The Trump administration is ordering four Chinese
state-owned news outlets to cut their Chinese staff in the U.S. by about 40%,
amid a broader response to Beijing’s restrictions on American journalists and
the expulsion of three Wall Street Journal reporters last month.
Starting March 13, the four outlets will be allowed to
employ a combined 100 Chinese citizens in the U.S., down from about 160 now,
two State Department officials told reporters Monday on condition of anonymity.
The officials insisted that the reductions weren’t expulsions, though the 60 or
so employees will almost certainly have to leave the country.
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The outlets affected by the move are Xinhua News Agency,
China Global Television Network, China Radio International and China Daily
Distribution Corp.
The restrictions stem from an effort by the Trump
administration to restore what officials call reciprocity between the way China
and the U.S. treat each other’s journalists. China currently allows about 100
Americans in the country and has severely restricted the number of visas it
issues to foreign reporters.
The administration began mulling expulsions in earnest after
China last month ordered the departure of the three Wall Street Journal
reporters — two Americans and an Australian — after saying the outlet had
refused to apologize for a “racially discriminatory” headline on an op-ed
piece. U.S. officials have also said the reporters were expelled because of the
Journal’s coverage of a Chinese government crackdown on Uighur Muslims in
Xinjiang province.
Last month, the State Department designated Xinhua and the
other outlets, as well as the Chinese news agency Hai Tian Development USA, as
“foreign missions.” That means their employees in the U.S. are treated as
foreign government employees, not journalists.
The staffing reductions apply to any Chinese citizens
working for the four news organizations in the U.S., whether they are reporters
or managers or technicians. The outlets can still hire as many Americans as
they like. Hai Tian wasn’t included in the new cap because it currently has
only two Chinese staff on its payroll in the U.S., the officials said.
Bloomberg News