The Chinese government forced a Wall Street Journal journalist to leave the country after he reported unflattering allegations against Chinese President Xi Jinping’s cousin.
“We firmly oppose that a few foreign reporters are maliciously tarnishing China, and we don’t welcome such reporters,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Washington Post after the country failed to renew the press credentials of Chun Han Wong, a Singaporean national who has been a Wall Street Journal. Wong had worked for the paper in Beijing since 2014.
“We can confirm that Chinese authorities have declined to renew Chun Han’s press credentials. We continue to look into the matter,” a spokesperson for Dow Jones, the publisher of the Journal, said.
Wong co-authored a piece in July which detailed an investigation by Australian authorities into lavish spending and potential money laundering by Ming Chai, an Australian citizen and Xi’s cousin.
Australian officials have worked to counteract what they believe could be Beijing’s influence-peddling in the country. The investigation prompted the Chinese government to call the allegations against Xi’s cousin “groundless accusations” and an attempt to “smear China.”
“It is disappointing that the Chinese government has denied our reporter press credentials,” Matt Murray, the Wall Street Journal’s editor in chief, said Friday. “Our journalism has been fair and accurate. We of course remain committed to covering the important story of China with the usual high standards that our readers expect.”
Last year, Meghan Rajagopalan, a reporter with BuzzFeed News, was also kicked out of China for her coverage of the regime’s mass incarceration of Muslims and its continued oppressive surveillance state.
