On visa disputes, China reveals India’s ’unfair and discriminatory treatment’ of its journalists

Bloomberg: Bloomberg has reported that the last Indian journalist working for an Indian media outlet has been asked to leave China. And does the foreign ministry have any comments? And last month, the foreign ministry said that there was one Chinese journalist left in India. Is this journalist still in India and any update on this visa situation? Wang Wenbin: We have previously answered questions about Chinese and Indian journalists. Since 2020, the Indian side has refused to review and approve Chinese journalists’ applications for stationing in India and limited the period of validity of visas held by Chinese journalists in India to only three months or even one month. As a result, the number of Chinese journalists stationed in India has plummeted from 14 to just one. As we speak, the Indian side still has not agreed to renew the visa of the last Chinese journalist in the country. For Indian media outlets, four have been stationed in China in recent years and one is still working and living normally in China. What I want to say is that in recent years, India has treated Chinese media outlets in an unfair and discriminatory manner. Some Chinese journalists waited as long as three years for their visas. Some got visas valid for less than one month, or merely 15 days, for seven consecutive times during their five-year posting in India. As a result, many Chinese journalists received visas with expiration date just around the corner and their residence permits, bank cards, driving licenses and phone cards were always in an “expired” state and could not be renewed. Even worse, some Chinese journalists could not apply for local bank cards for four and a half years in their five years of stationing in India. A few days ago, Mr. Hu Xiaoming, Xinhua’s former bureau chief in New Delhi wrote an article about his experience in India. You may read that article for yourself. In contrast, China has treated Indian journalists as friends and like family.  We have communicated with the Indian side with restraint and goodwill. Regrettably, India has yet to take any action to address the problem. The current situation is not what we had hoped to see. Media outlets are important bridges for mutual understanding and friendly relations. China stands ready to maintain communication with India under the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit. We hope India will work in the same direction with China, take concrete steps and effectively review and approve visas for Chinese journalists as soon as possible, scrap undue restrictions on Chinese journalists, and create conditions for resuming normal exchange between Chinese and Indian media. __________________ ShanghaiEye focuses on producing top-quality contents. Nobody knows SHANGHAI better than us. Please subscribe to us ☻☻☻ __________________ For more stories, please click ■ What’s up today in Shanghai, the most updated news of the city ■ Amazing Shanghai, exploring the unknown corners of the city, learning the people, food and stories behind them ■ What Chinese people’s lives are like during the post COVID-19 period ■ Views of foreign scholars on China and its affairs ■ Foreign faces in Shanghai, people living in this city sharing their true feelings ■ Mini-docs showing why China is the country it is today __________________ ☎Leave us messages if you have any suggestions or questions! Thank you!