By Eva Fu and Frank Fang
February 27, 2023 Updated: February 27, 2023
Sen. Marsha Blackburn
(R-Tenn.) questions Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, former head of security at Twitter,
during a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on
Sept. 13, 2022. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Republican lawmakers are
expressing alarm over Beijing’s persistent efforts to use Western outlets to
spread its narratives, including claims that Washington had overreacted to a
“wandering balloon” and damaged the bilateral relationship.
In an op-ed recently
published in the Washington Post, Xu Xueyuan, the chargé d’affaires at the
Chinese regime’s embassy in Washington, repeated Beijing’s narrative that the
balloon was for “meteorological research” and “posed no real security threat.”
She accused the United
States of “overreaction,” adding that “China-U.S. relations should not be led
astray by a wandering balloon.”
The article has been
shared by prominent CCP diplomats and Chinese state-run media, including Huang Ping, Beijing’s consul general in New
York, and Liu Pengyu, spokesperson
for the Chinese embassy in Washington.
The Chinese spy balloon
flew over the continental United States for days before being shot down off the
South Carolina coast on Feb. 4. Since then, U.S. officials have said that China has
a “high-altitude balloon program” linked to China’s military for espionage,
and sanctioned six
Chinese entities for aiding the program. They also revealed the balloon as part
of Beijing’s worldwide surveillance campaign that has violated the
sovereignty of dozens of countries.
When a second balloon was
spotted over Latin America, Beijing again insisted it was also for civilian
purposes.
‘CCP Is Not to Be Trusted’
But such claims and Xu’s
statements are merely efforts for the regime to downplay the incident and
minimize damage, the lawmakers said.
“Communist China’s
attempt to play nice and cover up their surveillance operation is not the least
bit surprising. This is what they do—pretend everything is fine and dandy while
they continue to spy on Americans using TikTok, steal our intellectual property,
and buy up our farmland,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who sits on
the House Judiciary Committee, told The Epoch Times.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) further noted how
the regime is exploiting freedoms in the West.
“Xu Xueyuan repeating
lies at the behest of a genocidal regime in the Washington Post is just another
example of how the Chinese Communist Party has figured out how to use America’s
openness against us,” Rubio, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee, told The Epoch Times.
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.),
a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, similarly warned that the
“CCP is not to be trusted.”
“Communist oppression is
a very serious and dangerous threat to the entire world, and we should not take
these ‘wandering balloons’ lightly,” Higgins told The Epoch Times. He added
that Xu’s response has “certainly not wandered far from the Communist party
line and shows that every citizen of every nation should be aware of the CCP’s
global agenda.”
Contrary to Xu’s claims
that the balloon shoot down is an “overreaction,” the lawmakers argued that the
opposite is true.
“America
did not overreact. If anything, we didn’t act soon enough,” Blackburn said.
“The Biden administration should make it crystal clear to Beijing: next time
they think about flying a spy balloon near the U.S., we won’t wait a week to
shoot it down.”
“The appropriate time for
China to claim its balloon posed no threat was prior to its launch, not after
it was deliberately floated across the U.S.,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who
sits on the House Rules Committee, told The Epoch Times.
“With all due respect to
Ms. Xu, our nation, not hers, will determine whether that payload was benign or
malicious,” Norman added.
The publication of such
an article from a Chinese official is in itself a concern to Rep. Greg Steube
(R-Fla.), who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee.
“Only the communist
friendly Washington Post would publish an Op-ed directly from a CCP agent
criticizing the U.S.,” Steube told The Epoch Times, adding that the Chinese spy
balloon was “a clear violation of U.S. air space.”
Rep. Darrell Issa
(R-Calif.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also called out
the Washington Post.
“The Washington Post does
itself no favors by allowing its pages to amplify the worst kind of Chinese
propaganda,” posted Issa on
Twitter on Feb. 23.
The Post’s communications
manager, Azhar AlFadl Miranda, told The Epoch Times that “The Washington Post
Opinion page regularly publishes a variety of viewpoints,” when asked about the
GOP criticism.
Spreading Influence in the West
Xu’s ability to promote
CCP talking points via the Washington Post points to a more widespread issue of
Beijing using prominent Western publications to spread its influence.
According to the latest
filing (pdf) under the Foreign
Agents Registration Act, China Daily, an English-language media outlet
controlled by Beijing’s propaganda department, spent about $1.2 million in
advertising dollars on major Western outlets such as Los Angeles Times, USA
Today, Time Magazine, Financial Times, and Foreign Policy from May 1, 2022, to
Oct. 31, 2022.
Time Magazine received
the biggest share, totaling $656,885 during the six-month period.
Additionally, China Daily
also spent nearly $370,000 on five recipients to have its newspaper printed.
The recipients are Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, The Houston Chronicle,
Chicago Tribune, and Seattle Times.
The overall spending for
advertising, printing, and other expenses totaled nearly $5.03 million during
the six-month period, marking a slight decrease from the $5.5 million spent half
a year earlier (pdf).
The Epoch Times has
reached out to Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Time, Financial Times, Foreign
Policy, Boston Globe, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, and Seattle Times for
comment.
For years, the Chinese
regime has been spending millions running
supplements under the title of “China Watch” in major Western newspapers.
Though the content comes with disclaimers in small print, international
nonprofit Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned in its 2021 report (pdf) that the
“inoffensive-looking” supplements are part of Beijing’s “Trojan horse
strategy,” which enable Beijing to “establish its propaganda in the living
rooms of elites” and expose the Western media to financial pressure from
Beijing.
“The CCP has been working
overtime to infiltrate the U.S. by any means necessary and they will continue
to do so as long as they are given the opportunity,” said Higgins.
The Republicans see the activity
as one of many threats from Beijing requiring Congress to act.
“Foreign adversaries
should not be able to pay to peddle their propaganda in the USA,” Blackburn
said.
“Whether it is social
media like TikTok or newspapers, China’s mission is to infiltrate our domestic
information sources to spy on, and ultimately harm, Americans and our
interests,” Steube said, calling the China Daily supplement “one example of
dozens that signify the enormous national security threat China poses.”
Higgins agreed. “The CCP
poses a very serious and dangerous threat to not only the U.S. but the entire
world. Every action should be taken seriously, and we must hold those who
engage in any suspicious activity accountable,” he said.
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