NYT Calls for Reinstatement of Journalist Expelled From China as US Retaliates

Brian Zak/Sipa Press via AP Images

The New York Times called for its journalist to be reinstated, after her expulsion from China triggered retaliation from the U.S.

Beijing-based reporter Vivian Wang was issued an expulsion order in February, after the Taiwanese president spoke at an event held by the Times via video. Wang was not involved in the event. Though Chinese officials claimed Wangs expulsion was solely over the video appearance, the Times cited months of other reasons in their report on the subject.

“Chinese officials had complained for months about Ms. Wang’s coverage, which focused on the lives of ordinary Chinese people and often addressed sensitive matters such as censorship, Beijing’s unpopular response to the coronavirus pandemic and the steady expansion of China’s security state,” the report reads.

Executive Editor Joseph Kahn called for Wang’s reinstatement in a statement issued on Friday.

“The Chinese government’s decision to expel Vivian Wang is wrong,” the statement read, noting that the move followed “a campaign of harassment and threats directed at her over professional, accurate and even-handed reporting on the expansion of the Chinese security apparatus and its handling of the Covid epidemic.”

It also reflects a drastic reduction in the ability of reporters from America’s leading news organizations to live in and report on China. The number of correspondents from American media outlets allowed to work in China has now fallen to an alarmingly low level, at a time when the need for people everywhere to understand China is greater than ever.

The New York Times has been reporting on China since the 1850s, and we remain committed to covering the country fully and fairly with correspondents based in China and around the region.

President Donald Trump’s administration revoked a U.S.-based Chinese journalist’s visa after Wang was expelled in a move that a spokesperson for the Times claimed was not requested by the outlet. The move came just months before the president’s trip to China, which saw him heap praise on Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Kahn’s statement notes the U.S. retaliation to China’s move, calling on both governments to reinstate the reporters and “reverse this deterioration in journalist access.”

Neither the Chinese Embassy in Washington nor the U.S. State Department responded to requests for comment from the Times. 

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