- China demands that India address the issue of journalists operating in each other’s countries.
- Tensions between the two nations have escalated since the border clash in 2020.
- China accuses India of unfairly treating Chinese reporters and not issuing new visas.
China demanded on Monday that India meet it halfway in a dispute over journalists operating in each other’s countries after China claimed that its reporters in India were unfairly treated and an Indian journalist was asked to leave China.
The dispute over media personnel is the most recent incident to emphasize the tension between the Asian neighbors since mid-2020 when their troops clashed on their disputed Himalayan border and 24 individuals were killed.
In recent years, Chinese correspondents in India have been treated unfairly and discriminatorily, said Wang Wenbin, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“We hope India will continue to issue visas to Chinese journalists, eliminate unreasonable restrictions, and facilitate media exchanges.”
China has refused to renew the visas of the last two Indian journalists based there, citing India’s identical action against the last two Chinese state media journalists in India this month.
Two sources said one of the two Indians, a Hindustan Times correspondent, had his visa expire on Sunday.
The Press Trust of India’s final correspondent in China will depart this month when his visa expires, according to sources.
This year, India had four correspondents based in China. But two were prohibited from returning in April after their visas were frozen.
Thus, India has no media presence in the second-largest economy in the world.
Wang stated that India has not issued new visas to Chinese journalists since 2020. Reducing the number of Chinese correspondents in India from 14 to one.
“Unfortunately, nothing has been done on the Indian side,” he stated.
