China, on Tuesday condemned U.S. restrictions on its journalists working in the U.S.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, said that a cap on the number of personnel allowed to be employed by four Chinese media in the U.S. amounts to a “de facto expulsion”.
“I see the measure, announced by Washington, another step of political oppression and evidence of hypocrisy regarding freedom of press in the U.S.
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“Now the U.S. kicked off the game, let’s play, China will retaliate against the measures,” Hua said.
She noted that a total of 29 U.S. media organisations were operating in China, compared to nine Chinese media in the U.S.
“While U.S. journalists hold multiple-entry visas to China, Washington has threatened to offer only single-entry visas to Chinese journalists,” she said.
The move comes after China expelled three Wall Street Journal journalists in January in retaliation for a headline deemed offensive, even though they were not involved with either the headline or the article.
However, Beijing said it reserved the right to take further action against U.S. media. (NAN)
