Thread by @StephenMcDonell

Wow! All #US journalists working for New York Times, Wall St Journal and the Washington Post (who’s credentials expire this year) to be expelled from #China. They have 10 days to leave. #Beijing has just announced.

I’m not sue if the removal of #China press credentials for #US journalists working for NYT, WSJ and WaPo also technically means automatic removal of their visas but no credentials means no work here in mainland China, #HongKong or #Macao.

BTW the wording of the statement seems to mean that these #China mainland-based #US correspondents after being effectively expelled won’t be able to work in #HongKong and #Macao, not that reporters based in #HongKong and #Macao are also to be chucked out, if I understand it right

Does this mean only single-entry visas for #US journalists in #China? “In response to the discriminatory restrictions US has imposed on Chinese journalists with regard to visa, administrative review and reporting, China will take reciprocal measures against American journalists”

Given some of the moronic comments following these latest journalist expulsions from people who wouldn’t know what it’s like to live in a country without a free press here’s the 2019 working conditions report from the Foreign Correspondent’sClub of #China:

https://twitter.com/fccchina/status/1234282375464357890?s=21

In terms of these latest expulsions it could mean 10 days for these #US journalists to hand over their press cards which you need to work in #China then a certain number of days to have visas cancelled? Or the government might just cancel their visas as well at the 10 day mark?

In case you missed... All #US passport holding correspondents working for New York Times, Wall St Journal and the Washington Post (who’s credentials expire this year) to be expelled from #China. Also can’t work in #HongKong #Macao. They have 10 days to hand over their press cards

Some have asked why #China has expelled all these #US journalists. There’s been a tit-for-tat battle going on between #Washington & #Beijing on this front. You restrict in this way - we restrict in that. With this one though the Chinese Government is in a no lose position [cont]

If every Chinese foreign correspondent was kicked out of the #US and every American correspondent was kicked out of #China, then #Beijing would regard that as a net win. Ultimately they couldn’t care less what stories the Communist Party’s media writes about the #US but... [cont]

They hate the actual journalism being done in #China by #US reporters. The idea of a 4th estate shining light where there’s darkness is alien. They’d rather smash the lights so “bodies can be buried” in the dark if need be + anything short of gushing propaganda is seen as useless

The other feeling amongst some in #China’s political elite is that the foreign press is not needed now to get messages out because government officials can take to platforms, like this one, blocked for Chinese people but which allow them to spread flat out propaganda globally...

Besides President Trump has done all the hard work for the Chinese Government by running down the legitimate free press in the #US on a daily basis making it much easier for #China’s leaders to get away with yet more expulsions, especially at a time of global crisis.

And Xi Jinping also probably thinks that ultimately Donald Trump couldn’t care less whether real stories are being done about #China because he’s shown a distain for real stories being done anywhere, especially in the #US. They know President Trump would prefer a propaganda model

So now we’re left with a slide in transparency in #China; an ever deteriorating openness under Xi Jinping; increased misunderstanding and conspiracy-mongering between the #US and #China at time when we desperately need global co-operation to fight the #coronavirus.

And if you’re in any doubt that Donald Trump has made it easier for Xi Jinping to do this just look at some of the comments to elements of this thread. Despots around the world have followed the Trump model: just dismiss anything you don’t like as “fake” so no need to address it.

In the end, this all leads to less global understanding and less accountability at a time of international crisis. #China #USA

Statement from the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of #China regarding the mass expulsion of correspondents from the #USA...

https://twitter.com/fccchina/status/1240132519346999301?s=21

https://twitter.com/fccchina/status/1240132519346999301

#Egypt to expel a correspondent from the Guardian who questioned the official #coronavirus figures there. #covid19