US lawmakers push Justice Department to investigate China Daily, label the newspaper a foreign agent
- Lawmakers say the English-language daily plays ‘important role in China’s foreign disinformation campaign’
- China Daily describes itself as a ‘channel for information exchanges between China and the rest of the world’
In the latest sign of mounting US-China tensions, 35 Republican senators and representatives wrote to America’s highest law enforcement official demanding that the China Daily newspaper be investigated and labelled a foreign agent.
The sharply worded document addressed to Attorney General William Barr called on the Department of Justice to “clamp down on Chinese propaganda”, investigate the media organisation’s “important role in China’s foreign disinformation campaign” and address its “repeated violations” of a US law requiring that foreign lobbyists register and provide detailed reports on their financial activities.
“China Daily’s important role in China’s foreign disinformation campaign warrants a full-fledged investigation,” said the letter, initiated by Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton and Indiana Republican Congressman Jim Banks and co-signed by seven other Republican senators and 26 representatives.
Calls and emails to the US offices of state-owned China Daily went unanswered. On its website, the newspaper describes itself as a “default choice” with “over 200 million readers” and a “channel for information exchanges between China and the rest of the world”.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.