Meet the press: China gives a little ground to foreign media - for now

Beijing has been outwardly courting the America media in the lead-up to President Xi Jinping's first state visit to the United States but the overtures are unlikely to lead to lasting change in the relationship between the two, observers say.

As part of the charm offensive, Xi submitted responses for a lengthy question-and-answer-style article published in The Wall Street Journal ahead of the trip while State Councillor Yang Jiechi sat down with Bloomberg TV for a face-to-face interview on Monday.

The mainland authorities also approved the return of Chris Buckley, The New York Times' China correspondent, to Beijing, Buckley said on Twitter. Beijing had declined to renew his journalist's visa since late 2012.

But the websites of the three news organisations remain blocked on the mainland.

Foreign journalists raised questions about visa restrictions during Xi's joint press conference with US President Barack Obama in November last year, with Xi saying reporters, not the mainland authorities, had "caused the problem".