Xinhua News Agency hired a billboard in New York Times Square in 2011 to attract propaganda
China and the U.S. have seen renewed media diplomacy, with the U.S. announcing on Monday (March 2) that it would impose employee restrictions on five state-run Chinese media operating in the United States.
Xinhua, China International Television (CGTN), China Daily, China International Radio and People`s Daily need to reduce the number of Chinese employees from 160 to 100, or about 40 percent.
The restrictions will come into effect on march 13th, but the agency will have to move to the u.s. circuita notice by friday. The reduced chinese will not be forcibly repatriated, but because most of them have a jornalist visa based on employment status in the u.s., they are likely to need to leave the u.s. before the restrictions take effect.
In a statement, Secretary of State Pompeo condemned Beijing government`s "surveillance, monitoring, review and reat" of the United States and other foreign states in China.
The State Department said the restrictions were for state media, not for individuals. Of the five chinese state media outlets, the people`s daily does not employ any chinese citizen in the u.s., while the remaining four media outlets will divide up 100 places on a pro rata basis, xinhua 59, cgtn 30, china daily 9 and china international radio 2.
Pompeo said the state-run media in the United States will not be restricted to interviews. "We hope this will lead Beijing to treat the US and other foreign media in a more equitable and mutually beneficial manner. "
The new rules in the United States mean that the media diplomatic battle between China and the United States is once again heating up, and Journalist is a victim of the confrontation.
The U.S. last month identified the five official media as foreign missions, considering them part of China`s government. Beijing then ousted three "The Wall Street Journal" jornalists and said it was due to the racial discrimination in the headline "China is the real Asian sick man" of a newspaper commentary. Two of the three jornalists, american citizen, were not involved in the review but were asked to leave china within five days.
When China`s government faced criticism for undermining media freedom, Ministry of Foreign Affairs speaker Hua Chunying took to Twitter to point the finger at Washington:" Media Freedom? Don`t forget how the White House treats CNN. "
Beijing government has used visas as a "weapon against the foreign media" in a "never-before-seen way," the Foreign Journalist Association in China warned.
The number of u.s. employees targeting chinese state media is also unprecedented. US government currently does not impose similar personnel restrictions on other countries`journallist or media agencies. The State Council said the five state-run Chinese media were not independent news outlets, unlike foreign media outlets in China.
The u.s. jornalist visa issued by chinese jornalist is limited to three months of valid, single entry compared to the jornalist of other countries. By contrast, the Journalist visa issued by Hong Kong or TW is valid for five years and multiple entry. For many years, china has restricted its foreign presence in china, and restricted its presence by refusing visas, delaying renewal and issuing only short-term visas.
About 75 american jornalists currently work in china, u.s. officials say. And the u.s. issued 425 jornalist visas to chinese citizen in fiscal year 2019, according to the state department.
