United States: Chinese government officials show satisfaction about the major budget cuts suffered by Voice of America and Radio Free Asia because these media outlets use federal US funds as their financial base.
The Chinese diplomatic establishment repeatedly expresses formal objections to reports about Chinese human rights by these media outlets.
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Through Voice of America and Radio Free Asia news broadcasting, these outlets managed to provide information to regions cut off from outside world news.
Radio Free Asia distributes news programming through Mandarin, Cantonese, Uyghur, Tibetan, and several other language bands.
State media outlets and nationalist groups in China celebrated the troubles faced by American-funded news organizations as clear evidence to back up their previous complaints about Western media influence.
The authorities have repeatedly disrupted the transmissions of both Voice of America and Radio Free Asia.
A communist newspaper, Global Times, denounced Voice of America as a “frontline propaganda tool” and a “lie factory,” the New York Times reported.
Moreover, the newspaper, in its Monday editorial, stated, “Almost every malicious falsehood about China has VOA’s fingerprints all over it,” while adding what it described as biased reports about Taiwan, unrest in Hong Kong, and the coronavirus pandemic.
Executive order issued by President Trump
President Trump issued an executive order to dissolve the Agency for Global Media which controls these news outlets by signing it on Friday.
Multiple sources indicate that Voice of America instructed all Washington-based staff to go on paid administrative duty.
On Saturday morning, Radio Free Asia disclosed that Saturday morning its federal grants, which funded the organization, had been suddenly discontinued.
The Chinese government maintains that its domestic security alongside economic and geopolitical ambitions abroad have been eroded by American soft power which includes these news sources.
The government under President Xi Jinping has further strengthened this insecurity because he demands China’s voice (specifically the party’s) to become louder.
As per David Bandurski, the director of the China Media Project, a research organization, “Against this backdrop, the actions of the Trump administration are cause for enthusiastic celebration,” the New York Times reported.
“In a matter of weeks, Trump seems to have slit the throat of American influence,” he added.