Decode China: US pulls plug on Chinese-language news site for Australia without explanation
- Decode China had been envisaged as an outlet to ‘expose and counter propaganda and disinformation’ with funding from Washington
- Observers said it could have acted as a balancing force to Chinese state media, which has made significant inroads in Australia in recent years
The US State Department on Wednesday confirmed that Decode China had been terminated during the “development stage” after earlier being selected for funding under its Information Access Fund, which was established in 2018 to “support public and private partners working to expose and counter propaganda and disinformation from foreign nations”.
The State Department declined to explain why it had cut support for the project.
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Decode China, which has been linked to figures within the Sydney-based Chinese-language media group Vision Times, first came to light in disclosures on the Australian government’s public register of foreign influence, where it was described as a “sub-awardee” of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting.
The emergence of the outlet was welcomed by some critics of Beijing as a potential balancing force in Australia’s Chinese-language media market, into which Chinese state media has made significant inroads in recent years.
In January, a Decode China Facebook page launched with the message: “Welcome to Decode China, let the voice of freedom and democracy cross the ‘Great Wall’ and wake up the sleeping giant.”
Vision Times’ general manager Maree Ma is listed as secretary of Sydney-based Decode China Pty Ltd in company records filed with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Ma, whose media company insists it is independent and not affiliated with any political or religious group, declined to comment to This Week in Asia .
Xia Yan, editor-in-chief of the media group’s Chinese-language newspaper Vision China Times, said he had received “notice to cancel this project” but declined to comment further.
“The decision has already been made so it doesn’t make any sense to have further discussion of the issue,” he said.
The US State Department isn’t a charity – it works with people it can reliably trust to stay on message
Though some had welcomed the prospect of its launch, David Brophy, a senior lecturer in modern Chinese history at the University of Sydney, said Australia needed truly independent media and would not benefit from “another player in a propaganda war”.
While noting that he was not aware of Decode China’s exact brief, he said “the involvement of Vision Times staff suggests it’s likely to produce the same kind of staunchly pro-US material that Vision Times publishes”.
“The US State Department isn’t a charity – it works with people it can reliably trust to stay on message,” Brophy said.
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But Kevin Carrico, a senior research fellow in China studies at Monash University in Melbourne, said that while he could not comment on the “hypothetical quality” of Decode China, “any reasonably honest and open media outlet would be an enrichment of the current media environment for Chinese-speakers in Australia.”
“There is a serious and long-standing problem of the party-state attempting to maintain an ideological bubble around Australian-Chinese communities which is deeply unfortunate and has no place in a multicultural society with freedom of the press and freedom of speech,” he said.
This new National Foundation for Australia-China Relations was viewed by “senior insiders” as “beset by dysfunction, a lack of purpose and possible conflicts of interest”, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Tuesday.
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Its report cited Jocelyn Chey, a founding member of the Australia-China Council – which had previously done the job of the new foundation – expressing reservations about Ma and Yeung’s inclusion on the foundation’s advisory board because of Decode China’s links to the US government. The report said two unnamed board members also had reservations about Ma’s appointment as a result of her views on China.
On Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Canberra should not appoint “anti-China elements” to institutions if it was serious about “enhancing mutual trust and expanding exchange and cooperation”.
“Such an arrangement runs contrary to the original purpose and mission of the foundation and sends a gravely wrong message to the outside world,” he said. “We hope the Australian side will immediately rectify its wrongdoing, demonstrate sincerity and contribute more to mutual trust and cooperation between the two sides, rather than doing the opposite.”
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the foundation’s board represented a “diverse range of perspectives and expertise” and board members were expected to be “transparent about their views and interests relevant to the foundation’s mission”.
“Every board member has committed to the foundation’s role to promote engagement with China in Australia’s national interests,” it said in a statement on Thursday.
