Budget cuts to Voice of America and Radio Free Asia draw cheers from Chinese state media

CHONGQING – China’s state media has hailed funding cuts to two American media outlets said by Beijing to have a “long track record of poor reporting on China issues”.

The operations of the Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) look to be in limbo after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 14 to dismantle a federal agency responsible for their funding.

The United States Agency for Global Media is considered an arm for US diplomacy, and China has long complained that reports by its titles, particularly RFA and VOA, have undermined China’s security concerns and pursuit of its economic interests overseas.

On March 18, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning declined to comment on the cuts made to the two outlets at a regular press conference but remarked on their “poor reporting on China issues”.

This comes after Chinese state media had welcomed news of the predicament of the two news outlets, which have reported extensively on alleged human rights abuses in China.

A March 17 editorial by the nationalistic Global Times noted that nearly all of VOA’s employees have been put on leave, as it accused the news outfit of being nothing more than a “toxic propaganda machine”.

Global Times took particular issue with VOA’s framing of sensitive issues such as territorial disputes in the South China Sea, the origins of Covid-19 and claims of overcapacity in China’s factories resulting in alleged dumping in overseas markets.

The editorial added that the outlet had backed rioters involved in the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests, as well as separatists in Taiwan, which China considers to be a part of its territory. It further accused the VOA of “playing a key role behind nearly every malicious and absurd anti-China falsehood”.

Mr Hu Xijin, former Global Times