April. The Chinese foreign ministry had claimed that this step was “appropriate counter-measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese media organisations”. Just a few days earlier, a Xinhua journalist had been asked to leave India.
After another Chinese journalist left India, the third Indian reporter left Beijing in May, leaving Varma as the sole Indian media representative in China.
Earlier this month, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that all foreign journalists, including those from China, were allowed to work in India without any hindrances. He had also said that the two sides “continue to remain in touch regarding this issue”.
Despite two informal summits aimed at enhancing strategic understanding between the leadership in 2018 and 2019, the relations between India and China have remained tumultuous, with both militaries still to completely resolve a border stand-off in the last three years.