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US-China Ties Further Tested After Journalists' Expulsion Amid COVID-19
Outbreak

Nike Ching

   STATE DEPARTMENT - The United Statesis pushing back on China's actions
   to expel American journalists, a move that officials and observers said
   "serves no good purpose" at a time when the world is dealing with the
   "extraordinary international uncertainty" about the spread of COVID-19.

   "I'm not happy about that at all," U.S. President Donald Trump told
   reporters at a White House briefing on Wednesday.

   In addition to expelling reporters fromThe New York Times,TheWashington
   PostandTheWall Street Journal, China Tuesday also ordered two other
   news outlets--Timemagazine and the independent U.S.-funded Voice of
   America news operation--to give Chinese authorities detailed
   information about their work in China.

   Press credentials forTimes,JournalandPostreporters were set to expire
   at year's end, but Beijing ordered them to turn in their press cards
   within 10 days.

   "They sort of overreacted in this case. We're trying to treat them as a
   peer,"said a senior State Department official, while declining to
   discuss possible U.S. actions when asked about further diplomatic
   repercussions between the two countries.

   "We've tried for four years to make this relationship work, and it is
   difficult to continue doing that," the official told reporters at a
   background briefing on Wednesday. "Especially during the(coronavirus)
   outbreak, the pressures to self-censor or to block the investigation"
   is a matterof "life and death."

   "Dialogue is part of diplomacy," the official added. "We will work
   through this."

   In Washington, leading professionaljournalistsorganizations
   condemnedthe expulsions.

   "This action will likely backfire on Beijing, which badly needs to
   stabilize its economy from the effects of COVID-19," said Michael
   Freedman,president of the National Press Club. "That is far less likely
   if international investors and businesses question information coming
   out of China while independent and reliable news outlets are being
   restricted in their reporting there."

   In Beijing, China defended its decision to expel reporters from three
   major U.S. newspapers, saying the move was a necessary response to what
   it called "unreasonable oppression" of Chinese media organizations in
   the United States.

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