French journalist ‘forced out of Beijing’ over reporting

A French journalist said she was prepared to leave the mainland and does not expect the authorities to renew her press credentials because of her reporting of Beijing’s efforts to equate ethnic violence in the western Muslim region with global terrorism.

Ursula Gauthier, a veteran journalist for French news magazine L’Obs, said late on Friday that the Foreign Ministry demanded she issue a public apology and distance herself from any group that should present her case as infringement of press freedom.

Left with no room for negotiations, she said she planned to leave on December 31 when her visa expires. “They want a public apology for things that I have not written,” Gauthier said. “They are accusing me of writing things that I have not written.”

The fallout began with an article Gauthier wrote on November 18, shortly after the attacks in Paris. She said that Beijing’s proclaimed solidarity with Paris was not without ulterior motives as Beijing sought international support for its assertion that ethnic violence in Xinjiang (新疆) was part of global terrorism.

Gauthier wrote that some of the violent attacks in Xinjiang appeared to be home-grown with no evidence of foreign ties, an observation that has been made by many foreign experts on security and Xinjiang’s ethnic policies.