{"id":2415,"date":"2016-01-29T00:10:35","date_gmt":"2016-01-29T00:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.iuhrdf.org\/en\/2016\/01\/29\/hkfp-interview-chinas-regression-result-party-infighting-says-expelled-french-journalist\/"},"modified":"2016-01-29T00:10:35","modified_gmt":"2016-01-29T00:10:35","slug":"hkfp-interview-chinas-regression-result-party-infighting-says-expelled-french-journalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/hkfp-interview-chinas-regression-result-party-infighting-says-expelled-french-journalist\/","title":{"rendered":"HKFP Interview: China\u2019s \u2018regression\u2019 a result Party infighting, says expelled French journalist"},"content":{"rendered":"

French journalist Ursula Gauthier was expelled from China at the end of last year after she wrote a report critical of Beijing\u2019s policies in the Xinjiang region, where native Uyghurs\u2019 resentment of China\u2019s rule has led to years of violence.<\/p>\n

Tom Grundy
28 January 2016 19:55<\/p>\n

French journalist Ursula Gauthier was expelled from China at the end of last year<\/a> after she wrote a report<\/a> critical of Beijing\u2019s policies in the Xinjiang region, where native Uyghurs\u2019 resentment of China\u2019s rule has led to years of violence.<\/p>\n

Her article, entitled \u201cAfter Paris attacks, China\u2019s solidarity is not without ulterior motives\u201d, bluntly pointed out that the terrorist attacks which killed 130 in the French capital in November were different than violent incidents inside China. Gauthier said Beijing\u2019s crackdown on the Muslim Uyghur minority should not be equated with \u201cbattle against terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report<\/a>, released amid an outpour of sympathy for France in China, drew backlash from Chinese state media and nationalistic netizens. At the end of 2015, the Chinese foreign ministry told Gauthier, China correspondent for L\u2019Obs, that her visa would not be renewed.<\/p>\n

Now back in France, Gauthier spoke to HKFP about the controversy surrounding her journalism and expresses concern over the recent disappearances of five Hong Kong publishers. She says the increasingly sensitive political climate in China is \u201cworrying\u201d, adding it may be the result of a serious internal power struggle within the ruling Communist Party.<\/p>\n

HKFP: Why do you think your article fell foul of the authorities<\/a> when similar pieces didn\u2019t?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gauthier:<\/strong> I don\u2019t have an explanation. What the people from the IPC [International Press Centre] of the Foreign Ministry told me is that they recognised that many other media had made the same article, more or less. But maybe, my style was more vivid.<\/p>\n

HKFP: Has your case been covered much back home in France?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gauthier:<\/strong> In the news I\u2019ve been everywhere. The media has responded very keenly. The government issued two other statements in response to French senators who interrogated the government, as they can do it publicly or by written question too\u2026 But they still don\u2019t condemn, there is no condemnation [of China]. \u201cWe are sorry\u201d, you know, they feel sorry. But they are not condemning. So there is a difference between the reaction of the media and the reaction of the government. And a big difference.<\/p>\n

HKFP: And how has the public reaction<\/a> been?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gauthier:<\/strong> From what I know, the public are very supportive. And people are more and more aware of things going wrong in China. And more and more aware that things are becoming tense and maybe worrying.<\/p>\n

HKFP: Will you continue reporting on China from outside the country?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gauthier:<\/strong> Well, in fact, I still have some stories that I did\u2026 I did the reportage but I didn\u2019t write it down yet. So, I just published reports from Tibetan areas in Sichuan, a huge Tibetan monastery\u2026 I won\u2019t do anything like I was doing before \u2013 I mean, one of my points was to go to the places where nobody could go, and to do these kind of difficult on-the-field reports. But I can\u2019t do them any more. So I will do more like the 18th November piece, analysis and that kind.<\/p>\n

HKFP: What do you make of the recent TV \u201cconfessions\u201d, with an NGO worker and a Hong Kong bookseller being paraded on state TV?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gauthier:<\/strong> Yes. You know, I\u2019ve known China since \u201979 \u2013 it was the first time I came to China. And I never saw this kind of thing. The regression is so huge. It\u2019s going back to even before \u201979 \u2013 the Cultural Revolution days, when some foreign supporters of this-and-that were paraded publicly. There were no TVs at that time but they were paraded at public tribunals\u2026 So it\u2019s the same thing coming back. It\u2019s very worrying. Where does China want to go?\u2026 Everyone is wondering what\u2019s going on really, and I suppose there\u2019s a very tense conflict inside the Communist Party, and this is the result.<\/p>\n

HKFP: When you watched these state TV \u201cconfessions\u201d, do you fear that you also could have suffered the same fate?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gauthier:<\/strong> Yes. But you know, I thought it could be me, but they had nothing legalagainst<\/em> me. There\u2019s only an interpretation of my writing, but they couldn\u2019t bring anything legal \u2013 I have not done anything illegal in China. But \u201cillegal\u201d could be just like the guy [Gui Minhai] who, 11 years ago, was drink-driving\u2026 \u201cIllegal\u201d could be anything \u2013 they could even make it up, you know. I think it\u2019s becoming very dangerous now for my colleagues there\u2026 and I think next time they won\u2019t just expel someone.<\/p>\n

HKFP: How long had you been living in China?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gauthier:<\/strong> As a correspondent, six years. But before, when I was just studying Chinese, ten years \u2013 in the 80s.<\/p>\n

HKFP: Do you hope to return?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I will, I will. But you know, I don\u2019t believe that they will let me in any time soon. I mean, maybe in many years, I don\u2019t know. But I will try, I will try.<\/p>\n

HKFP: What do you think is behind this new crackdown on dissent?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gauthier:<\/strong> The most important thing I think is the situation now for foreigners in China, especially foreign journalists\u2026 I wonder when we will see self-censorship \u2013 I don\u2019t know, maybe it will come? But I hope not. I also hope that they won\u2019t go this way even further because it\u2019s a dead end. How can they go that way? It means that they will cut themselves off from the rest of the world. Is that what they want? I don\u2019t think so. I think it\u2019s the consequence of an internal fight, and it must be a very brutal one.<\/p>\n

HKFP: You think this is part of an internal power struggle?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gauthier:<\/strong> I think there are many things going on inside the leadership. And maybe the result will be very frightening\u2026 Because I see that all the nationalists, all the rabid nationalists, are up in arms and trying to take [President Xi Jinping up] on his word \u2013 he is using very firm language\u2026 He is obliged, he is forced to accept whatever outcome. And this cannot be in his interests \u2013 it\u2019s not<\/em> in his interest what\u2019s going on, but he is obliged to accept it. So I think that this is a very serious situation. And what we are seeing is just a small symptom. Maybe later it will be even more, much more horrifying \u2013 open fighting. And then it will be terrible.<\/p>\n

Additional reporting: Vivienne Zeng.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

French journalist Ursula Gauthier was expelled from China at the end of last year after she wrote a report critical of Beijing\u2019s policies in the Xinjiang region, where native Uyghurs\u2019 resentment of China\u2019s rule has led to years of violence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-2415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2415"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iuhrdf.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=2415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}