China revokes press credentials of three WSJ journalists
BEIJING: China on Wednesday revoked the press credentials of three Wall Street Journal journalists as punishment against what Beijing called a “racial” opinion piece published in the newspaper earlier this month.
The three expelled Beijingbased reporters, two of them US nationals and one an Australian citizen, are not known to have contributed to the piece titled “China is the Real Sick Man of Asia”, written by Us-based professor Walter Russel Mead.
It’s the first direct expulsion of foreign journalists from China since 1998. Deputy bureau chief Josh Chin, reporter Chao Deng as well as reporter Philip Wen, have been ordered to leave the country in five days, according to a WSJ report.
The Beijing-based Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) condemned the move in a statement on Wednesday.
“Simultaneously revoking press accreditations of three correspondents is an unprecedented form of retaliation against foreign journalists in China. China has not outright expelled a foreign correspondent since 1998 as far as the FCCC is aware,” the statement said.
The Chinese foreign ministry said it had asked WSJ to apologise for publishing the article but took action after the newspaper didn’t comply with Beijing’s demand.
Announcing the decision to revoke the press credentials of the journalists, the foreign ministry said the piece “smears” the efforts of the Chinese to fight the Covid-19 outbreak.
The move comes a day after Washington said it would designate five Chinese state media outlets as “foreign missions”, requiring them to comply with rules meant for diplomatic missions and consulates.
According to agency reports, two senior US state department officials said the decision was made because China has been tightening state control over its media, and Chinese President Xi Jinping has made aggressive use of them to spread propaganda.
The new rule is being applied to Xinhua News Agency, China Global Television Network, China Radio International, China Daily and Hai Tian.