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US-China relations
ChinaDiplomacy

As China-US relations continue to sour, Beijing says expulsion of American reporters may just be the start

  • If Washington ‘continues on the wrong track, China will be forced to take further countermeasures’, foreign ministry spokesman says
  • Comment comes after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he hopes Beijing will reconsider its decision

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Beijing has revoked the press credentials of Americans journalists working for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Photo: Shutterstock
Jun Mai,Shi JiangtaoandKimmy Chung
China has warned of more tit-for-tat retribution against the United States, just hours after it moved to expel US journalists at three publications as the deeply fraught relations between the world’s top two economies took another ugly turn.

In the largest expulsion of foreign reporters since the normalisation of bilateral ties 40 years ago, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement early on Wednesday morning that it would revoke the press credentials of Americans working for three newspapers, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.

The move, which came in the midst of Beijing’s acrimonious feud with the administration of US President Donald Trump over the coronavirus pandemic, marked a major escalation of tensions between the two superpowers, which have already locked horns in a retaliatory cycle of rancorous economic disengagement and geopolitical rivalry, according to observers.

At a briefing on Wednesday, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang described the expulsions as “entirely necessary and reciprocal countermeasures” in response to the “unreasonable oppression” Washington had imposed on China’s state-owned media outlets in the US.

“If the US continues on the wrong track, China will be forced to take further countermeasures,” he said. “The US side said before that all options are on the table. All I can say here is that all options are also on the table for China.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang described the expulsions of the US reporters as “entirely necessary”. Photo: AFP
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang described the expulsions of the US reporters as “entirely necessary”. Photo: AFP

His remarks came hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he regretted China’s decision and that he hoped Beijing would reconsider.

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