The Trump administration is capping the number of Chinese nationals allowed to work at the five main Chinese media outlets in the US, citing Beijing’s harassment, surveillance and intimidation of foreign media in China.
The media outlets, which include China’s official news agency Xinhua, will be required to reduce their total number of Chinese nationals employed in the US from 160 to 100 by March 13. They must submit the names of those who will stop working for them to the US state department by Friday.
Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, said in a statement: “For years, the government of the People’s Republic of China has imposed increasingly harsh surveillance, harassment and intimidation against American and other foreign journalists operating in China.