China expels three Wall Street Journal reporters

China has expelled three U.S.-based journalists for The Wall Street Journal after its foreign ministry deemed an op-ed in the newspaper referred to the country with a “racist” headline.

A statement obtained by multiple news outlets from China’s foreign ministry blamed the expulsions on an opinion piece written by Walter Russell Mead titled “China is the Real Sick Man of Asia,” a reference to the ongoing outbreak of a new form of coronavirus in the country.

“The Chinese people do not welcome media that publish racist statements and maliciously attacks China,” spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters, according to Reuters. “In light of this, China has decided to revoke the press cards of the three Wall Street Journal correspondents in Beijing starting today.”

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“However, regrettably, what the [Journal] has done so far is nothing but parrying and dodging its responsibility. It has neither issued an official apology nor informed us of what it plans to do with the persons involved,” Geng added.

China’s announcement was immediately condemned by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China. The group, which represents foreign journalists in China, in a statement to The Washington Post called the expulsions “an extreme and obvious attempt by the Chinese authorities to intimidate foreign news organizations.”

“Many of those evicted from China are fair and talented journalists who worked hard to bring unbiased, informative reports to their audiences and to understand China,” the organization added, referring to all journalists expelled by China in recent years.

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The expulsions followed a decision by the Trump administration to designate several Chinese media companies as de facto arms of the government in Beijing.