US puts new limits on journalists from China state-run media

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration is limiting the number of journalists from five Chinese state-run media outlets who can work in the United States.

A State Department announcement Monday cited China's increasingly harsh surveillance, harassment and intimidation of American and other foreign journalists in China for an action that comes amid efforts by foreign governments to influence US politics through state media.

It said the US was not planning to place any restrictions on the content of the media but that the administration was seeking ''reciprocity'' and a ''level playing field,'' in an apparent reference to the Chinese restrictions on visas for journalists from American outlets.

The announcement did not specify the number of Chinese journalists who would be allowed to work at outlets that include the Xinhua News Agency and China Global Television Network.

Last month, the administration designated those two organizations and three others as foreign missions, requiring the agencies to register their properties and employees in the US The State Department said that was in recognition of the fact that that ''they are effectively controlled'' by the Chinese government. (AP)