China on Saturday said it would not renew the press credentials of Beijing-based French journalist Ursula Gauthier, accusing her of supporting terrorism. In a statement on its foreign ministry’s website, China said Gauthier must issue a public apology for an article she wrote last month if she wants to continue working in the country. If her press card is not renewed, she cannot apply for a new visa, which would force her to leave the country.

Gauthier, a Beijing-based correspondent for French news magazine L’Obs, wrote an essay that “flagrantly championed acts of terrorism and acts of cruelly killing innocents, triggering the Chinese people’s outrage,” the foreign ministry statement said.

The essay, published on November 18, spoke of China's anti-terrorism policies in the western region of Xinjiang, which is home to the Muslim Uighur ethnic minority – many of whom complain of discrimination and control over their culture and religion.

Gauthier would be the first foreign correspondent in China to be expelled since Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan in 2012. The government's decision has been met with widespread criticism from the French government, press watchdog Reporters Without Borders and Gauthier’s employer, reported AFP.