China attacks US for labelling 4 more press outlets as ‘foreign missions’
China has warned it may retaliate against Washington’s expanding restrictions on Chinese media operations in the United States, where four more press organizations have been designated as “foreign missions.”
The four media outlets are Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, the Communist Party of China’s mouthpiece People’s Daily, the tabloid Global Times and the semi-official China News Service. They join five other media agencies that were grouped under the same label by the U.S. State Department in February.
The organizations’ new status from Monday obliges them to report their personnel rosters and real estate holdings to the State Department. The number of employees they are allowed to have at the U.S. offices may also be limited.
The latest move by the Donald Trump administration is expected to further strain bilateral relations. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian on Tuesday attacked the decision as “yet another example of the U.S.’s flagrant political suppression of the Chinese media.”
“We strongly urge the U.S. to abandon the Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice, and immediately stop and correct this wrong practice that serves no one’s interest. Otherwise, China will have to make the necessary legitimate response,” Zhao said.
Hu Xijin, an editor of the hawkish Global Times, called the U.S. decision “absurd.” He wrote on Twitter: “The U.S. is losing self-confidence and inclusiveness. The country is chaotic.”
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