This file photo shows Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian at a regular press conference on March 5, 2020, in Beijing, China. (PHOTO COURTESY OF FOREIGN MINISTRY OF THE PRC)

BEIJING - China on Monday expressed strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to the US decision to shorten visas for Chinese journalists to a 90-day period.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a press briefing. He demanded the United States to correct its wrongdoing immediately, saying that otherwise China will have to take countermeasures.

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Zhao Lijian demanded the United States to correct its wrongdoing immediately, saying that otherwise China will have to take countermeasures

Zhao said that for a while, the US has been so entrenched in the Cold War mentality and ideological bias that it has launched one round of suppression after another against Chinese media.

In December 2018, the United States demanded a Chinese media organization's US office to register as "foreign agent," said Zhao, adding that since 2018, the United States has denied visa applications for more than 20 US-based Chinese journalists without cause.

In February 2020, the United States designated five Chinese media organizations in the US as "foreign missions" and then placed a cap on the number of their staff, in effect expelling 60 Chinese journalists.

"Now it is resorting to the discriminatory restrictive visa measures, severely disrupting Chinese media' normal reporting activities in the US and affecting bilateral people-to-people cultural exchange," Zhao said.

The US keeps talking about reciprocity, but most US journalists in China are issued press cards and residence permits with one-year validity. In contrast, under the new rule issued by the US, Chinese journalists can only get visas allowing a stay of not more than 90 days.

"Is there any reciprocity in this?" he asked.

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"The United States prides itself on press freedom and media transparency, but why is it so afraid of Chinese media's reports?" Zhao asked.

The very nature of the "reciprocity" the US is claiming is prejudice, discrimination and intolerance toward Chinese media, and its excuse to escalate political suppression against Chinese media, he added. 

Media should not spread fake news

Zhao also refuted a German media report that China requested the World Health Organization (WHO) to hide information about COVID-19 and urged relevant media to stop spreading fake news.

Zhao made the remarks after Der Spiegel magazine reported that a Chinese leader spoke with the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Jan. 21 and asked him to delay calling COVID-19 a pandemic and hold back information about human-to-human transmission.

"The Chinese leader did not speak to Tedros on Jan. 21, and the WHO has already fully clarified the related details," Zhao said, expressing hope that relevant media should adhere to the professional ethics of the press and stop spreading fake news.