A journalist for Bloomberg News has been denied a visa to continue living and working in Hong Kong, effectively expelling her from the semiautonomous Asian financial center in another potential blow to press freedom in the territory.
The journalist, Rebecca Choong Wilkins, was not given a reason for her visa rejection despite having worked for Bloomberg in Hong Kong for six years, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Hong Kong said in a statement posted online on Friday evening.
Bloomberg News confirmed on Saturday that Ms. Choong Wilkins, a British national, had been denied a new visa, but it provided no additional details. The news organization has dozens of employees in Hong Kong because of its significance as a financial hub and its proximity to mainland China.
“Rebecca Choong Wilkins is a valued and highly respected member of our newsroom,” Bloomberg News said in an emailed statement. “We cannot comment on the specifics of her situation, but we fully support Rebecca and we will continue to work through the appropriate avenues to try to resolve the matter.”
In a post on X on Saturday, Ms. Choong Wilkins said she was “very sad to be leaving my colleagues, friends and the place I’ve called home.” She added that she was eight months pregnant and on maternity leave.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club said it was “deeply concerned” about Ms. Choong Wilkins’s visa denial and said the lack of an explanation would only reinforce “widespread concerns about the erosion of press freedom in Hong Kong,” which is protected by the territory’s laws.
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