Authorities in Beijing have forced at least seven Chinese nationals to stop working for US news outlets in the city, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the latest development in an ongoing dispute between the US and China over media access.
Members of the New York Times, Voice of America and two other outlets were dismissed from their jobs on Thursday and Friday, the group said, identifying only the newspaper and the US Congress-funded broadcaster.
China on Tuesday expelled more than a dozen American journalists working for the Times, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and the Washington Post in response to a cap being placed on how many Chinese journalists are allowed to be stationed in the US.
Photo: AFP
The tit-for-tat exemplifies how fraught US-China ties have become despite the signing of a phase-one trade deal in January and calls for more global cooperation to contain COVID-19.
In addition to media, the countries have also feuded over the use of “Chinese virus” by US officials to describe the outbreak and an assertion by a Chinese official that the US military spread the virus.
Foreign news outlets in China are barred from directly employing Chinese nationals.
They are instead employed through the Beijing Personnel Service Corp for Diplomatic Missions, which is affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
It was this agency that dismissed members of US media in the past few days, the Washington-based committee said.
When asked on Thursday at the ministry’s daily press briefing if the local employees of US outlets had been told their work credentials were being revoked, spokesman Geng Shuang (耿爽) said relevant authorities manage the employees of foreign media in accordance with laws and regulations.
The ministry on Tuesday also ordered the Times, the WSJ, the Post, Voice of America and Time magazine to submit written declarations about their staff, operations, finances and real estate in China.
That was in retaliation for the US last month ordering five Chinese state-owned media to be classified as “foreign missions.”
In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson for Voice of America confirmed the committee’s statement while declining further comment.
A spokesperson for the Post referred to an earlier statement by executive editor Martin Baron condemning the expulsion of reporters.
Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal, in a statement provided by a spokesperson, said the outlet opposed the expulsion and intimidation of journalists.
A WSJ spokesperson declined to comment while the Times did not immediately respond to queries.
A spokesperson for Bloomberg, which has news bureaus in Beijing and Shanghai, also declined to comment.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS