Beijing revokes press cards of WSJ trio
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Chinese spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily briefing that Beijing made several representations to the paper over the article.
PHOTO: AFP
BEIJING • China has revoked the press credentials of three journalists from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) after the newspaper declined to apologise for a column with a headline calling China the "real sick man of Asia".
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a briefing yesterday that Beijing made several representations to the paper over the column published on Feb 3, which China criticised as racist and denigrating its efforts to combat the coronavirus outbreak, but that the paper had failed to apologise or investigate those responsible.
"The Chinese people do not welcome media that publishes racist statements and maliciously attacks China," Mr Geng said. "In the light of this, China has decided to revoke the press cards of the three Wall Street Journal correspondents in Beijing starting today."
The WSJ said in its own report that deputy bureau chief Josh Chin and reporters Deng Chao and Philip Wen had been ordered to leave the country in five days. Mr Chin and Ms Deng are US citizens and Mr Wen is Australian.
The paper said the three work for its news operations and it operates with a strict separation between news and opinion. The offending editorial was written by Bard College professor Walter Russell Mead.
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China strongly condemned Beijing's decision.
"None of the three had any involvement with the opinion article, or its headline, that China cited in their expulsion," it said in a statement. "The action... is an extreme and obvious attempt by the Chinese authorities to intimidate foreign news organisations by taking retribution against their China-based correspondents." It said simultaneously revoking the press credentials of three correspondents was "an unprecedented form of retaliation" and that as far as it was aware, China had not outright expelled a foreign correspondent since 1998.
Foreigners are not allowed to work as journalists in China without official credentials, which are required to obtain a residence visa.
China's action comes after the United States said it would begin treating five Chinese state-run media entities with US operations, including Xinhua and China Global Television Network, the same as foreign embassies, requiring them to register staff and US properties with the State Department.
REUTERS
