China Says Tit-for-Tat Expulsion Of Indian Journalists Provoked By New Delhi

(@FahadShabbir)

China Says Tit-for-Tat Expulsion of Indian Journalists Provoked by New Delhi

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Mao Ning said in comments on Wednesday that Beijing was forced to expel Indian journalists in a tit-for-tat due to "unfair and discriminatory treatment" of Chinese journalists in India

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 31st May, 2023) Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Mao Ning said in comments on Wednesday that Beijing was forced to expel Indian journalists in a tit-for-tat due to "unfair and discriminatory treatment" of Chinese journalists in India.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that China and India, whose relations had taken a turn for the worse two years ago due to a border dispute, expelled a large number of each other's journalists by denying them visa renewals.

"Chinese journalists have suffered unfair and discriminatory treatment in India for a long time," Mao told reporters, adding that "The number of Chinese journalists stationed in India is about to drop to zero. Considering this, the Chinese side has no choice but to take appropriate countermeasures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese media organizations."

She said that China was still ready to communicate with India "under the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit."

"We hope that India will work in the same direction with China, seriously respond to China's legitimate concerns, and take concrete steps as soon as possible to create favorable conditions for restoring normal exchange between the media organizations of the two countries," the spokeswoman said.

In May, Indian authorities denied visa renewals to the last two journalists of Chinese state media in the country: China Central Television and the Xinhua news agency, a source told The Wall Street Journal. At the beginning of 2023, four Indian journalists still worked in China, and at least two of them were denied visas to return to China, according to the report.

The third one's press credentials were canceled in May, but he still remains in the country, the report said.

The relations between India and China have been deteriorating in other fields as well. India banned dozens of Chinese mobile apps, including TikTok, WeChat and other global products, blocking their entry to India's rapidly growing market. In turn, China has recently renamed a number of objects within the territory over which it has dispute with India.

India and China have thousands of square miles of disputed borderlands between them, from the Ladakh region, which is triangulated with Pakistan's Kashmir claims, to Arunachal Pradesh to the east of Bhutan. Border conflicts are a permanent fixture of India-China relations, as both countries do not have a marked border but rather the so-called Line of Actual Control, created after the 1962 war between the nations.

A new escalation took place in Ladakh in May 2020, when a series of conflicts between the Chinese and Indian militaries broke out in the Pangong Tso area, after which New Delhi and Beijing increased their military presence in the region. After the withdrawal of most of the deployed troops in February 2021, the two sides held several rounds of talks at the level of diplomats and corps commanders stationed in the region.

A new pullback of troops took place in Ladakh last September, following which China and India continued to discuss the remaining issues in border areas between their militaries and diplomats.