China Asks Last Indian Journalist To Vacate Country: Report

The tensions have been running deep between the two countries in the recent past.

The Bloomberg report said the Press Trust of India reporter has been asked to leave the country this month.

The news agency’s reporter was the last Indian journalist reporting from the country. His departure means no Indian journalist will report from China.?

Until this year, there had been four Indian journalists reporting from China.

The Hindustan Times reporter left over the weekend, while two journalists from public broadcaster Prasar Bharati and The Hindu newspaper were denied visa renewals in China in April.?

Last month, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said there was one Chinese journalist left in India, who was still awaiting renewal of their visa.?

Earlier, New Delhi rejected visa renewal applications from two journalists from Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television.?

The Indian government said earlier this month that Chinese reporters had been operating in the country without any difficulty, but this was not the case for Indian journalists in China. Both countries were in touch over the issue, it added.

The visa spat started a few months ago over Indian journalists hiring assistants in China to help with reporting, it said.

It added China imposed measures limiting employment to three individuals at a time who must come from a pool provided by the Chinese authorities, they said. India doesn't have a cap on hiring.

Relations between Beijing and New Delhi have been tense since a deadly brawl on the Himalayan frontier in 2020. China has since sought to keep that dispute separate from the overall relationship and focus on trade and economic ties, but India has said relations cannot go back to normal until the border issue is resolved.?

In 2020, two Australian journalists based in China fled the country as diplomatic tensions worsened between the two nations.?
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