China blames India over journalists’ visa spat: What's the row about?

India and China ties have been frosty and on a downward spiral since 2020 owing to the clash between the troops of both sides in the Galwan area in the Ladakh heights. Even as the two sides held talks on Wednesday to discuss proposals for disengagement in the remaining friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the relations between the two Asian countries are deteriorating even further – this time over the issue of media access.

This has prompted a reaction from Beijing, saying it would take “appropriate countermeasures” against India’s “unfair and discriminatory treatment” of Chinese journalists, but called for practical action so that “normal media exchanges” could resume.

What exactly has gone wrong? Why is Beijing angry with New Delhi? What’s the latest spat all about? We have the answers for you.

Tit-for-tat game over journalists’ visas

On Tuesday, American newspaper Wall Street Journal reported that India and China are “virtually wiping out media access” to each other by ejecting each other’s journalists.

The report, quoting people in the know, said that New Delhi had denied visa renewals this month to the last two remaining Chinese state media journalists in the country, from state-run Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television. Following their visa expiration, the two scribes have left India and with this, there are now no remaining Chinese state media reporters in India – a first since at least the 1980s.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning accused India of being unfair to its journalists since 2017. In her statement on Wednesday, she said that India had “without reason” shortened the validity period of Chinese journalists’ visas to between one and three months. Also, in 2020, New Delhi had refused to approve applications for Chinese reporters to be permanently based in India.

“What I can tell you is that for a long time Chinese media reporters have suffered unfair and discriminatory treatment in India,” she said during a regular press briefing. “Faced with this long-term unreasonable suppression by the Indian side, China has no choice but to take appropriate countermeasures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese media,” Mao said.

However, it is important to note here that China has also expelled Indian journalists from their soil. Last month, reporters from The Hindu and New Delhi’s state-owned public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, who were travelling outside China were barred from returning. Moreover, a Hindustan Times reporter was told in May that his press credentials were being invalidated.

Ananth Krishnan of The Hindu also confirmed the news through a tweet he published on Wednesday, saying that India was down to only one “accredited reporter” on Chinese soil.

Interestingly, the Wall Street Journal’s report came out hours after the Chinese Embassy said that visas have been granted to 60,000 Indians this year “for purposes of business, study, tourist, work, family reunion, etc”.

China has squarely blamed India for the actions, but said that it was willing to maintain communication with New Delhi “based on the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit”. “We also hope that the Indian side can meet us halfway, seriously respond to our legitimate concerns, and take practical action as soon as possible to create favourable conditions for the resumption of normal media exchanges between the two countries,” Mao Ning was quoted as saying.

India-China worsening ties

India and China, two major players in Asia, have increasingly been at odds with each other. The Galwan clash in June 2020 has led to high tensions in the Ladakh area with both sides amassing tens of thousands of soldiers along the border, who remain there despite 18 rounds of talks between top military officials.

In recent months, China has exacerbated the situation by renaming 11 places in Arunachal Pradesh in April this year. The changed names include that of mountain peaks, rivers and residential areas. This act, a third for Beijing, was promptly rejected by India, with New Delhi reiterating that the northeastern state will always remain an integral and “inseparable” part of India.

Besides the military aspect, India and China are also at loggerheads in the business sector. New Delhi has banned dozens of Chinese mobile apps, including TikTok, WeChat and others, effectively locking them out of the fast-growing Indian market.

And the recently-held G20 tourism meeting in Kashmir on 22 May was another sticking point between the two sides. Prior to the meet, China pulled out of the visit, citing its opposition “to holding any kind of G20 meetings in disputed territory,” according to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.

India is also seeking to develop closer ties with Western countries, including Quad members – the United States, Japan, and Australia, which see Delhi as an alternative to China.

Journalists’ accreditation & geopolitics

This isn’t the first time that accreditation and treatment of journalists has become an issue. In early 2020, China expelled more than a dozen American reporters, including those from The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and The Washington Post.

The following year, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) released a report highlighting how the authorities in Beijing were finding new ways to intimidate foreign journalists, due to which six left the country.

The FCCC report stated that the attacks demonstrated an “emboldened Chinese government willing to go to great lengths to discredit foreign journalists and their work”. However, it noted that “none of this has stopped foreign journalists from doing their job, nor major global news organisations from going after the stories that matter”.

With inputs from agencies

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