U.S. Limits Chinese Staff at News Agencies Controlled by Beijing
- The new rule could effectively force 60 Chinese citizens to leave the United States in a tit-for-tat campaign between Washington and Beijing that has caught journalists in the crossfire.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Monday limited to 100 the number of Chinese citizens who may work in the United States for five state-controlled Chinese news organizations. The decision is expected to escalate tensions between Washington and Beijing in a diplomatic feud that has caught journalists in the crossfire.
The State Department insisted that it was not expelling Chinese journalists, a step that Beijing took last month against three Wall Street Journal reporters — the first time foreign correspondents had been ordered to leave China since 1998.
But the new limits could, in effect, force Chinese citizens to leave if their visas allowing them to work in the United States are tied to the news organizations that must now choose which employees will remain on assignment in the United States.
In a statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States would not restrict the content of what the five organizations report — a contrast to what he described as increased surveillance, harassment and intimidation of foreign journalists in China.
