China is banning journalists from five American media outlets in retaliation for President Trump’s requirement that Chinese state-run media organizations register as foreign missions.
“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,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced through state-run media.
The new policy affects five organizations: Voice of America, a U.S.-funded outlet; the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and Time magazine. Employees of those organizations must hand in their press badges within 10 days, according to the announcement.
“Relationship truly entering free fall when the world can least afford it,” Rush Doshi of the Brookings Institution’s China Strategy Initiative tweeted in response. “And I should add, the Soviets saw the value in having *US journalists* from the country’s top papers — not only international press.”
Chinese officials blamed the United States. “What the US has done is exclusively targeting Chinese media organizations, and hence driven by a Cold War mentality and ideological bias,” the announcement added. “It has therefore exposed the hypocrisy of the self-styled advocate of press freedom.”
The expulsions come on the heels of another diplomatic dispute, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other State Department officials have rebuked Chinese officials for lying about the origins of the coronavirus outbreak. Chinese officials have begun to allege that the U.S. Army started the outbreak, even though Beijing has faced weeks of criticism at home for censoring the doctors who tried to sound the alarm about the emergence of the coronavirus in Wuhan.
“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,” Washington Post Executive Editor Marty Baron responded Tuesday afternoon. “Severely limiting the flow of that information, which China now seeks to do, only aggravates the situation.”
