A GERMAN newspaper's refusal to keep silent over its expelled journalist might jeopardise its bid to win accreditation for his successor to Beijing, it was revealed yesterday.
Henrik Bork, the former Beijing bureau chief of the Frankfurter Rundschau daily who was effectively kicked out of the country, said Chinese authorities might not be quick to welcome a successor.
The journalist, who was denied renewal of his visa and press card, stopped in Hong Kong yesterday on his way to Frankfurt.
He told reporters at Kai Tak the authorities had failed to gag his bosses.
'The Chinese Government told my newspaper that if they would handle this case quietly, keep on board and don't make much noise about it, they would be happy to welcome a successor,' said Bork.
'But this was an option that was impossible for my newspaper and me, because that would be a terrible precedent . . . you let the Politburo decide who become journalists for Western media in Beijing.
