China has refused to renew the press credentials of a French journalist, effectively expelling her, unless she recants one of her stories, the reporter told AFP Friday, the first such case since 2012.

Ursula Gauthier, a correspondent for French news magazine L'Obs based in Beijing, must issue a public apology for a piece she wrote last month or China's foreign ministry will not renew her press credentials, set to expire on December 31, officials told Gauthier on Christmas Day.