Washington, October 21: The US State Department on Wednesday designated six media companies as "foreign missions". The organisations which have been blacklisted are headquartered in China. The move comes amid the ongoing diplomatic tensions between Washington and Beijing. US Elections 2020: Joe Biden Could be Soft on China; Not Good for India, Says Donald Trump Jr.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, while announcing the negative designation of the six media companies, said the US administration would not take any action against them as of now. The designation process is only aimed at alerting the American readers, and helping them in differentiating news from the Chinese propaganda.

Names of The Six Chinese Media Companies, Check List

  • Yicai Global

  • Jiefang Daily

  • Xinmin Evening News

  • Social Sciences in China Press

  • Beijing Review

  • Economic Daily

"Pursuant to authorities under Foreign Missions Act State Dept is issuing new determination designating US ops of Yicai Global, Jiefang Daily, Xinmin Evening News, Social Sciences in China Press, Beijing Review, Economic Daily as foreign missions," said State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus.

"These 6 entities meet the definition of a foreign mission under Foreign Missions Act in that they're 'substantially owned or effectively controlled' by a foreign government. In this case, they're effectively controlled by the government of the People’s Republic of China," Ortagus added.

Pompeo, during his press address, reiterated the point by stating that these media organisations are substantially owned or effectively controlled by a foreign government - in this case, the Communist Party of China.

"We're not placing any restrictions on what these outlets can publish in the US. We simply want to ensure that American people can differentiate between news written by a free press and propaganda distributed by Chinese Communist Party itself. They're not the same thing," Pompeo added.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 21, 2020 10:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).