Incident details
- Date of incident
- May 29, 2026
- Location
- Washington, District of Columbia
- Targets
- Xinhua News Agency [China]
A U.S.-based reporter for the Xinhua News Agency had their visa revoked by the Trump administration on May 29, 2026. Above, Xinhua’s Hong Kong bureau, damaged during 2019 protests.
The Trump administration revoked the visa of a reporter for China’s official state-owned Xinhua News Agency on May 29, 2026, following China’s expulsion of a New York Times correspondent.
The Times’ China correspondent, Vivian Wang, previously based in Beijing, was ordered to leave the country in February 2026. According to the paper, Chinese officials cited the Taiwanese president’s video appearance at a Times event, in which Wang had no role, as the reason.
In response, the U.S. Department of State revoked the visa of an unnamed Xinhua reporter, the Times reported.
A State Department official told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker the administration would not accept attempts by the Chinese authorities to silence U.S. media and what they characterized as a lack of reciprocity for U.S. media in China.
The State Department has previously taken aim at Xinhua’s presence in the U.S. In 2020, the Tracker reported that the department had designated Xinhua as a foreign mission, along with 14 other Chinese media outlets. A month later, the news agency was ordered to reduce the number of Chinese nationals on its U.S. staff by 40%.
The latest expulsion was condemned by a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry in a June 1, 2026, news conference, according to Reuters. “The facts and circumstances surrounding media issues between China and the United States are crystal-clear: the root cause lies in the U.S. side’s unilateral provocation and politicisation of media matters,” said spokesperson Lin Jian.
Xinhua did not respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogs press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
