The news network Al Jazeera has closed its bureau in China after the Chinese government refused to renew its correspondent’s visa. It is believed to be the first time an accredited foreign correspondent has been forced to leave China in more than 10 years. Peter Ford of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China accused the Chinese government of censorship.

Peter Ford: “The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China regards it as quite unacceptable that the government should use editorial content as a criterion by which it grants or withholds journalistic visas, because that undermines foreign correspondents’ freedom to report, and the government says that it strongly upholds that freedom.”