The United States and China have reached an agreement to relax visa restrictions on each countries foreign reporters, per The New York Times.
“We are gratified their correspondents will be able to return to the PRC to continue their important work,” the State Department said in a statement. “We welcome this progress but see it simply as initial steps.”
Former President Donald J. Trump’s tensions with China were at the core of the restrictions following his comments regarding the coronavirus and how it originated, resulting in China expelling journalists working for the three American papers.
Trump would respond by limiting Chinese journalists to 90-day visas to work in the United States.
Despite news breaking on Tuesday, both parties have been cooperating for months and agree to give journalists eligible under the countries’ laws yearlong visas that are renewable.
“They were trying to find some area where they could show some concrete progress,” Orville Schell, the director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society, said. “They decided that this was a good one.”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
