WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., urged nine U.S. media companies to stop working with or accepting money from China Daily, a publication that targets Americans with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda. In their letter, the senators expressed serious concerns about the CCP’s efforts to infiltrate U.S. institutions, which include subverting domestic news outlets to amplify its malign talking points.
“Despite mounting evidence of the CCP’s attempts to harass and intimidate American citizens, spy on sites of national security importance to the U.S., and influence our elections, your outlet has chosen not to cut ties with China Daily,” the senators wrote.
“By continuing to do business with China Daily, your outlet is disseminating CCP propaganda to an American audience. No company based in the United States, including news outlets, should be complicit in legitimizing the CCP’s heinous acts or promoting the regime’s outright lies,” the senators continued.
In 2021, Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filings revealed U.S. media outlets were accepting large sums of money from China Daily. In response, several of the organizations cut ties with the publication. However, according to latest FARA disclosures, The Seattle Times, The Houston Chronicle, The Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, TIME, USA Today, the Financial Times, the Sun Sentinel and The Chicago Tribune have continued their partnerships. The nine publications accepted more than half-a-million dollars from China Daily in 2023 alone.
Grassley has worked to combat several adversarial Chinese influence campaigns. He conducted extensive oversight of Chinese student associations and Confucius Institutes, which the CCP has used to disseminate propaganda on high school and college campuses nationwide. Grassley has also introduced legislation to protect U.S. students from CCP influence. Additionally, Grassley is leading measures to strengthen FARA, crack down on undisclosed foreign lobbying, close loopholes to ensure transparency surrounding foreign agents’ lobbying efforts and require U.S. think tanks and non-profits to disclose their foreign connections.
Read the letter they sent to USA Today below:
rubio_grassley_to_usa_today_-_china_daily
