China: three Wall Street Journal correspondents expelled over an opinion headline

Published 2026-09-23. Last reviewed 2026-09-22. 3 sources.

Status: in effect, as of 2026-09-22.

What we don't know: It is not stated in the source reviewed whether any of the three journalists were later permitted to return to China on assignment.

China's foreign ministry expelled three Wall Street Journal correspondents and revoked their press credentials after an opinion column, unrelated to their own reporting, used a headline the ministry called offensive.¹²³

Country: China (RSF 2026 rank: 178th of 180)
Where: CN
Level of government: National
Tactic: Access bans
Stage: Punish (see the ladder)
Ladder note: Working correspondents were expelled from the country over content written by someone outside their newsroom, not barred from one building or event.
Head of government at the time: Xi Jinping
Issue of the day: The Wall Street Journal had published an opinion column on February 3, 2020, by an outside scholar, headlined "China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia," about the economic effects of the coronavirus outbreak.
Outcome: Sustained, February 19, 2020. The three journalists' press credentials were revoked and the expulsion carried out; no reversal is reported in the source reviewed.
Era: The 2020s

What happened

On February 19, 2020, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs ordered three Wall Street Journal correspondents in Beijing, deputy bureau chief Josh Chin and reporters Chao Deng and Philip Wen, to leave the country within five days and revoked their press credentials. The order came more than two weeks after the newspaper ran an opinion column by an outside academic, Hudson Institute scholar Walter Russell Mead, under the headline "China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia," discussing the coronavirus outbreak's economic effects. None of the three expelled journalists had written or edited the column. Foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang called the headline "racist" and cited it as the basis for the expulsions. The Wall Street Journal's own reporters had separately criticized the headline as a poor editorial choice, but the paper declined to apologize on the newsroom's behalf for a piece written by an unrelated outside contributor.¹²³

The expulsions were carried out as ordered; the source reviewed does not report any reversal.¹²³

What reason was given

Foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang characterized the opinion headline as "racist" and cited it as the basis for revoking the journalists' press credentials.¹

What changed for reporting

Three working Wall Street Journal correspondents lost their accreditation and were made to leave China within five days over content that none of them had written, reducing the paper's Beijing reporting capacity during the early coronavirus outbreak.¹²³

Timeline

2020

February 19, 2020

China: three Wall Street Journal correspondents expelled over an opinion headline

Who acted

Name	Role in this incident	Office at the time
Geng Shuang	ordered	Spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Xi Jinping	other	President of China

Outlets and journalists

Name	Kind	Relation
The Wall Street Journal	outlet	affected
Chao Deng	journalist, The Wall Street Journal	affected
Josh Chin	journalist, The Wall Street Journal	affected
Philip Wen	journalist, The Wall Street Journal	affected

Sources

China expels 3 Wall Street Journal journalists over opinion headlineCommittee to Protect Journalists, 2020-02-19, reporting. Source record
Factbox: Foreign journalists forced to leave China as diplomatic tensions worsenReuters, 2020-09-08, reporting. Source record
China journalist association blasts US visa limitsAssociated Press, 2020-03-06, reporting. Source record

Claims cited

Geng Shuang called the opinion headline racist and used it as the basis for the expulsion order. China's expulsion of three accredited correspondents in reaction to what it sees as an offensive headline makes the country appear less like a confident rising power than a thin-skinned bully China expels 3 Wall Street Journal journalists over opinion headline, Committee to Protect Journalists, 2020-02-19. Claim 497, checked 2026-09-22.
China's foreign ministry ordered three named Wall Street Journal correspondents to leave the country over the headline. Josh Chin (Deputy bureau chief), Chao Deng (Reporter), Philip Wen (Reporter) China expels 3 Wall Street Journal journalists over opinion headline, Committee to Protect Journalists, 2020-02-19. Claim 562, checked 2026-09-22.
The triggering opinion column ran under the headline about the coronavirus outbreak's economic effects, written by an outside scholar rather than any of the three expelled correspondents. China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia China expels 3 Wall Street Journal journalists over opinion headline, Committee to Protect Journalists, 2020-02-19. Claim 563, checked 2026-09-22.