US-China Friction Escalates After Trump-Xi Meeting: Journalists Expelled, Linked to President Lai

(CNA, Washington, 29th) The US Trump administration has revoked the visa of a Chinese national working in the US for China's state-run Xinhua News Agency, in an apparent retaliatory move against Beijing's earlier decision to expel a New York Times reporter. The Associated Press reported that a person familiar with the matter confirmed the visa had been revoked. Due to visa privacy, the person requested anonymity. US State Department officials also confirmed that there was a plan to revoke the visa. This tit-for-tat move by the Trump administration occurred after Beijing expelled New York Times China correspondent Vivian Wang, apparently because Taiwan President Lai Ching-te attended a New York Times "DealBook Summit" event, although Wang did not participate in the event. This is a rare case of the US government directly retaliating against Beijing for expelling American journalists. The New York Times, which first reported the US government's reciprocal action, stated that it would not ask the government to revoke media credentials or otherwise interfere with any journalist's work. The NYT issued a statement today calling for the restoration of Wang's press credentials in China and urging the US and Chinese governments to "reverse this deterioration in reporting access." Joseph Kahn, managing editor of the NYT, stated in a statement on the company's website: "The Chinese government's decision to expel Vivian Wang is wrong. Her expulsion will make it harder for our global readers to get accurate, independent, and in-depth reporting on the world's second-largest economy at this critical time." The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. As Wang left China, the number of US media personnel stationed there had already become quite sparse due to previous rounds of disputes over press credentials, leaving several US news organizations with only skeleton staff in their China bureaus. Kahn wrote: "The number of US media correspondents currently authorized to work in China has fallen to a worryingly low level, at a time when people around the world need to understand China more than ever."