Top stories in the Russian press on Friday, February 28
— Read on tass.com/pressreview/1124717

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Beijing, Washington embark on tit-for-tat media battle

The United States and China have entered into a tit-for-tat conflict as far as the media goes. In response to the expulsion of Wall Street Journal reporters from China, the White House plans to get back at Chinese media outlets working in the US. The visas of up to a dozen of Chinese journalists may be cancelled. Beijing has vowed to take retaliatory steps, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes.

Deputy Director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations Alexander Lomanov told the paper that “the media fray clearly shows that relations between the US and China have plunged to a serious low because all this is happening amid the coronavirus outbreak.” “China is going through tough times. The country’s authorities are fighting the virus, at the same time trying to hold the economy together. And the Americans choose this particular moment to designate a number of Chinese state media outlets as foreign agents,” he added.

The move comes amid an anti-China campaign in the Western media. “They allege either that China’s one-party system is ineffective, which is why the epidemic broke out, or that the authorities are infringing on people’s freedom by putting them under quarantine,” the expert pointed out.

The last straw came with a Wall Street Journal article that labeled China “the real sick man of Asia.” Beijing took it as an insult referring to the humiliation China had to endure in the late 19th and early 20th century.

“This is why I am pessimistic about the future of US-China relations. The Chinese are used to propaganda wars and they understand that their achievements don’t make America happy. However, the fact that Washington’s information attack came at such a time will keep torturing their minds,” Lomanov emphasized.