Trump Admin Eliminates Communist Chinese 'Propaganda Tools' Lurking in US
The Trump administration has ended five cultural exchange programs with China that it says were being used for Chinese propaganda and had no benefit to the United States.
The terminations follow new visa restrictions announced by Washington limiting stays in the U.S. by members of China’s Communist Party.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the exchange programs he ended were fully paid for and operated by the Chinese government “as soft power propaganda tools.”
They provided “carefully curated access to Chinese Communist Party officials, not to the Chinese people, who do not enjoy freedoms of speech and assembly,” he said in a statement on Friday.
The State Department terminated the Policymakers Educational China Trip Program, the U.S.-China Friendship Program, the U.S.-China Leadership Exchange Program, the U.S.-China Transpacific Exchange Program and the Hong Kong Educational and Cultural Program.
Pompeo said the U.S. welcomes “the reciprocal and fair exchange of cultural programs” with China and mutually beneficial ones will continue.
This past week, the U.S. announced new time limits on visas for members of the Chinese Communist Party and their families, cutting the period in which their travel documents are valid from 10 years to one month.
The Trump administration has taken a variety of tough measures against China as tensions escalate over human rights, the coronavirus pandemic, technology, Hong Kong and many other issues.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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