Kudos to Team Trump for calling out some of China’s US-based media outlets for what they essentially are: state-sponsored propaganda.
On Tuesday, the State Department announced that the US operations of five Chinese entities — Xinhua News Agency, China Radio International, China Global Television Network and the distributors of China Daily and People’s Daily — will now be considered foreign missions.
That means that, effective immediately, the agencies are covered by the Foreign Missions Act of 1982, which requires them to report all personnel to the State Department and register any property holdings.
This should give the feds a better a grasp of Beijing’s operations (espionage as well as propaganda) and allow more effective counteraction.
The move is “long overdue,” said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: “For years, these so-called media outlets have been mouthpieces of the Chinese Communist Party, and these Chinese outlets are becoming more aggressive.”
The next day, China’s Foreign Ministry canceled the visas of three journalists from The Wall Street Journal (our sister newspaper), citing a recent “racist” headline on a Journal opinion piece.
Never mind that the three are excellent, independent reporters and nothing to do with the not-remotely-racist headline calling China “the Real Sick Man of Asia” — an allusion to the 19th century line about Turkey being “the sick man of Europe.”
This is just the latest proof that the West made a huge mistake in the early ’90s: It welcomed China into the world economy on the expectation that trade and prosperity would make the regime more tolerant and democratic.
Instead, China’s government is getting ever worse — and far more powerful, to boot.