Beijing announced today, Wednesday, that it will withdraw the work permit granted to three of the American "Wall Street Journal" reporters who know on the Chinese mainland, in the largest expulsion China has made towards foreign media in recent years.
The American newspaper "New York Times" considered China's move a dangerous escalation in the pressure exerted by Beijing on foreign media.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said the decision came after the "Wall Street Journal" published an article earlier in which it described China as "the sick Asian man."
Beijing considered that the article contained serious errors, asking the journalist to apologize.
On February 3, the Wall Street Journal published an article by Walter Mead, titled "China is the Real Sick Man of Asia", in which he said that the tremendous Chinese strength was insulted by the "bat virus", referring to the Corona virus.
The writer added that China's response to the virus was not as required, and instead shifted to concealing the true size of the crisis, before concluding that China's strength remains fragile.
What raises the question is the timing of the decision, which came more than two weeks after the publication of the article.
The United States announced, yesterday evening, that 5 Chinese media organizations operating in the United States are considered an extension of the Chinese government.
Among the Chinese media organizations are the Xinhua News Agency and China Radio International.