Beijing: China defended Thursday the expulsion of three foreign journalists of the Wall Street Journal. It said that media which insults, smears the country and support racial discrimination ‘must pay the price’.
Three journalists of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) were expelled Wednesday following an article in the newspaper titled ‘China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia’ by Walter Russell Mead. It was published February 3.
China’s Foreign Ministry revoked the press cards of three WSJ journalists (two Americans and one Australian) and asked them to leave the country within five days. The move had come less than a day after US officials announced they would be treating five major Chinese state-run media companies – Xinhua, China Global Television Network, China Radio International, China Daily and People’s Daily – as effective extensions of the Chinese government.
Asked whether the expulsion was solely because of the headline of the article or in retaliation to US government’s decision to list five Chinese official media outlets as foreign missions, Foreign Ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang said during an online media briefing that ‘those media who blatantly insult China, supports racial discrimination and maliciously smear China must pay the price’.
“I also responded to the US announcement of designating five Chinese media organisations as foreign missions yesterday (Wednesday). We reserve the right to make further responses,” Geng said.
Geng also attacked US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for condemning the WSJ scribes’ expulsions and his call to China to not restrict freedom of speech.
“This is not an issue of freedom of speech as Pompeo claimed. The WSJ published an article that smeared China with a racially discriminatory title, which reflects the abandonment of basic facts and professional ethics. It has triggered huge indignation and condemnation from China and the larger international community,” he said.
William Lewis, the publisher of WSJ and the CEO of the parent company Dow Jones, expressed ‘regret’ in a statement hours after the expulsions were announced. Lewis said that the opinion and news divisions of the Journal are separate entities.
“The news department’s role is to provide facts and analysis, while the Opinion department’s role is to provide opinion and commentary. They are separately staffed,” Lewis said.
“Our opinion pages regularly publish articles with opinions that people disagree – or agree with – and it was not our intention to cause offense with the headline on the piece. However, this has clearly caused upset and concern amongst the Chinese people, which we regret,” he added.
Agencies