Chinese overseas diplomats have threatened a French Journalist Cyril Payen after he visited Tibet and secretly filmed a documentary that was broadcast on France 24.
The French journalist last May was able to obtain a seven-day visa to Lhasa, capital city of Tibet, amid high security following the wave of self-immolations in the Himalayan country.
The Bangkok based reporter for the France 24 TV said he had been threatened and harassed by the Chinese diplomats through phone calls and text messages from the Chinese embassy in Bangkok.
He was asked to attend a meeting at the embassy but the journalist refused to visit the embassy.
"FRANCE 24 reporter Cyril Payen has been subjected to "mafia"-style intimidation from Chinese diplomats angered by an under-cover report he filmed in Tibet," said the French television.
A few days after the broadcast, Chinese embassy personnel in France rushed into the France 24 headquarters in Paris, demanding a meeting with the journalist.
The diplomats from the Chinese embassy in France even threatened the station's CEO, Marc Saikali, according to the France 24.
"Such unacceptable behavior might be expected from the mafia but not from senior diplomats," Reporters Without Borders (RWB) said referring to the harassment of the French journalist and the TV by the Chinese overseas diplomats.
"It is acceptable for an embassy to express its disagreement with a report but it is completely unacceptable for diplomats stationed in France and Thailand to try to intimidate a news outlet into modifying editorial content, to harangue a journalist and to summon him with the intention of interrogating him," said the RWB.
Describing his fear amid threats from Chinese diplomats, the French journalist told fellow reporters that he was unable to have a proper sleep in recent weeks.
"Everyone has advised me not to go to the Chinese embassy under any circumstances, that it would be dangerous for me," said Payen who was asked to visit the Chinese embassy in Bangkok.
"The French foreign ministry and France 24 are following this case closely, but it hasn't been an easy time for me. I'm not getting more than an hour's sleep a night," said the journalist.
