March 17, 2025 – The Trump Administration’s decision to terminate grants for U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM)’s networks will have a devastating effect on countering Chinese disinformation in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Hong Kong, and around the world.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aggressively leverages propaganda and disinformation to convince people and governments around the world to support false narratives about the United States.
USAGM services, including Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), and Radio Free Asia (RFA), provide critical, high quality journalism sharing truthful news and information with people in Asia who are often denied access to anything other than CCP narratives.
RFA counters Chinese propaganda and disinformation by challenging Beijing’s dominance on information within PRC borders, reaching an estimated weekly audience of 58.3 million people. It is often the only media able to inform the people of China about what is really going on, not only in China but around the world.
In recent years, RFA has strengthened China services with a special focus on Cantonese content, along with focusing on shining the light on Chinese influence activities in Southeast Asia. RFA Cantonese services in particular keep the focus on repression in Hong Kong, working with social media influencers and many who have fled Hong Kong since China imposed its repressive national security law.
VOA, meanwhile, reaches more than 350 million people globally including in Hong Kong, providing accurate news through its Mandarin, Tibetan, and Cantonese language services. VOA provides a truthful picture of America and accurate information on China’s activities in the world. In China, despite being blocked by the Great Firewall, the VOA Mandarin website surpassed 77.4 million article views and 15.8 million video views in 2024.
In addition, the Trump Administration is attempting to deny funding for the Open Technology Fund (OTF), which provides circumvention technology to people suffering from censorship and surveillance. In 2019 and 2020, OTF surged support for circumvention tools, secure messaging, and operating systems to over three million users in Hong Kong. This technology ensured journalists and civil society had secure communication in the face of CCP surveillance and targeting.
Chinese officials are well aware of VOA and RFA’s excellent work and regularly denounce their brave journalists, with whom we express solidarity and support as they face redundancy.
Republicans have long supported increased funding and resources for VOA and RFA. We call on them, along with supporters in the administration and members of Congress, to push back and reverse this counterproductive decision that undermines U.S. interests and values in Asia and all over the world.
CFHK Foundation Strategy and Public Affairs Advisor Shannon Van Sant said:
“Having worked for Voice of America’s China office and from 2006 to 2008, as a host and producer for Chinese state-run broadcaster CCTV, I have an understanding of both U.S.-government and PRC-government-funded media. Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, and the Open Technology Fund do vital work giving the people of China a voice, and shining light on stories and corners of the world the CCP wants silenced. Beijing’s propaganda apparatus is in the midst of a global expansion, which the U.S. government should be countering at every step.”
Featured image credit: USAGM
