WASHINGTON _ The U.S. designated four more Chinese media companies as "foreign missions," doubling down on a strategy aimed at calling attention to President Xi Jinping's increasingly restrictive controls over news organizations.
The State Department's foreign mission designation means reporters in the U.S. for the four news organizations will essentially be treated as Chinese government diplomats, with requirements that their employers detail their numbers and identities. It also imposes constraints on visas and acquiring property.
The media outlets covered were China Central Television, the People's Daily, China News Service and the Global Times, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia David Stilwell told reporters.
The move echoes a decision in February to tag five other Chinese state news organizations with the designation. It's part of a more aggressive strategy under the Trump administration to call out what it sees as Chinese government abuses against the media and other human rights abuses.
Stilwell said he wasn't able to say how many reporters would be included in the latest designation. The last time the U.S. took such action, China responded by kicking out some American correspondents with The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and other outlets and forced at least seven Chinese nationals working for them to resign.
