Under new restrictions, the State Department will impose caps on the number of Chinese nationals that may be employed at five Chinese media entities designated last month as foreign missions, Eurasia Diary reports citing CNN.

"The U.S. government is today instituting a personnel cap on certain PRC-controlled state media entities in the United States -- specifically, the five entities that were designated by the U.S. State Department on February 18, 2020, as foreign missions of the People's Republic of China. This cap limits the number of Chinese citizens permitted to work for these organizations in the United States at any given time," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement Monday.

"It is our hope that this action will spur Beijing to adopt a more fair and reciprocal approach to U.S. and other foreign press in China," he said.

A senior State Department official told reporters Monday that the entities together employ approximately 160 Chinese citizens and "the cap will bring this number to 100." They noted that Chinese "citizens working for other media organizations in the United States are not affected by the cap."

According to the officials, only four of the five entities are being affected by the cap at this time. A second senior State Department official said China Radio International will only be permitted to employ 2 Chinese nationals, China Daily Distribution Corporation will be permitted nine personnel, China Global Television Network will be allowed 30, and Xinhua will be allowed 59. Hai Tian Development USA, which distributes the People's Daily, is not being affected at this time.

The caps go into effect March 13, but the entities have to provide the State Department the names of the personnel who will be cut by March 6. The Chinese government was notified Monday, according to the officials.