Accessibility links

Breaking News

US Newspapers Call on China to Reverse Expulsion of Journalists


The New York Times Beijing based correspondent Steven Lee Myers, left, chats with other foreign journalists after a daily briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Beijing, March 18, 2020.
The New York Times Beijing based correspondent Steven Lee Myers, left, chats with other foreign journalists after a daily briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Beijing, March 18, 2020.

Publishers of three U.S. newspapers urged China on Tuesday to reverse the expulsion of an about a dozen of their journalists, calling the move "uniquely damaging and reckless" at a time when the world is sharing the burden of fighting the coronavirus.

China announced on March 18 it was revoking the press accreditations of all American journalists in the China bureaus of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, which were due to expire at the end of 2020.

"We strongly urge the Chinese government to reverse its decision to force the Americans working for our news organizations to leave," the publishers said.

"Perhaps more than any major news event in modern history, this moment underscores the urgent importance of both probing, accurate, on-the-ground reporting from the centers of the pandemic and of sharing the information."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang listens to a question from a reporter during a daily briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Beijing, March 18, 2020.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang listens to a question from a reporter during a daily briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Beijing, March 18, 2020.

China's foreign ministry had not seen the letter, spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily media briefing on Tuesday, but he defended the expulsions, calling them "necessary countermeasures" that were entirely a response to "unjustifiable oppression" of Chinese media in the U.S.

The expulsions were the latest escalation in a dispute over media freedom and access, which has seen Washington order four Chinese state media outlets to reduce their total staff in the United States to 100 from 160.

The U.S. journalists from the three newspapers have until Friday to hand in their press credentials and halt reporting, but will be able to stay a short period longer. One of them said they had been told they could apply for a temporary visa to stay in the country for 7-10 days.

China and the U.S. are locked in an increasingly bitter rivalry that has extended to the coronavirus outbreak.

Last month, Washington demanded journalists from Chinese state media be registered as staff of diplomatic missions. China then expelled three Wall Street Journal reporters - two Americans and an Australian - after the paper published an opinion column calling China the "real sick man of Asia."

Washington cited a "deepening crackdown" on independent reporting in China as the reason for its decision to reduce the number of Chinese state media journalists in the United States.

China's Foreign Ministry has said its measures are "necessary" and "reciprocal" against "escalating discrimination and oppression against Chinese media" by Washington.

A recent report by the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China found that 82% of foreign journalists surveyed said they had experienced interference, harassment or violence while reporting during 2019.

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

XS
SM
MD
LG