(Beijing) China on Tuesday promised a “retaliation” in the event of a further expulsion by the United States of Chinese journalists, amid escalation between the two powers in the field of media.
Posted on August 4 2020 at 9am 34
France Media Agency
In the name of the fight against the intimidation suffered by foreign reporters on Chinese territory, Washington has engaged in an all-out battle against the press organs of the Asian giant.
Among these measures, since May 8, the United States has only issued visas for 90 days to Chinese journalists, this which means that some people's visas will expire soon. Their holders can benefit from an extension but it is not automatic.
“So far, no journalist [concerné] has obtained a clear answer from the American authorities” to his request for extension, deplored Tuesday during a press point Wang Wenbin, spokesman for the ministry Chinese Foreign Affairs.
“If the United States persists in continuing down this path and making even more mistakes, China will inevitably be forced into a necessary and legitimate response,” he warned.
A dozen Chinese media outlets, including public television CCTV and the New China Agency, have been classified in recent months by the United States as “foreign diplomatic missions”.
The first American measures marked the beginning of an escalation between the two powers over the media.
At the end of February, three journalists from the Wall Street Journal had been expelled from China in retaliation for from a column published in the American daily and considered racist.
In the process, Washington had sharply reduced the number of Chinese allowed to work for their country's state media in the United States. Several dozen of them were forced to pack up.
Chinese authorities retaliated by expelling other American correspondents, working for the Wall Street Journal and two other dailies, the New York Times and the Washington Post .
Asked whether American journalists based in the semi-autonomous territory of Hong Kong could now be deported, Wang Wenbin was evasive.
The region “is part of China” and possible retaliatory measures fall under the “diplomatic duties and responsibilities” of the central government, he said.
Hong Kong has for decades been a haven for media that can count on the freedom of the local press.
But the imposition since 29 in the territory of a national security law could increase visa refusals for foreigners deemed undesirable.