China blames India for journalist visa spat

BEIJING: China blamed India on Wednesday for a tit-for-tat visa spat in which they have effectively expelled each other´s journalists, adding to tensions between the neighbouring powers.China´s foreign ministry accused the Indian government of arbitrarily shortening visas for Chinese journalists and failing to renew visas since 2020. “The visa of the last remaining Chinese journalist in India has also expired,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a regular news conference.

Beijing has had “no choice but to take appropriate countermeasures”, Mao said without specifying such measures, in response to reports that China was retaliating by blocking Indian journalists´ visa renewal applications. Ananth Krishnan, a correspondent for India´s The Hindu newspaper, wrote on Twitter that there was now “only one accredited Indian reporter in Beijing”.