The U.S. government on Tuesday designated five Chinese state-run media outlets as "foreign missions" by law, requiring them to submit information on their employees and property holdings in the United States.

The move reflects growing wariness within the administration of President Donald Trump about China's rise as a great power and its spying and other activities within the United States.

The five organizations are Xinhua News Agency, China Global Television Network, which falls under Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, China Radio International, the China Daily newspaper and Hai Tian Development U.S.A., the distributor for The People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China.

"There is no dispute that all five of these entities are part of the PRC (People's Republic of China) party state propaganda news apparatus," a senior U.S. State Department official said in announcing the decision, adding that they "take orders directly from the top."

Chinese President Xi Jinping's increasing control over state-run media is also a factor behind the designation, the official said.

The department said it hopes the information it receives will help "improve our understanding" of how the entities operate in the United States, emphasizing that it has no intention of constraining journalistic activities.

Hours later, China's Foreign Ministry criticized the U.S. move, urging Washington to abandon its "ideological prejudices and Cold War zero-sum game mentality."

"The U.S. takes great pride in its press freedom. However, it is wantonly restricting and thwarting Chinese media outlets' normal operation there," ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said during a regular press briefing in Beijing.

Designating the five companies as "foreign missions" under the Foreign Missions Act does not mean they will become embassies or consulates or have traditional diplomatic privileges or immunities, according to department officials.

But they will be required to notify the U.S. government of their current personnel in the United States and changes to the personnel's employment situations.

They will also need to report their current property holdings, such as whether they are owned or leased. They also need prior approval from the U.S. government for the acquisition of any new property, according to the officials.

Meanwhile, China has revoked the press credentials of three journalists for The Wall Street Journal after the U.S. newspaper paper declined to apologize for an op-ed the country deemed racist and slanderous, Geng said.

The article, titled "China is the Real Sick Man of Asia" by Bard College professor Walter Russel Mead, "smears the efforts of the Chinese government and people on fighting the epidemic," Geng said.

"The editors used such a racially discriminatory title, triggering indignation and condemnation among the Chinese people and the international community," he added.

The article is not available in China, where online censors have blocked the Wall Street Journal's website, along with many other foreign media.