The US government on Monday added four Chinese media outlets to a list of organizations that should be considered “foreign missions” because of their ties to Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party, a move that could force some to cut staff in the US and which is likely to further aggravate relations between the two nations.
US Department of State officials said that the four organizations, including state-run China Central Television, would be required to submit a list of everyone who works for them in the US and any real-estate holdings just as they would if they were foreign embassies or consulates.
None are being ordered to leave the US and no limits on their activities were announced, but five other Chinese organizations were directed to cap the number of people who could work in the US in March — a month after they were designated as foreign missions.
The organizations are essentially mouthpieces for the Chinese Communist Party and Beijing, not legitimate news outlets, US officials said.
“The [Chinese] Communist Party does not just exercise operational control over these propaganda entities, but has full editorial control over their content,” US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell said. “This foreign mission designation is an obvious step in increasing transparency of these and other PRC government propaganda activities in the United States.”
The other three added to the list of foreign missions were China News Service, the People’s Daily and the Global Times.
It was not clear how many journalists work in the US for the organizations designated.
The US designated Soviet news outlets as foreign missions during the Cold War. That precedent reflects the state of relations between the US and China, which are at odds over the origin and response to COVID-19, trade, human rights and other issues.
US President Donald Trump highlighted the dispute over the pandemic when he spoke at a rally at the weekend in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and used a racist term for COVID-19, calling it the “kung flu.”
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Monday defended Trump’s use of the term, telling reporters that the president was merely pointing out that the origin of the coronavirus was China.
“It’s a fair thing to point out as China tries to ridiculously rewrite history,” McEnany said. “What President Trump is saying: ‘No China, I will label this virus for its place of origin.’”
US officials said that the designated media outlets should be considered foreign missions under US law because they are “substantially owned or effectively controlled” by the Chinese government and should not be treated like traditional news organizations.
“These aren’t journalists. These are members of the propaganda apparatus in the PRC,” Stilwell said in a conference call with reporters.
During the call, US Department of State spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus ordered the line muted of a reporter who asked a question related to the book by former White House national security adviser John Bolton, who wrote that Trump “pleaded” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) during a 2019 summit to help with his re-election.
When another reporter noted the apparent contradiction of refusing to discuss Bolton’s allegations during a call about press freedom, Ortagus chastised the journalist and called it a “pretty offensive question.”
Asked about potential Chinese retaliation, Stilwell said that US journalists working in China already face tight restrictions on their activities.
China had no immediate reaction to the announcement, but the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the US government of harboring a “Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice” when it applied the same designation to five media organizations earlier this year.
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