Beijing (AFP)
An American reporter, awaiting expulsion after a crisis between her newspaper and Beijing, will have to stay in Wuhan, the city at the epicenter of the coronavirus until the epidemic is "over", China announced on Tuesday.
Chao Deng of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is one of the few foreign press journalists present in Wuhan (center). The city is placed under quarantine and any entry or exit is prohibited since the end of January.
With two of her colleagues, who left Chinese territory on Monday, she was the subject of an expulsion measure in reprisal for a column published in the American daily and considered racist by Beijing.
In the midst of a coronavirus epidemic, the communist regime has misread this article entitled: "China is the real sick man of Asia".
This expression appeared in the 19th century to describe China during the colonial era. She is considered offensive in the Asian country.
The Wall Street Journal refusing to apologize, Beijing has withdrawn to three journalists of the daily, including Chao Deng, the press card which conditions their residence permit in China.
But banned from leaving Wuhan, the journalist has not been able to leave Chinese territory for the moment.
"For humanitarian reasons, we will allow her to stay in Wuhan, but she will not be able to conduct interviews," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Tuesday.
"Once the epidemic is over, we will allow him to leave as soon as possible," he said at a press conference.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he would make a decision soon in response to China's expulsion of journalists from the Wall Street Journal.
"We are going to look into this matter, it's something I don't like to see," he said at a press conference in New Delhi.
© 2020 AFP