SHANGHAI: China will take retaliatory measures should all Chinese journalists based in the United States be forced to leave the country, including targeting US journalists in Hong Kong, Global Times Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin said on Tuesday (Aug 4).
"Given that the US side hasn't renewed visa of Chinese journalists, Chinese side has prepared for the worst scenario that all Chinese journalists have to leave the US," Hu said in a statement on Twitter.
READ: China, US trade tit-for-tat visa curbs over Tibet
READ: US will restrict visas for some Chinese officials over Tibet, Pompeo says
"If that's the case, Chinese side will retaliate, including targeting US journalists based in HK."
The Global Times newspaper is published by the People's Daily, the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party.
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On Jun 22, the United States changed the status of four more Chinese state media organisations, denouncing them as propaganda outlets, renewing a feud with Beijing.
China Central Television, the China News Service, the People's Daily and the Global Times were reclassified as foreign missions rather than media outlets in the United States, adding to five others designated in February.
The five organisations that were earlier designated - Xinhua news agency, the China Global Television Network, China Radio International and the US distributor of the People's Daily - were ordered to cut by nearly half the Chinese nationals working for them.
Beijing hit back by expelling US citizens working for three major newspapers - The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
On Feb 19, China threw out three reporters from The Wall Street Journal - two US nationals and an Australian - over what it deemed a racist headline on an opinion piece in its harshest move against international media in years.