18th March, 2020
China announced early on Wednesday that it will rescind the press credentials of American correspondents with the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.
The action is a retaliation against U.S. restrictions on Chinese journalists working in the US.
The move escalates a tit-for-tat between China and the United States over resident foreign media that saw Washington this month slash the number of Chinese nationals permitted to work at the U.S. offices of major Chinese state-owned media outlets.
In a statement released in the early hours of Wednesday, China’s foreign ministry said U.S. citizens who work as journalists for the three organizations and whose press credentials expire by the end of this year must hand back their press cards within ten days and would not be permitted to work in mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau.
It was not immediately clear how many journalists would be affected.
China also said that “in the spirit of reciprocity,” the China branches of Voice of America, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and Time magazine must “declare in written form information about their staff, finance, operation and real estate in China.”
China also said it will take further “reciprocal measures against American journalists”, without giving specifics.
Beijing said the moves “are entirely necessary and reciprocal countermeasures that China is compelled to take in response to the unreasonable oppression the Chinese media organisations experience in the United States.”
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters at a State Department news conference that the move would deprive the world and the Chinese people of information in “incredibly challenging” times brought about by the coronavirus.