China revoked the press credentials of three Wall Street Journal reporters based in Beijing, calling the move punishment for an opinion piece published by the newspaper.

The Wednesday decision marks the first time the country has expelled multiple journalists from a single international news organization in decades.

Deputy Bureau Chief Josh Chin and reporter Chao Deng, both United States nationals, as well as reporter Philip Wen, an Australian national, were ordered to leave China within five days, according to the newspaper.

The move by China’s Foreign Ministry followed a Feb. 3 opinion piece by columnist Walter Russell Mead, who described China as “the real sick man of Asia” amid the coronavirus outbreak. However, the three journalists who were expelled work for the outlet's news operation, not its opinion side.

“Regrettably, what the WSJ has done so far is nothing but parrying and dodging its responsibility,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said. “The Chinese people do not welcome those media that speak racially discriminatory language and maliciously slander and attack China.”

China refused to renew the press credentials for another Wall Street Journal correspondent, Chun Han Wong, in August after he co-wrote a news story about a cousin of Chinese President Xi Jinping. He was the newspaper's first correspondent to have his credentials denied since it opened a bureau in Beijing in 1980.

"The United States condemns China’s expulsion of three Wall Street Journal foreign correspondents. Mature, responsible countries understand that a free press reports facts and expresses opinions. The correct response is to present counter arguments, not restrict speech," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.

The expulsions coincided with the U.S. State Department designating five Chinese state media outlets as “foreign missions.” The designation allows the U.S. to treat the employees as arms of the Chinese government.