A French reporter forced to leave China after she was accused of supporting terrorism for criticizing government policy in violence-wracked, mainly Muslim Xinjiang, was preparing to leave on Thursday.
Beijing refused to renew the credentials of Ursula Gauthier, the China correspondent for France's L'Obs news magazine, after she wrote an article questioning official comparisons between global terrorism and the unrest in the homeland of the Uighur ethnic minority.
Gauthier had "a very strong feeling of surreality" on her last day in Beijing, she told AFP as she carried out her final packing and finished an article ahead of going to the airport for a late-night flight before her visa expires.
"Everything which happened was so quick and strange," she added.