US President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping Photo Credit: AP US President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping. | File image

Beijing: In what could be seen as one of the biggest crackdowns on Western media organisations in its mainland, China on Tuesday issued a notice stating that US-based media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post will be expelled from the country as a counter-measure to America’s ‘suppression of Chinese media outlets’.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China issued a statement with the details of the crackdown and said that “in recent years, the U.S. government has unreasonably restricted the normal news reporting activities of Chinese media agencies and personnel in the United States, making it unreasonably difficult, and has escalated discrimination and political suppression against the Chinese media”.

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In retaliation to the significant reduction of Chinese journalists in the United States and the “actual deportation of employees of Chinese media agencies” in America, five US media outlets in China have been asked to leave.

“China demands that journalists of US citizenship working with the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post whose press credentials are due to expire before the end of 2020 notify the Department of Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within four calendar days starting from today and hand back their press cards within ten calendar days. They will not be allowed to continue working as journalists in the People's Republic of China, including its Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions,” the Chinese Department of Information of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Furthermore, the Chinese said, “In response to the US designation of five Chinese media agencies as “foreign missions”, China demands, in the spirit of reciprocity, that the China-based branches of Voice of America, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and Time declare in written form information about their staff, finance, operation and real estate in China.”

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The Communist nation urged foreign media outlets to aid better relationship between the country and the rest of the world, with zero tolerance for “ideological bias against China”.

“China’s fundamental state policy of opening-up has not changed and will not change. Foreign media organisations and journalists who cover stories in accordance with laws and regulations are always welcome in China, and will get continued assistance from our side. What we reject is ideological bias against China, fake news made in the name of press freedom, and breaches of ethics in journalism. We call on foreign media outlets and journalists to play a positive role in advancing the mutual understanding between China and the rest of the world,” the directive said.