US will answer China’s ‘harassment’ of American journalists with ‘reciprocity’, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warns
- Secretary of State’s warning comes days after Chinese officials vowed revenge over cuts in the quota for Chinese state media journalists working in the US
- ‘A free press helps expose corruption and protect the people from cover-ups,’ says Donald Trump’s leading diplomat
Top US diplomat Mike Pompeo on Thursday warned that Washington would respond with “reciprocity” if Beijing continued to restrict the work of US journalists in the mainland, days after Chinese officials vowed revenge over the slashing of the quota for Chinese state media journalists working in the US.
“Where the Chinese Communist Party has imposed increasingly harsh surveillance, harassment and intimidation on our independent and world-class journalists, we will respond to achieve reciprocity,” Secretary of State Pompeo said at a media briefing.
“A free press helps expose corruption and protect the people from cover-ups, as well as help the world understand the CCP’s thinking.”
Censorship, he added, “can have deadly consequences. We urge the CCP to immediately uphold its commitment to uphold freedom of the press”.
The US on Monday said that effective March 13, the cap on the number of US-based employees of China Global Television Network, China Radio International, China Daily Distribution Corp, Xinhua News Agency and Hai Tian Development USA would be cut to 100 from 160 currently. The five outlets were last month redesignated by the State Department as foreign missions.
