Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) questions Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, former head of security at Twitter, during a Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 13, 2022. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Republican lawmakers are expressing alarm over Beijing’s persistent efforts to use Western outlets to spread its narratives, including claims that Washington had overreacted to a “wandering balloon” and damaged the bilateral relationship.
In an op-ed recently published in The Washington Post, Xu Xueyuan, chargé d’affaires at the Chinese regime’s embassy in Washington, repeated Beijing’s narrative that the balloon was for “meteorological research” and “posed no real security threat.”
She accused the United States of “overreaction,” adding that “China–U.S. relations should not be led astray by a wandering balloon.”
The article has been shared on social media by prominent CCP diplomats and Chinese state-run media, including Huang Ping, Beijing’s consul general in New York, and Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington.
The suspected Chinese spy balloon drifts to the ocean after being shot down off the coast in Surfside Beach, S.C., on Feb. 4, 2023. Randall Hill/Reuters
The Chinese spy balloon flew over the continental United States for days before being shot down off the South Carolina coast on Feb. 4. Since then, U.S. officials have said that China has a military-linked “high-altitude balloon program” for espionage, and have placed sanctions on six Chinese entities for aiding the program. They also revealed that the balloon was part of a worldwide surveillance campaign that has violated the sovereignty of dozens of countries.
When a second balloon was spotted over Latin America, Beijing again insisted it was also for civilian purposes.
‘CCP Is Not to Be Trusted’
But such claims and Xu’s statements are merely efforts by the regime to minimize damage to its interests, the lawmakers said.
“Communist China’s attempt to play nice and cover up their surveillance operation is not the least bit surprising. This is what they do—pretend everything is fine and dandy while they continue to spy on Americans using TikTok, steal our intellectual property, and buy up our farmland,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who sits on the House Judiciary Committee, told The Epoch Times.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) further noted how the regime is exploiting freedoms in the West.
“Xu Xueyuan repeating lies at the behest of a genocidal regime in The Washington Post is just another example of how the Chinese Communist Party has figured out how to use America’s openness against us,” Rubio, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told The Epoch Times.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) speaks during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies hearing on Capitol Hill in Wash., on May 17, 2022. Anna Rose Layden/Pool/Getty Images
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, similarly warned that the “CCP is not to be trusted.”
“Communist oppression is a very serious and dangerous threat to the entire world, and we should not take these ‘wandering balloons’ lightly,” Higgins told The Epoch Times. He added that Xu’s response has “certainly not wandered far from the Communist Party line and shows that every citizen of every nation should be aware of the CCP’s global agenda.”
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on gun violence on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 8, 2022. Andrew Harnik/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
Contrary to Xu’s claims that the balloon shootdown is an “overreaction,” the lawmakers argued that the opposite is true.
“America did not overreact. If anything, we didn’t act soon enough,” Blackburn said. “The Biden administration should make it crystal clear to Beijing: Next time they think about flying a spy balloon near the U.S., we won’t wait a week to shoot it down.”
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who sits on the House Rules Committee, told The Epoch Times: “The appropriate time for China to claim its balloon posed no threat was prior to its launch, not after it was deliberately floated across the U.S.
“With all due respect to Ms. Xu, our nation, not hers, will determine whether that payload was benign or malicious.”
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) speaks at a news conference on the infrastructure bill with fellow members of the House Freedom Caucus, outside the Capitol Building in Washington on Aug. 23, 2021. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The publication of such an article from a Chinese official is in itself a concern to Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee.
“Only the communist-friendly Washington Post would publish an op-ed directly from a CCP agent criticizing the U.S.,” Steube told The Epoch Times, adding that the Chinese spy balloon was “a clear violation of U.S. air space.”
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also called out the Post, saying the newspaper “does itself no favors by allowing its pages to amplify the worst kind of Chinese propaganda,” in a tweet on Feb. 23.
When asked about the GOP criticism, the Post’s communications manager, Azhar AlFadl Miranda, told The Epoch Times that “the Washington Post Opinion page regularly publishes a variety of viewpoints.”
Spreading Influence in the West
Xu’s ability to promote CCP talking points via a leading U.S. newspaper points to a more widespread issue of Beijing using prominent Western publications to spread its influence.
According to the latest filing (pdf) under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, China Daily, an English-language media outlet controlled by Beijing’s propaganda department, spent about $1.2 million in advertising dollars on major Western outlets such as Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Time magazine, Financial Times, and Foreign Policy from May 1 to Oct. 31, 2022.
Time magazine received the biggest share, totaling $656,885 during the six-month period.
A China Daily newspaper box is with other free daily papers in New York on Jan. 20, 2021. Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times
Additionally, China Daily spent nearly $370,000 on five recipients for printing services in major U.S. cities. The recipients were the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, and The Seattle Times.
The overall spending for advertising, printing, and other expenses totaled nearly $5.03 million during the six-month period, marking a slight decrease from the $5.5 million spent half a year earlier (pdf).
The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Time, Financial Times, Foreign Policy, The Boston Globe, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, and The Seattle Times didn’t respond to requests for comment.
For years, the Chinese regime has been spending millions running supplements under the title of “China Watch” in major Western newspapers. Though the content comes with disclaimers in small print, international nonprofit Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned in its 2021 report (pdf) that the “inoffensive-looking” supplements are part of Beijing’s “Trojan horse strategy,” which enables Beijing to “establish its propaganda in the living rooms of elites” and expose the Western media to financial pressure from Beijing.
“The CCP has been working overtime to infiltrate the U.S. by any means necessary and they will continue to do so as long as they are given the opportunity,” said Higgins.
The Republicans see the activity as one of many threats from Beijing requiring Congress to act.
“Foreign adversaries should not be able to pay to peddle their propaganda in the USA,” Blackburn said.
Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) speaks during a hearing, in Washington, on Dec. 4, 2019. Saul Loeb/Pool/Getty Images
Steube called the China Daily supplement “one example of dozens that signify the enormous national security threat China poses.”
“Whether it is social media like TikTok or newspapers, China’s mission is to infiltrate our domestic information sources to spy on, and ultimately harm, Americans and our interests,” he said.
Higgins agreed. “The CCP poses a very serious and dangerous threat to not only the U.S. but the entire world. Every action should be taken seriously, and we must hold those who engage in any suspicious activity accountable,” he said.
Eva Fu is a New York-based writer for The Epoch Times focusing on U.S. politics, U.S.-China relations, religious freedom, and human rights. Contact Eva at [email protected]
