China on Wednesday defended its decision to expel about 13 American journalists from three major US newspapers, saying it was "compelled" to take countermeasures after Washington classified Chinese state media outlets as “foreign missions”.
The Chinese government announced that all journalists of US citizenship working with the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post whose credentials were up for renewal this year would have to surrender their press cards within 10 days. Defending the decision, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media briefing here on Wednesday that China was "compelled to take countermeasures" to a US move last month to classify Chinese state media organisations as foreign missions and the expulsion of Chinese journalists in the United States.