US actions on journalists draw stern condemnation

China made stern representations over US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent groundless accusations against China on Wednesday as Hua Chunying, director-general of the Foreign Ministry’s information department, met with a US embassy representative on Wednesday.

Pompeo has, within a week, made irresponsible comments over China’s revocation of the press credentials of three Wall Street Journal journalists after the newspaper published an article on Feb 3 that smeared China with a racially discriminatory headline.

According to a statement released by the Foreign Ministry, Hua told the US embassy official that the newspaper had made a serious mistake and should be held accountable.

Pompeo not only openly expressed support for the newspaper in the name of “freedom of speech”, but also made irresponsible remarks on China’s efforts to fight the novel coronavirus epidemic, failing to get the facts straight and being utterly unjustifiable, Hua said.

She also raised concerns over threats by the spokesman of the White House’s National Security Council that a response is being considered involving Chinese journalists in the United States, saying such retaliation is unacceptable.

If the US further harasses and restricts Chinese news organizations, China will absolutely take further action, Hua said.

She stressed that China is acting in self-defense after being offended and provoked by the United States.

In recent years, Washington has adopted various restrictions on Chinese news agencies in the United States, but Chinese journalists have behaved in a professional way and objectively reported about the US, Hua said.

Speaking at the ministry’s regular news conference on Wednesday, ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian urged Pompeo to stop undermining China-US mutual trust and cooperation.