China has imposed new visa sanctions targeting US media


Last week, during the regular renewal of their press credentials – which are usually valid for one year – many journalists were handed a letter stating that their applications were being processed instead of a new press card. They were advised to keep a letter with expired press cards as proof of their journalistic identity.

Since their Chinese visa was attached to their press card, these journalists were granted a new visa for about two months, which is shorter than the usual one year.
Chinese officials have made it clear that temporary press credentials – and visas attached to them – can be revoked at any time, leaving affected journalists in limbo without ensuring they can stay in China longer.

CNN correspondent David Culver, who is American, is among those affected by Beijing’s recent move. CNN It has learned that many major U.S. media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, are being targeted by journalists. U.S. media outlets And both non-US citizens.

Culver was told by Chinese officials that the new sanctions had nothing to do with his reporting, but was a “reciprocal move” in response to the Trump administration’s behavior with Chinese journalists in the United States.

On Sunday, a CNN spokesman confirmed Culver’s new short visa.

“One of our Beijing-based journalists was granted a visa for two months in place of the recent general bar,” the spokesman said. “However, our presence on the ground in China remains the same and we continue to work with local authorities to continue that.”

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The U.S. State Department revealed on Sunday that its diplomats in Beijing had recently visited the U.S. government in China. The media was informed of the targeting measures.

“The United States is concerned, of course, that these proposed actions … will worsen the reporting environment in China,” said Morgan Ortagas, a spokesman for the department. “Beijing’s actions prove time and time again that (the ruling Chinese Communist Party) fears independent and investigative media reporting that has further broadened and deepened the world’s understanding of China.”

In May, Washington limited Washington’s stay to 90 days for most US-based Chinese journalists. Beijing claims that none of its reporters have responded to the status of recent requests for visa extensions from U.S. officials, who say their work and lives have been seriously disrupted.

If no clearance is granted, Chiver’s reporters will have to leave the United States in early November, exactly when Culver’s new Chinese visa is due to expire.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Thursday that China and the United States have agreed to work together. The essence of the media issue in between is the political persecution and repression of the U.S. against the Chinese media due to the Cold War mentality and ideological bias. .

“If the U.S. continues to move in the wrong direction, China has no choice but to give a fair and necessary response in order to strongly defend its legitimate right.”

Earlier this year, the U.S. administration of China’s state-run media was banned by the Trump administration. Beijing effectively expelled about a dozen reporters from the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal after limiting the number of Chinese nationals allowed to work in the offices, resulting in large staff cuts in the operation.

Since then, Washington has appointed a growing number of Chinese state-run news organizations to the U.S. offices as “foreign missions,” in order to inform them about their finances and personnel. Beijing has called on the U.S. Has retaliated by demanding several establishments.

David Steele, assistant secretary of the US State Department for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, said the designation was given to Chinese outlets because the US government sees them as “outlets” effectively controlled by the “ruling Communist Party” rather than independent news. Organizations.

At a press conference in Washington on Wednesday, Steelwell said the U.S. Revenge of Beijing’s “reciprocal” actions against the media “is in proportion to our simple desire to balance these relations.”

“There are 1 or 0 or more Chinese diplomats here – Chinese state media enthusiasts who work for the Ministry of Publicity here in the United States without restrictions, and there are still American journalists left in China,” he said. “Let’s draw that picture so everyone can understand what we’re talking about.”

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