China forces out Wall Street Journal reporter Chun Han Wong after report on Xi Jinping’s cousin
- Beijing denies application to renew press credentials for journalist after warning newspaper not to publish article on Ming Chai
China effectively expelled a Wall Street Journal reporter from the country on Friday, weeks after he co-wrote an article detailing an investigation by Australian authorities into a cousin of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Chun Han Wong, a Singaporean national who has covered Chinese politics for the newspaper’s Beijing bureau since 2014, was denied a renewal for his press credentials, publisher Dow Jones said.
“We can confirm that Chinese authorities have declined to renew Chun Han’s press credentials. We continue to look into the matter,” Dow Jones said in a statement.
The move came a month after the newspaper published a report co-authored by Wong revealing an Australian law-enforcement and intelligence investigation into Ming Chai, a 61-year-old Australian citizen and Xi’s cousin, for money laundering and high-stakes gambling.
At the time, China’s foreign ministry said the accusations were “groundless” and an attempt to “smear China”.
Before the report was published, ministry officials warned the Journal of unspecified consequences if it went ahead with publication, the newspaper said in an article on Wong’s expulsion on Friday. It said the ministry did not say why Wong’s credentials were not renewed.
