Mr Biden reportedly registered his concerns directly with Mr Xi during a wide-ranging bilateral meeting a day earlier, and he publicly denounced the practice of intimidating journalists in a speech to US business executives on Thursday morning in Beijing. "Innovation thrives where people breathe freely, speak freely, are able to challenge orthodoxy, where newspapers can report the truth without fear of consequences," Mr Biden said during his remarks. "We have many disagreements, and some profound disagreements, on some of those issues right now, in the treatment of US journalists. But I believe China will be stronger and more stable and more innovative if it respects universal human rights." The Chinese government has threatened not to issue or renew work visas for journalists from The New York Times, Bloomberg News and other organisations in the wake of critical stories. And the Times reported last month that Bloomberg editors killed two stories out of fear that the company's journalists would be expelled, an allegation Bloomberg officials denied. The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reuters and the Financial Times all have Chinese websites or services that have been blocked off and on over the years. London-based Reuters was believed to have been included in the meeting with Mr Biden because American reporter Paul Mooney was refused a visa after waiting eight months to begin a new assignment in China for the agency. China has long held up visas or denied them to reporters in an effort to retaliate for coverage critical of ruling Communist Party officials, but US reporters say the practice has grown more intense under Mr Xi, who assumed the presidency in March. Instead of individual reporters being targeted, entire news organisations are facing threats that they will be kicked out of the country, the journalists said.

Mr Biden met more than a dozen reporters. Biden aides characterised the meeting as off the record and declined to comment on the nature of the discussions. But Ian Johnson, a New York Times writer based in China, wrote on Twitter: "China is about to expel all NYT and Bloomberg correspondents from China - unprecedented. Biden raised issue with Xi." In a second tweet responding to someone who asked whether it was really true, Mr Johnson wrote: "Sad but true; 24 correspondents without a visa. first one leaves Dec. 17. All out by Dec. 31, unless govt changes course." Journalists at the Times bureau, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisals, said none of them had received visas. Many are not even able to apply for a visa because their press cards have not been renewed yet. New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson called the treatment of Times journalists "an unfortunate situation".

"We're eager to work with Chinese officials to have our visas renewed as we have in past years," she said. But Chinese authorities have told Times journalists that their visas "are not being processed", she said, and the government has complained to the paper about its stories on the vast wealth accumulated by Chinese "princelings", top Communist Party members, bureaucrats and their relatives, saying the reports have been unfair and disrespectful of Chinese law. Ms Abramson strongly defended the stories, calling them "true and accurate and fair and in the larger public interest of readers around the world". She said the Times was "prepared to cover China in every way we can", even if its non-Chinese journalists are expelled. A Bloomberg spokeswoman in Singapore declined to comment. Roughly half of the New York Times journalists who applied for their press cards this northern autumn were able to obtain them, but the other half - who tried to get press cards after the Times ran a sensitive story on November 13 - were not able to.

That story by David Barboza investigated ties between JPMorgan Chase and the daughter of China's former prime minister Wen Jiabao. Nolan Barkhouse, a spokesman for the US embassy in Beijing, said on Thursday: "We are deeply concerned that foreign journalists in China face restrictions that impede their ability to do their jobs, including extended delays in processing journalist visas, restrictions on access to 'sensitive' locations and individuals, pressure on their local staff, blocked websites and reports of hacking of media organisations. We have raised our concerns about the treatment of journalists and media organisations repeatedly with the Chinese government and will continue to do so." The US embassy has been working on the issue for months, having increased its efforts after meeting with journalists facing visa problems. When one New York Times journalist tried to pick up a new press card after Mr Barboza's story was published, the reporter was told by a government bureaucrat that the card was not ready even though it was in full view on the official's desk, according to journalists at the Times. Several foreign journalists noted that not having their visas renewed would not only force them to leave the country at the end of the month, but would require their families to leave as well, since Chinese residency visas for relatives are contingent on the journalists' visas.

The Washington Post sought unsuccessfully from 2009 to 2012 to obtain a resident visa for Andrew Higgins, a correspondent designated as China bureau chief. Mr Higgins has since left the newspaper. Washington Post