BEIJING: Beijing said journalists who attack China were “not welcome” in the cou­ntry, after it failed to renew the press credentials of a foreign journalist who wrote an article about one of President Xi Jinping’s cousins.

It amounts to the effective expulsion of Chun Han Wong, a Singaporean national who has worked for the Wall Street Journal’s Beijing bureau since 2014.

In a statement, the foreign ministry said it “strongly opposed some foreign reporters’ malicious smears and attacks on China, and these kinds of journalists are not welcome”.

“In the meantime, we will facilitate foreign reporters who do news coverage in accordance with laws and regulations,” it said.

Wong — together with fellow journalist Philip Wen — published a story in July detailing how Australian law-enforcement and intelligence agencies were probing the activities of Ming Chai, one of Xi’s cousins.

It formed part of a wider investigation into organised crime, money-laundering and alleged Chinese influence-peddling.

“We can confirm that Chinese authorities have declined to renew Chun Han’s press credentials. We continue to look into the matter,” a Dow Jones spokesperson said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying rejected the allegations at the time the report was published, saying, “I don’t know where these journalists go to dig up this dirt.” A Wall Street Journal reporter, who did not want to be named, confirmed that Wong’s visa had expired on Friday.

Visa delays, detentions and suspected phone-bugging are among the challenges faced by foreign journalists in China, who say working conditions are getting worse with many reporting being watched and harassed.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2019