[News] America suspends exchange programs with China, describing it as "propaganda"

[HiTLeR]

 

The US State Department announced, on Saturday, that it will cancel 5 exchange programs with the United States funded by China, describing them as "propaganda tools."

In a statement, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that these five programs, "disguised as cultural exchanges, are fully financed and managed by the government of the People's Republic of China" and are "tools of propaganda and soft power."

 

He added that these programs, which are organized within the framework of US legislation called the "Educational and Cultural Exchange Act" (Mutual Education and Charles Exchange Act), are "tools for advertising and soft power."

 

The US Secretary of State added that “other programs that were established” under this law are beneficial to both parties, but the five programs in question are fully funded and operated by the government of the People's Republic of China as tools for propaganda and soft power.

 

He believed that these five programs "provide carefully orchestrated access to officials of the Chinese Communist Party, not to the Chinese people, who do not enjoy freedom of expression and assembly."

 

The cancellation of these programs is the latest expression of outgoing President Donald Trump's deeply contentious relationship with China.

 

 

 

On Friday, the New York Times reported that US President Donald Trump's administration had issued new rules restricting travel for Chinese Communist Party members and their families to the United States.

 

The newspaper quoted informed sources as saying that the new policy sets a maximum month for travel visas for party members and their families, and for entry only once.

The director of US intelligence, John Ratcliffe, had warned the incoming Joe Biden administration against "politicizing intelligence" and urged it to "be honest" and "recognize" that China is "the biggest national security threat we face."