BEIJING – China firmly opposes the United States' move, out of so-called "reciprocity," to engage in political suppression against journalists from Xinhua News Agency working legally in the US, China's Foreign Ministry said Monday.

The ministry's spokesperson Lin Jian made the remarks at a regular news briefing when asked about The New York Times' assertion that its journalist was deported from China.

"During the time the journalist was stationed in China, she had a track record of deceiving people into unknowingly taking interviews, and violated the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on News Coverage by Permanent Offices of Foreign Media Organizations and Foreign Journalists. Her residence permit was thus revoked as dictated by laws and regulations," Lin said.

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The New York Times provided platform for Taiwan authorities to peddle separatist rhetoric for "Taiwan independence", and blatantly called China's Taiwan region a "country". This grossly violates the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, and sends a gravely wrong signal to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces. China firmly opposes it, Lin said.

"The New York Times should correct its wrongdoings rather than continue down the wrong path," Lin noted.

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The facts and merits of the issue of media between China and the US are clear. The root cause is the US side's unilaterally stirring up trouble, and politicizing issues related to media, Lin added.

China always provides facilitation for foreign journalists as they report and live in China. In recent years, China has shown flexibility and provided visa facilitation for quite a few US journalists coming to China to do reporting, whereas Chinese journalists' applications for reporting in the US have rarely been approved, the spokesperson said.

"The US side should earnestly implement the understanding reached with China on media issues and take concrete actions to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese journalists who work and stay in the United States," Lin said.