Tension between China and the United States over coronavirus pandemic continue to escalate after Beijing revoked the credentials of major American outlets operating in their country.
In a sharp and dramatic escalation, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that journalists working for the New York Times (NYT), the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal need to "hand back their press cards within ten calendar days.
The ministry said the scribes will not be allowed to continue working as journalists in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong and the special administrative district of Macau.
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The two economic superpowers have publicly clashed over statements about the origin of the coronavirus, a disease US President Donald Trump has been referring in his tweets as "Chinese virus."
On the other hand, China has issued statements seeming to insinuate that the deadly coronavirus may have been taken to China by the United States.
But China's Foreign ministry's actions are in retaliation to the US restricting the number of staff Chinese state-run media outlets are allowed to have in the US.
The US restricted the number to 100, saying that the media outlets under the Chinese regime are essentially an arm of the Chinese government are used for propaganda purposes.
According to the NYT, the new limits the Trump administration imposed forced 60 Chinese employees of the state-run outlets to leave the United States.
In their announcement to expel American journalists, Beijing accused the US of being driven by a ''Cold War mentality.''
NYT condemned the expulsion of their reporters from China, calling the decision irresponsible.
“It is critical that the governments of the United States and China move quickly to resolve this dispute and allow journalists to do the important work of informing the public,'' Dean Baquet, the NYT executive editor said.
