China could take aim at US journalists in Hong Kong, if the US does not renew visas for Chinese journalists, Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin (胡錫進) said.
“From what I know, given that the US side hasn’t renewed visa of Chinese journalists, Chinese side has prepared for the worst scenario that all Chinese journalists have to leave the US,” Hu said yesterday on Twitter. “If that’s the case, Chinese side will retaliate, including targeting US journalists based in HK.”
The Global Times is a tabloid run by the People’s Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party.
Hu’s tweets have become closely watched after accurately forecasting previous moves by China’s government.
“Hong Kong is a part of China,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) told a daily briefing in Beijing later yesterday. “When China is forced to make a necessary and legitimate response, it is within the legitimate diplomatic power of the Chinese government.”
Wang said the US restrictions on Chinese journalists had “severely interfered with their normal operations in the US.”
“The cause and responsibility for the current situation lies solely with the US,” he said. “If the US continues with its wrongdoings, China will be forced to make necessary and legitimate responses and resolutely safeguard its own legitimate rights and interests.”
The US Department of State did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Such a move would be an escalation of a tit-for-tat fight that has ensnared media employees in both countries.
After the US imposed visa restrictions on Chinese journalists, Beijing in February expelled more than a dozen of their American counterparts, including three Wall Street Journal reporters.
US President Donald Trump’s administration then ordered Chinese state-owned news outlets — including Xinhua news agency — to cut the size of their US-based staff, part of a broader response to Beijing’s restrictions on US journalists.
Unlike mainland China, Hong Kong does not issue journalist visas and is supposed to maintain independent control over immigration.
However, the territory’s ability to determine its own immigration policy is being increasingly undermined.
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