US reporters leave after China revokes credentials

Three American journalists flew out of Beijing on Saturday after the Chinese government revoked their press credentials.

The government effectively expelled about a dozen reporters last week working for the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and the New York Times.

Wall Street Journal reporters Julie Wernau, Stu Woo and Stephanie Yang were seen off by bureau chief Jonathan Cheng.

"Way too soon, way too soon," said Cheng as he hugged Woo at the airport.

Without media credentials, Beijing is in effect expelling the American journalists.

China said in a statement posted Saturday that an open letter from the three newspapers requesting the reporters be allowed to stay should have been sent to the US government, saying its move was in response to recent restrictions put on Chinese state media in the US.

It is the latest in a series of tit-for-tat actions by the two governments as the Trump administration takes a more confrontational stance in dealing with China than his predecessors.

The countries remain enmeshed in a trade war despite a recent truce and have traded angry words over the coronavirus pandemic that first emerged in China and has spread worldwide.

The Chinese foreign ministry said the expulsion of the American reporters was a reciprocal response to the Trump administration's designation of five Chinese media outlets as foreign missions and restricting the number of Chinese who could work for them.

At the airport, the WSJ colleagues hugged, posed for group photos and said their goodbyes.