No Chinese journalists in US allowed visa renewal since May: Chinese foreign ministry

China's foreign ministry said today that no Chinese journalists in the United States have had their application for visa renewal approved since May.

"The US on one hand is boasting freedom of journalism, on the other hand is hindering and interfering with Chinese journalists reporting in the US," China's foreign ministry official Wang Wenbin said.

The Chinese foreign ministry official said that no journalist was given a visa extension since May 11 limiting their stay to 90 days.

The Chiese foreign ministry said that the US move was "hypocrisy of freedom of journalism" calling it "pure bullying" and "double standards". The Chinese foreign ministry said the US was responsible for the current situation while asserting that "China will take a necessary and legitimate response to safeguard its rights."

Meanwhile, China's state-run Global Times said Global Times newspaper said that US journalists in Hong Kong would be targeted if Chinese journalists are forced to leave the United States. 

The US had earlier cut the number of  Chinese nationals working in Chinese state-owned media companies to 100 from 160. China, in turn, had expelled journalists working for the Washington Post, New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

The New York Times had said earlier that it was moving its digital news hub from Hong Kong to South Korea amid the national security law row in Hong Kong. NYT is set to move at least one-third of its Hong Kong employees to South Korea by 2021.

The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China had said that several journalists had experienced interference or harassment while reporting in China.