U.S. suspends exchange programs with China, calling them ‘propaganda’

FAN Editor

December 5, 2020

By Raphael Satter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Friday it has ended five cultural exchange programs with China, calling them “soft power propaganda tools.”

The Department said on its website it had “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.

It said that the programs had been set up under the auspices of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act – a 1961 law signed by President John F. Kennedy and aimed at boosting academic and cultural exchanges with foreign countries.

“While other programs funded under the auspices of the MECEA are mutually beneficial, the five programs in question are fully funded and operated by the (Chinese) government as soft power propaganda tools,” the statement said.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately return a message seeking comment on the move. Attempts to reach representatives for the programs singled out by the State Department were not immediately successful.

(Reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington; Additional reporting by Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard)

Free America Network Articles

Leave a Reply

Next Post

‘No presents’: Mexicans urged to embrace abstemious Christmas to stop pandemic

FILE PHOTO: A child greets a person dressed as Santa Claus from inside a vehicle in a drive-thru christmas village, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico December 3, 2020. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez December 5, 2020 MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexicans should cancel celebrations and even avoid […]