UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States should not interfere with the work of Chinese journalists, the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, said on Monday.

“We have some differences but we do not think it is appropriate for the United States to take steps in interfering with the work of journalists coming from China,” Zhang told a news conference to mark China’s presidency of the U.N. Security Council in March.

Washington said on Monday it was slashing the number of Chinese employees permitted to work in the U.S. offices of major Chinese state-owned media outlets after China revoked the visas of three Wall Street Journal reporters over a column with a headline calling China the “real sick man of Asia”.