Vice President Biden Faults China on Foreign Press Crackdown

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. took up the cause of foreign journalists facing banishment from China for news coverage, publicly criticizing the Chinese government’s pressure campaign and privately raising the problems with President Xi Jinping.

Vice President Biden also met with correspondents based in China from several news organizations mainly affected by the crackdown, most notably The New York Times and Bloomberg News. The Chinese government has held up renewing the visas of roughly two dozen correspondents from The Times and Bloomberg after each published investigative articles about the wealth of the families of top Chinese leaders. Without new visas, the reporters will be forced to leave China, as soon as within the next few weeks. In a speech to American business people, a day after he met with Mr. Xi, the vice president said the United States had “profound disagreements” with China’s “treatment of U.S. journalists.” “Innovation thrives where people breathe freely, speak freely, are able to challenge orthodoxy, where newspapers can report the truth without fear of consequences,” Vice President Biden said.