The Associated Press, United Press International, CBS News and NPR News are to submit the relevant documents to the Chinese government within seven days, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference on Wednesday.
“China is forced to take these steps to counter the unreasonable suppression of Chinese media in the United States,” said Zhao. “They are completely in self-defense.”
Beijing’s response comes after the Trump administration branded the US offices of four Chinese state media as “foreign missions” last week, requiring them to file documents with US authorities about their finances and personnel. Washington added CCTV, People’s Daily, Global Times and China News Service to a list of designated media that already included Xinhua, the CCTV affiliate China Global Television Network, China Radio International, China Daily and People’s Daily’s father Hai Tian Development. USES.
David Stilwell, deputy secretary of the State Department for East Asia and Pacific affairs, said the Chinese media received the designation because the US administration views them as propaganda media “effectively controlled by the Chinese Communist Party” rather than news organizations independent.
Zhao said on Wednesday that “the United States’ measures are based on the Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice.”
“They have seriously damaged the reputation and image of the Chinese media, and have seriously disrupted their normal operations in the United States,” he added.
An Associated Press spokesperson told CNN Business that the agency is “looking for more information on the requirements announced today and will review them carefully.” Representatives for CBS, NPR and United Press International did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Beijing’s announcement of the new conditions in the US media came hours after China imposed a national security law in Hong Kong that critics say stripped the city of its autonomy and certain freedoms, and that will directly affect the way in which the media operate there.
The Trump administration and the Beijing government have participated in several rounds of eye-to-eye attacks by the media from others.
Earlier this year, Beijing expelled journalists from several of the top US news organizations, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal, after the US limited the number of Chinese journalists allowed to work in the offices of the US media.
– Angus Watson in Sydney contributed to this article.
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