BEIJING, March 18: China said Wednesday it will revoke the media credentials of all American journalists at three major U.S. news organizations, in effect expelling them from the country, in response to U.S. restrictions on Chinese state-controlled media.

The foreign ministry said American citizens working for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post with credentials expiring before the end of the year must surrender their press cards within 10 days.

It is the latest in a series of tit-for-tat actions by the two governments as the Trump administration takes a more confrontational stance in dealing with China than his predecessors. The countries remain enmeshed in a trade war despite a recent truce and have traded angry words over the coronavirus pandemic that first emerged in China and has spread worldwide.

“The impact of the U.S. move will not be limited to the field of media, but will create negative overall effects and new uncertainties to the relationship,” the ruling Communist Party’s People’s Daily newspaper said in an editorial following the announcement.

The Chinese move comes after the Trump administration designated five Chinese media outlets as foreign missions and restricted the number of Chinese who could work for them in a de facto expulsion of about one-third of their Chinese staff.

China described its steps as “necessary and reciprocal countermeasures that China is compelled to take in response to the unreasonable oppression the Chinese media organizations experience in the U.S.”

The American journalists will likely have to leave China because their visas are tied to their press credentials. They will also be unable to work in the semi-autonomous territories of Hong Kong and Macao, the foreign ministry said in a release posted on its website.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo disputed the comparison between the U.S. and Chinese actions, telling reporters in Washington that they enjoy press freedoms that don’t exist in China.

“The individuals that we identified a few weeks back were not media that were acting here freely,” he said. “They were part of Chinese propaganda outlets. We’ve identified these as foreign missions under American law. These aren’t apples to apples, and I regret China’s decision today to further foreclose the world’s ability to conduct free press operations.”

The People’s Daily editorial said Chinese reporters in America have “always adhered to U.S. laws and regulations, journalistic ethics and the principles of objectivity, fairness, truth, and accuracy.”

Editors of all three American organizations condemned the action.

“The Chinese government’s decision is particularly regrettable because it comes in the midst of an unprecedented global crisis, when clear and reliable information about the international response to covid-19 is essential,” said Marty Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post. “Severely limiting the flow of that information, which China now seeks to do, only aggravates the situation.”

Dean Baquet, executive editor of The New York Times, called it a “grave mistake” for China to cut itself off from some of the world’s top news organizations and called on the Chinese and American governments to move quickly to resolve the dispute.

“The health and safety of people around the world depend on impartial reporting about its two largest economies, both of them now battling a common epidemic,” Baquet said.

Matt Murray, editor in chief of The Wall Street Journal, called it an unprecedented attack on freedom of the press at a time of crisis and said the Journal’s commitment to reporting fully and deeply on China hasn’t changed.

The U.S. announced earlier this month that five state-controlled Chinese media outlets would be restricted to 100 visas. It cited increasingly harsh surveillance, harassment and intimidation of American and other foreign journalists working in China.

The Chinese outlets, which employ about 160 Chinese citizens in the U.S., include the official Xinhua News Agency and China Global Television Network, the overseas arm of state broadcaster CCTV.

By designating the five Chinese media companies as foreign missions, the U.S. government required them to register their properties and employees in the United States. The State Department said that was to recognize “they are effectively controlled” by the Chinese government.

Soon after, China revoked the credentials of three Wall Street Journal journalists, saying it was in response to a headline on an opinion piece in the newspaper that it considered derogatory. The U.S. then announced the visa limit for the five Chinese media outlets.

In its announcement Wednesday, China said five U.S. outlets — the three newspapers, Voice of America and Time — would be required to declare information in writing about their staff, finance, operation and real estate in China.

It also said China will take reciprocal measures against American journalists generally on visas, administrative review and reporting, without providing details.

Read the full statement issued by Chinese Foreign Ministry on March 17, 2020: 

China Takes Countermeasures Against Restrictive Measures on Chinese Media Agencies in the US

"In recent years, the US government has placed unwarranted restrictions on Chinese media agencies and personnel in the US, purposely made things difficult for their normal reporting assignments, and subjected them to growing discrimination and politically-motivated oppression. For instance, in December 2018, the US ordered certain Chinese media organizations in the US to register as "foreign agents"; in February 2020, it designated five Chinese media entities in the US as "foreign missions" and imposed a cap on the number of their employees, in effect expelling Chinese journalists from the US. Such outrageous treatment prompted strong representations from China, in which China firmly objected to and strongly condemned the US move, and stressed its reserved right to respond and take actions.

China hereby announces the following measures, effective immediately:

First, 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.

Second, 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. 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.

Third, 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.

The above-mentioned measures are entirely necessary and reciprocal countermeasures that China is compelled to take in response to the unreasonable oppression the Chinese media organizations experience in the US. They are legitimate and justified self-defense in every sense.

What the US has done is exclusively targeting Chinese media organizations, and hence driven by a Cold War mentality and ideological bias. It has seriously tarnished the reputation and image of Chinese media organizations, seriously affected their normal operation in the US, and seriously disrupted people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries. It has therefore exposed the hypocrisy of the self-styled advocate of press freedom.

China urges the US to immediately change course, undo the damage, and stop its political oppression and arbitrary restrictions on Chinese media organizations. Should the US choose to go further down the wrong path, it could expect more countermeasures from China.

China's fundamental state policy of opening-up has not changed and will not change. Foreign media organizations and journalists who cover stories in accordance with laws and regulations are always welcome in China, and will get continued assistance from our side.

What we reject is ideological bias against China, fake news made in the name of press freedom, and breaches of ethics in journalism. We call on foreign media outlets and journalists to play a positive role in advancing the mutual understanding between China and the rest of the world."

(Source: Chinese Foreign Ministry)

 
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