US TAGS MAJOR CHINESE MEDIA OUTLETS AS FOREIGN MISSIONS

The United States said on Monday it will start treating four major Chinese media outlets as foreign embassies, alleging they are mouthpieces for Beijing, in a move that is likely to further sour already fraught ties between the world’s top two economies, David Brunnstrom and Humeyra Pamuk wrote for Reuters on June 23, 2020.

David Stilwell, the senior US diplomat for East Asia, told reporters the designation would affect China Central Television, the China News Service, the People’s Daily and the Global Times, and reflected their real status as “propaganda outlets” under the control of the Chinese Communist Party.

“The Communist Party does not just exercise operational control over these propaganda entities, but it has full editorial control over their content,” Stilwell said in a teleconference with reporters.

China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.