A New York Times journalist, who has worked in China over a decade, has been forced to leave the country after his visa was not renewed, in an apparent retaliation for the paper’s report that alleged Premier Wen Jiabao’s family had amassed $ 2.7 billion in assets.

45-year-old Chris Buckley, an Australian who has worked as a correspondent in China since 2000 and joined The Times recently, left for Hong Kong with his family yesterday.

Buckley was to be accredited to replace a correspondent who was reassigned, but the Chinese authorities did not act before December 31, despite numerous requests forcing Buckley to leave with his family to Hong Kong, the Times reported.

Besides Buckley’s visa, China has also kept on hold new Beijing bureau chief Philip P Pan’s accreditation, the report said adding Pan applied in March, but his visa has not been processed.

In a statement, The Times urged the authorities to process Buckley’s visa as quickly as possible so that he and his family could return to Beijing.

“I hope the Chinese authorities will issue him a new visa as soon as possible and allow Chris and his family to return to Beijing,” Jill Abramson, the executive editor of The Times, said in the statement.

“I also hope that Phil Pan, whose application for journalist credentials has been pending for months, will also be issued a visa to serve as our bureau chief in Beijing.”

Times believe that the problems relating to the visas of its journalists to its news report on Wen.

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