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China Threatens Retaliation for US Denial of Journalist Visas

Joyce Huang

   China has threatened to retaliate after the United States did not renew
   visas for some 40 Chinese journalists, whose 90-day permit to work in
   the U.S. expired Thursday.

   No retaliatory move, however, was immediately announced Friday, after
   Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of state tabloid Global Times previously
   warned that the "Chinese side will retaliate, including targeting U.S.
   journalists based in Hong Kong."

   Instead, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin Friday denounced the
   U.S. action as "a unilateral provocation" during a routine media
   briefing, urging the U.S. "to correct its mistakes and cease its
   oppression of Chinese media workers."

   Tell right from wrong?

   Prior to that, the ministry's office in the former British colony also
   released a written statement, urging Hong Kong-based foreign
   journalists "to understand the consequences and tell right from wrong."

   The ministry reiterated that "if the U.S. persists with escalating its
   actions against Chinese media, China will take a necessary and
   legitimate response."

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