China has demanded information about the personnel and business operations of the top four US media outlets in retaliation for the United States government, which previously requested similar information from China’s state-run media agencies.
Associated Press, United Press International (UPI), CBS and National Public Radio (NPR) have seven days to submit statements on their personnel, financial operations, real estate and other operations, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. , on Wednesday.
Zhao pointed to the State Department’s designation of nine Chinese media outlets as “foreign missions,” claiming they are spokespersons for Beijing in late June, as justification for the announcement.
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“It should be noted that the measures mentioned above by China are completely necessary countermeasures and are completely legitimate defenses compelled by the unreasonable suppression by the US side of Chinese media agencies in the United States,” Zhao said in a daily briefing.
China Central Television, the China News Service, the People’s Daily and the Global Times were designated as “propaganda media” by the United States government.
“This designation recognizes the PRC [People’s Republic of China] propaganda media such as foreign missions and increases transparency related to the CCP [Communist Party of China] and the activities of the PRC government media in the United States, ”the State Department said in a statement last month.
The US agency also said the designation does not prevent or prohibit content that the media can produce.
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But Zhao pointed out at a press conference on Wednesday that new US policies affecting these media outlets have damaged his reputation and the image of the Chinese media, adding that the policies recall the postures of the “Cold War” era. and they damage the freedom of the press.
“China urges the United States to immediately change course and correct its mistakes and stop political repression and unreasonable restrictions from the Chinese media,” said Zhao.
The Chinese media are reportedly not being encouraged to leave the United States, nor are they imposing limitations on their production. But some visa restrictions were applied in five Chinese media outlets in March, limiting the number of personnel they can have in the U.S.
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State-run media outlets such as the Xinhua News Agency and CCTV, the international arm of the state broadcaster, have restricted their visas from 160 to 100, meaning that 60 Chinese employees had to leave the U.S.
In turn, more than a dozen American reporters from the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal were forced to leave China.
The State Department could not immediately be reached for comment on this latest development with China.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
