Trump administration tightens visas for Chinese reporters

The Trump administration is tightening visa guidelines for Chinese journalists in response to the treatment of US journalists in China, as tensions flare between the two nations over the coronavirus.

The Department of Homeland Security has issued new regulations, set to take effect Monday, that will limit visas for Chinese reporters to 90 days. There is a potential to extend the visa.

Those visas previously didn't have to be extended unless the employee switched companies, and they were considered open-ended.

The regulations don't apply to journalists from Hong Kong or Macau, two territories considered semiautonomous, according to the regulations published Friday in the Federal Register.

The agency noted what it called China's suppression of independent journalism , " including an increasing lack of transparency."