Republicans are challenging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) to stop the distribution of Chinese propaganda on Capitol Hill, according to a letter exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.), a member of the GOP-led China task force, has petitioned the Department of Justice and congressional employees to stop China Daily, a Chinese Communist Party-controlled propaganda outlet, from delivering its papers to the Capitol every morning. Now Banks and four other House Republicans are taking the issue to the very top of House leadership, asking for Pelosi to intervene.
“I assume you are just as outraged as I am by the presence of such disgusting lies in our nation’s legislature,” the letter to the House speaker reads. “This is an opportunity for you to … prove to voters the Democrat Party also takes the China threat seriously. It’s time for you to end the proliferation of Chinese-state propaganda in the United States’ Congress.”
The letter comes at a time of mounting scrutiny of the activities of Chinese propaganda outlets in the United States. In February, the Chinese government kicked out U.S. journalists reporting on the coronavirus outbreak, prompting the Trump administration to designate Chinese propaganda outlets, including China Daily, as “foreign missions” and demand that they drastically reduce their staff. The new designation requires the outlets to follow the same administrative requirements as embassies and consulates. After China retaliated by expelling even more journalists, the White House required several more Chinese outlets to comply with the regulation on Monday.
China Daily has delivered its papers to the doorsteps of many congressional offices for years now, disseminating a consistently pro-CCP and anti-American viewpoint to hundreds of members of Congress and their staffers. The outlet, for example, has capitalized on recent unrest in American cities stemming from the death of George Floyd to deflect from its own human rights abuses in Hong Kong.
Pelosi’s office did not respond to a request for comments.
China Daily has distributed propaganda in the United States since 1983, according to federal disclosures filed with the Department of Justice. The disclosures also show that the Chinese government funneled millions of dollars to the mouthpiece, which then used that money to purchase more than 500 pages of advertorials—propaganda articles meant to look like legitimate news items—in the pages of the New York Times, Washington Post, and other major news outlets. Banks and 34 other members of Congress previously demanded a Justice Department probe into the matter, citing a Free Beacon report that found the paper has failed to comply with federal disclosure requirements for decades.
“There is no question the United States is facing a set of unique challenges right now,” the letter to Pelosi read. “As we’d expect, our adversaries are trying to take advantage of the moment to undermine America’s global leadership. Perhaps no one is seizing the moment more than China.”ADVERTISING
Banks has repeatedly demanded an end to the circulation of the propaganda outlet, first raising the issue to Philip Kiko, Congress’s chief administrative officer, and the Department of Justice in September. After Kiko told Banks that the issue was outside his jurisdiction, the congressman then asked the Committee on House Administration to stop the paper’s distribution in December. According to the letter, however, Banks’s petition to the committee fell on deaf ears, prompting the legislators to take the matter to Pelosi.
“I sent letters to Congress’s Chief Administrative Officer and to the Chairperson and Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration asking for help,” the letter says. “Unfortunately, I didn’t receive any; so, I’m turning to you as Speaker of the House. I ask you: How is Chinese propaganda arriving on my doorstep each morning when the Capitol is closed to the public? And what are you going to do about it?”
The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment about the status of Banks’s request.
Rep. Greg Steube (R., Fla.), a signatory of the letter, said that Pelosi and House Democrats must stop the distribution of the propaganda in their own backyards if they want to show that they are serious about the threat posed by the Chinese government.
“Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats clearly do not take the threats from China seriously if they allow CCP propaganda to circulate the halls of Congress,” he said. “This is weakness, not leadership at a time when we desperately need to hold China accountable for their role in spreading a global pandemic and widespread economic hardship.”