China on Tuesday said it will revoke the press credentials of American journalists working for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post before the end of the month, weeks after President Donald Trump put a limit on the number of Chinese citizens working in the US for five state-controlled Chinese media outlets.
The late night announcement from the Chinese foreign ministry – and the latest round of escalation of US-China media war - added that these three US outlets as well as Time magazine and the Voice of America furnish detailed information about their operations in China including details of their staff members.
The retaliation comes after Beijing expelled three journalists from the WSJ in February for an opinion piece on the coronavirus epidemic they did not write.
“In response to the US slashing the staff size of Chinese media outlets in the US, which is expulsion in all but name, China demands that journalists of US citizenship working with the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post whose press credentials are due to expire before the end of 2020 notify the Department of Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within four calendar days starting from today and hand back their press cards within ten calendar days,” the announcement said.
They will not be allowed to continue working as journalists in the People’s Republic of China, including its Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, it added.
{{/usCountry}}They will not be allowed to continue working as journalists in the People’s Republic of China, including its Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, it added.
{{/usCountry}}Also in response to the US designation of five Chinese media agencies as “foreign missions”, China demands, “…in the spirit of reciprocity, that the China-based branches of Voice of America, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and Time declare in written form information about their staff, finance, operation and real estate in China”. The statement added: “…in response to the discriminatory restrictions the US has imposed on Chinese journalists with regard to visa, administrative review and reporting, China will take reciprocal measures against American journalists.”
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo on Tuesday urged Beijing to reconsider its effective expulsions of US journalists, saying that China benefits from free media.