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China on Tuesday moved to strip the press passes of American reporters at the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post, as Beijing faces accusations of covering up the extent of the coronavirus health crisis. Journalists from the three outlets whose press credentials are set to expire in 2020 will be required to …
China on Tuesday moved to strip the press passes of American reporters at the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post, as Beijing faces accusations of covering up the extent of the coronavirus health crisis.
Journalists from the three outlets whose press credentials are set to expire in 2020 will be required to return their press passes rather then having them renewed.
“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 said in a statement released Tuesday.
The decision is ostensibly retaliation for what the Chinese government called “outrageous treatment” of Chinese journalists by the U.S. and the designation of five Chinese media agencies as “foreign missions,” essentially state-backed propaganda arms of China’s Communist Party.
“In recent years, the U.S. government has placed unwarranted restrictions on Chinese media agencies and personnel in the U.S., purposely made things difficult for their normal reporting assignments, and subjected them to growing discrimination and politically-motivated oppression,” read a statement from a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson.
China will request written information from those three American newspapers as well as Voice of America and Time magazine about their staff, finance, operation and real estate in China. The country also said it will take “reciprocal measures” against American journalists in response to “discriminatory restrictions” China says the U.S. has imposed on Chinese journalists regarding visa, administrative review, and reporting.
The coronavirus pandemic began in Wuhan, China and has spread across the globe, infecting over 190,000 people and killing over 7,000. The U.S. currently has over 5,000 confirmed cases and at least 93 people have died.
China has attempted to pin blame for the virus on the U.S., a Chinese diplomat promoting a conspiracy theory that the U.S. military brought the virus to China.
