China's expulsion of foreign journalists looms US Vice-President Joe Biden raised concerns about US journalists' working visas with Xi Jinping during a visit to Beijing. Beijing: Will China really follow through on its threat to expel two dozen foreign journalists from The New York Times and Bloomberg? The longer the impasse drags on, the more likely it is that this extreme scenario could materialise. Authorities are withholding what are usually routine visa renewals from the correspondents of the two major news organisations, part of a wider campaign of pressure against foreign news organisations in China. Without new visas, the reporters, including the New York Times" Pulitzer Prize-winning Australian journalist Jane Perlez, will be forced to leave by year's end. "The Communist Party and Chinese government have stepped up efforts to shape news coverage and suppress stories they find objectionable, applying pressure in various forms in an arguably unprecedented fashion," said Jill Abramson, executive editor of the Times, in a statement read out at a Congressional Executive Commission on China roundtable in Washington on Wednesday. This tactic has history in Beijing. Melissa Chan, another American journalist working for al-Jazeera English, was the first foreign correspondent expelled in more than a decade when she was forced out in May last year. At the time, the action was seen as an anomaly. But Beijing has been angered by a series of investigations into the wealth of elite Chinese political families, including those of former premier Wen Jiabao and current President Xi Jinping, first published last year. The line of investigation pursued by the Times and Bloomberg reports has hit a raw nerve, with factional rivals within the Communist Party pointing out the hypocrisy of only going after fallen Chongqing party secretary Bo Xilai when signs of corruption appear to reside in most corners of China's political elite. "My guess is that it's being driven somewhere at the very highest levels, because the stories have been about the families of the leaders," one New York Times reporter said. They can't be unaware of what's been happening in these news organisations. A number of New York Times reporters have told Fairfax Media that the latest trigger appeared to be the publication of a story last month that delved into the business dealings of Mr Wen's daughter. The proliferation of social media has meant even the most sensitive reports have been translated into Chinese and spread faster than internet censors can keep up with. "The boundary is disintegrating between domestic and international media," said David Bandurski, an expert on Chinese media at the University of Hong Kong. Can the leadership effectively control domestic news consumption without influencing international news coverage? The visa delays prompted US Vice-President Joe Biden to express concern to Mr Xi during a visit to Beijing last week. On the surface, there has been no movement on the visas since then. But representatives from the US embassy in Beijing remain in continuous discussions with the Chinese foreign ministry, and one source at least appeared more upbeat than a week ago. In a show of solidarity, a large contingent of New York Times and Bloomberg journalists turned up at an end-of-year reception put on for foreign reporters by the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing on Thursday night. There, they heard Foreign Minister Wang Yi stress the importance of China "receiving the support" of foreign journalists. Other foreign ministry officials were spreading the message that affected reporters should not worry, and that visas could be approved quickly if needed. For the affected reporters, the hope remains that it is a bridge too far to expel two of the world's biggest news organisations. The more likely scenario remains that most will be allowed to stay, and a small number of journalists will be made an example of. But the danger is that the intent from the very top of China's leadership has been to expel rather than merely intimidate. If that's the case, foreign journalism is emerging as another flashpoint between China's leadership and the US government.