In the latest escalation of tensions, China announced on Tuesday that it would expel all foreign journalists working for the New York Times, WSJ and the Washington Post. It also demanded that those outlets – as well as VOA and Time Magazine – provide the Chinese government with detailed information about their operations in the country, the NYT reports. These include “all written materials” including staff finances, operations and real estate information in China.
Experts described the move, which was retaliation for the Trump Administration limiting the numbers of Chinese citizens who can work for Chinese media agencies in the states
Hua Chunying, a prominent government spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said these were necessary countermeasures to fight back against the Trump Administration’s “cold war mentality.”
The decisions are entirely necessary countermeasures that China has been forced to take because of the unreasonable oppression that Chinese media organizations experience in the US. They are legitimate, justified self-defense in every sense.
One American reporter described the move as “unprecedented.”
Bloody Tuesday.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs just announced it is expelling all the American reporters at Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Washington Post.
And not allowing them to work in HONG KONG either. Unprecedented.https://t.co/OiwQ783v9l
— B. Allen-Ebrahimian (@BethanyAllenEbr) March 17, 2020
Though the decision was likely in the works for weeks, as Beijing threatened retaliation after Trump expelled the reporter, it’s notable that these expulsions are arriving following Trump’s decision to double down on the phrase “Chinese Virus” to refer to the novel coronavirus.
The journalists being expelled include the NYT’s Edward Wong, a diplomatic correspondent for the NYT and Harvard Nieman Fellow.
Shortly before the news broke, Wong tweeted that Chinese diplomats around the world are pushing propaganda to try and “bury” the flaws in the Chinese governance model that helped perpetuate the Wuhan outbreak, which could have easily been nipped in the bud.
Chinese diplomats around the world are now engaged in pushing propaganda to try to bury how flaws in the Chinese Communist Party’s governance model — notably its lack of transparency — helped lead to the Wuhan outbreak months ago. This effort damages China’s credibility. https://t.co/50dCET5a8d
— Edward Wong (@ewong) March 17, 2020
Breaking: China retaliates against new US policy on Chinese state-run media. Says 5 US organizations are now “foreign missions.” Demands US citizens working for NYT, Wash Post & WSJ turn over press cards in 10 days & stop work. Can’t report in HK or Macau. https://t.co/nnpvlg2aD9
— Edward Wong (@ewong) March 17, 2020
Of course Beijing is furious that President Trump keeps calling Covid-19 the “Chinese Virus” – but not because it’s racist, because the CCP is trying to convince the Chinese people that the virus came from the US.
Republished from ZeroHedge.com with permission
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