Australian reporter expelled from China over 'triggering' article
An Australian journalist and two US colleagues have been ejected from China as a diplomatic row continues over a newspaper article that has angered the Chinese government.
Beijing said on Wednesday it would expel the three Wall Street Journal reporters following an article it deemed “racist” which questioned the stability of China’s economy in the wake of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
The article, published earlier this month, was titled “China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia”. It argued that due to large state debt, “massive malfeasance by local officials” and an expanding property bubble, the country was ripe “for a massive economic correction”.
The Australian journalist, identified by the Journal as Philip Wen, as well as the paper’s deputy bureau chief in Beijing, Josh Chin, and reporter Chao Deng were ordered to leave the country within five days.
While China keeps an iron fist grip over the domestic media, it is the first time in more than two decades that working foreign correspondents have been expelled, according to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China.
The US news organisation's editor-in-chief Matt Murray decried the move as a “harsh and unprecedented action" and said “we will continue in the coming days to push for this action to be reversed.”
Meanwhile the Trump administration weighed in by suggesting China’s reaction was immature, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denouncing the expulsion as an attack on free speech.
“Mature, responsible countries understand that a free press reports facts and expresses opinions. The correct response is to present counter arguments, not restrict speech,” he said.
The real reason behind China’s angry response
None of the journalists to be kicked out had anything to do with the story that ostensibly prompted the move. But there is a greater context to China’s angry response as it comes just a day after the US labelled five Chinese government controlled media publications as foreign functionaries.
It means they’re subject to the same rules for diplomats stationed in the US, in effect, publicly highlighting them as outlets of propaganda.
The outlets singled out by the Trump administration were Xinhua, CGTN, China Radio, China Daily and People’s Daily.
In his reporting, Philip Wen had also worked on a number of stories critical of the Chinese government and the Communist Party’s influence campaigns in foreign countries.
The role of China’s western-facing media outlets has been a contentious issue in Australia recently.
Last week, Nine News political editor Chris Uhlmann hit out at his own employer for running a China Daily partnership in its Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
Speaking to The Australian, he described the relationship which has run since 2016, as “extremely disturbing”.
“I’ve made it clear that I’ve found it an extremely disturbing development that Communist Party propaganda has the apparent endorsement of an Australian media organisation,” he said.
Always exciting when the monthly China Daily insert appears in the Sydney Morning Herald. As it so rightly says “All You Need to Know”… pic.twitter.com/kbkOhKowvH
— Chris Uhlmann (@CUhlmann) February 13, 2020
Journal declines to apologise, ‘regrets’ any offence
The February 3 op-ed by Bard College Professor Walter Russel Mead was also critical of the early response to coronavirus by the local Hubei government.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang released a statement saying it “smears the efforts of the Chinese government and people on fighting the epidemic”.
“The editors used such a racially discriminatory title, triggering indignation and condemnation among the Chinese people and the international community,” he said in a statement.
He said the expulsions came after the Journal refused demands to “make an official apology and hold the persons involved accountable”.
In a subsequent article the Wall Street Journal defended its right to print such op-eds but said it “regrets” any offence caused.
The term “sick man of Asia” was originally used to describe China more than a century ago when it suffered internal divisions and was forced to accept unequal treaties with European powers.
The “sick man of Europe” has been used historically to refer to the Ottoman Empire and the Journal titled a May 2019 opinion piece “The Sick Man of Europe Is Europe”.
Like most foreign media, the Wall Street Journal is unavailable within China and its website and stories are blocked by online censors.
with AAP
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