Speaking at the foreign ministry’s daily press briefing, Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman, said foreign news organizations were to blame for the departure Monday of Chris Buckley, a 45-year-old Australian who had been a correspondent for Reuters until September, when he rejoined The New York Times.
Ms. Hua said the ministry had not been properly informed of his changed status.
“So far, we have neither received any notice of resignation (from Reuters), nor has the press card, which was issued by the information department (of the foreign ministry), been returned by Chris Buckley,” Ms. Hua said, according to the Xinhua news agency. “So, we do not know who his real boss is now.”
When Mr. Buckley’s visa, which had been issued while he worked for Reuters, ran out on Dec. 31, he and his family had to leave China, despite repeated requests from The Times for a new visa to be issued.
Ms. Hua said he was not expelled.
“There has been no such thing as a rejection of a visa extension and there is no such thing as Chris being expelled,” Ms. Hua said, according to The Associated Press.
On a related matter, The Times is also waiting for the visa of its China bureau chief, Philip P. Pan, to be issued. Mr. Pan first requested a visa last March. The Times’s English- and Chinese-language sites have been blocked in China since October, when it ran an investigative article about the finances of the family of China’s premier, Wen Jiabao.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/world/asia/china-says-reporter-chris-buckley-was-not-expelled.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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