China has revoked the press credentials of three Wall Street Journal reporters in the largest expulsion of foreign journalists from the country in over three decades.
As CNN reports, the move comes in response to a Feb. 3 op-ed in the publication titled “China is the Real Sick Man of Asia.”
“The editors used such a racially discriminatory title, triggering indignation and condemnation among the Chinese people and the international community,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Geng Shuang said during a press briefing. “Regrettably, what the WSJ has done so far is nothing but parrying and dodging its responsibility. It has neither issued an official apology nor informed us of what it plans to do with the persons involved. … As such, it is decided that from today, the press cards of three WSJ journalists will be revoked.”
Meanwhile, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China called the expulsion an “unprecedented form of retaliation against foreign journalists in China.” “FCCC member correspondents and their colleagues in China are suffering from an increasing frequency of harassment, surveillance and intimidation from authorities,” the group said in a statement. “The expulsion of these three WSJ reporters is only the latest, and most alarming, measure authorities have taken.”
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