BEIJING (AP) – 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.