China accuses US of 'political discrimination', threatens 'legitimate' response

In the latest development in deteriorating US-China relations, Beijing has accused Washinton of “political discrimination” against its media personnel. During a press briefing on August 7, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin also threatened the United States that if it continues to take a similar approach, the Asian superpower will “make necessary reactions”. According to Wang, China welcomes media as well as journalists from across the globe even the ones coming from America to work in accordance with the law. He also noted that the nation will continue to assist them in performing their job.

The US had designated four more Chinese media organisations as foreign diplomatic missions saying that they are under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. These included China Central Television, China News Service, People's Daily and the Global Times that the US asked to report the details of their staff in the country along with US real estate holdings. US State Department official reportedly said that the media organisations were ‘not independent news organisations’ and their action aimed at increasing the transparency on the control of information. 

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US ‘will end up  hurting’

Wang Wenbin also said that the United States President Donald Trump administration places its “self-interests” over the principles of the market as well as the international policies. This according to China further harms the US citizens and companies and in the long run, Washington will “end up hurting” its interested. Wang made the remarks after Trump signed an executive order banning American transactions with WeChat and TikTok’s parent company ByteDance in 45 days.

The orders came after Trump administration said earlier this week that it is gearing up to purge the “untrusted” Chinese apps from America’s digital networks and called Chinese-owned video-sharing social networking service and messenger app as “significant threats”.

Chinese foreign ministry said that it firmly rejects the Trump’s executive orders and accused the latter of “political manipulation”. According to reports, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a media briefing that Beijing will protect the nation’s legitimate rights and interests of Chinese businesses.

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