China on Wednesday demanded that four US news organizations provide the government with information about their personnel, finances and real estate within the country, in what the Foreign Ministry said was in retaliation for the recent actions of the Trump administration against the media. of Chinese communication in the United States. state
However, the Chinese government did not announce the expulsions of journalists in any of the four US organizations: The Associated Press, CBS News, National Public Radio and United Press International.
The action is the latest in a series of eye-for-an-eye clashes over the treatment of journalists, part of an increasingly intense rivalry between the two powers.
In March, China required five other US media organizations to submit information about its operations. She also ousted nearly all of the American journalists working for three of them: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.
The expulsions followed a decision by the Trump administration in February to designate China’s top five state news organizations as foreign government officials, subject to rules similar to those that apply to diplomatic missions. The administration in March also reduced the number of Chinese state media employees allowed to work in the United States from 160 to 100.
Then in June, the administration listed four additional Chinese news agencies as foreign missions.
Wednesday’s move came as China began applying a new national security law in Hong Kong that limits free expression in semi-autonomous territory, raising questions about the ability of journalists to effectively cover China from anywhere. from the country.
Zhao Lijian, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, called Wednesday’s request for information a “necessary countermeasure” against last month’s US action, which it said constituted “unreasonable repression” by the Chinese media in the United States. United.
Representatives from the Associated Press and National Public Radio said they were reviewing the request by the Chinese authorities. CBS News and United Press International did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
US correspondents and other foreigners in China say the work environment there has worsened considerably in recent years. Police have harassed journalists and their interviewees, and some reporters have received limited work permits as punishment for coverage that is critical to the government.
But the latest escalation cycle between Washington and Beijing began in earnest when the State Department said in February that it would begin treating five Chinese state-controlled media outlets as foreign missions.
A day after the department announced its plans to reclassify Chinese state media employees working in the United States as foreign government workers, China said it was expelling three reporters from the Wall Street Journal.
China said the move was in retaliation for a headline in an op-ed, in which the expelled journalists were not involved. The headline, “China is the Real Sick Man of Asia,” used a term laden with associations to China’s weakness in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Claire Fu contributed to the investigation.
