U-S, China To Ease Restrictions on Journalists

The United States and China announced an agreement on Tuesday to ease restrictions on foreign journalists operating in the two countries, tempering a diplomatic confrontation that led to the expulsion of some American reporters from China during the last year of the Trump administration.

The NY Times reports that the agreement, which was made public just a day after President Biden met with President Xi Jinping of China, three news organizations — The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The New York Times — will be allowed to send journalists back to China, though it remained unclear whether the specific correspondents expelled last year will be permitted to return to work there.

The United States, which had limited visas for Chinese journalists to 90 days, will provide yearlong visas for the foreign reporters, renewable annually. Both countries agreed to make it easier for journalists to come and go from the countries without fear of losing the ability to return to work.

American officials described the agreement as a result of months of negotiations aimed at resolving some of the escalating tensions between the two superpowers as they maneuver for economic power and public relations superiority around the globe.

Almar Latour, the publisher of The Journal, said in a statement that “we’re encouraged by the reported direction of these negotiations and continue to believe that independent, accurate reporting from within China serves our readers and serves China itself.”

A spokeswoman for The Times did not have any immediate comment on reports of the new agreement regarding journalists. A spokeswoman for The Post declined to comment.

China has for years sought to impose restrictions on American journalists who aggressively covered the government’s activities. Chinese officials shortened the length of visas for journalists working for American news organizations in an effort to dissuade the reporters from writing critically about the country for fear of being forced out.

But tensions over the issue of journalists intensified in early 2020, as former President Donald J. Trump escalated his rhetoric about the Chinese origin of the coronavirus and limited the number of Chinese citizens who were allowed to work in the United States for Chinese state-owned media organizations that are widely believed to be propaganda outlets.