Chinese state media has praised US President Donald Trump’s decision to cut public funding for Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA), two news outlets known for reporting on authoritarian regimes.
The move, which critics say is a blow to press freedom, affects thousands of employees, with 1,300 VOA staff placed on paid leave since Friday’s executive order.
Beijing’s Global Times called VOA a “lie factory” and mocked its defunding, declaring that it had been “discarded like a dirty rag.” The newspaper accused VOA of spreading false narratives about China and hailed Trump’s order as an overdue decision.
The White House defended the cuts, arguing they would prevent American taxpayers from funding “radical propaganda.”
The order targets the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which funds VOA, RFA, and Radio Free Europe, all of which have won international acclaim for covering regions with restricted press freedom, including China, North Korea, Russia, and Cambodia.
While many governments restrict their broadcasts—VOA is banned in China—audiences still access them through shortwave radio and VPNs. RFA has been one of the few outlets reporting on the mass detention of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, a subject Beijing dismisses as Western misinformation. It has also covered human rights violations in Cambodia, whose former leader, Hun Sen, welcomed the defunding as a “big contribution to eliminating fake news.”
VOA’s reporting has been particularly influential, earning awards for covering North Korean defectors and China’s COVID-19 response. Its podcast on China’s rare 2022 protests against lockdowns received international recognition last year.
Journalists and free press advocates have condemned the cuts. VOA journalist Valdya Baraputri, who lost her job over the weekend, warned that eliminating independent reporting would allow misinformation to thrive.
“Suspicions of authoritarian influence over information are no longer just theories,” she said, adding that some colleagues now face the risk of persecution if forced to return to their home countries.
The National Press Club called the order a direct attack on America’s tradition of a free and independent press, while VOA Director Michael Abramowitz warned that cutting funding “cripples VOA while adversaries like China, Iran, and Russia invest billions in disinformation
The impact of Trump’s move extends beyond US borders. The Czech Republic has urged the European Union to intervene to keep Radio Free Europe running. Meanwhile, RFA’s CEO Bay Fang vowed to challenge the cuts, arguing they reward authoritarian regimes.
“Defunding RFA benefits dictators, including the Chinese Communist Party, who want to control the information space,” Fang said in a statement. He warned that the cuts deprive nearly 60 million listeners of access to independent news in China, Myanmar, North Korea, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos.
While Chinese state media has celebrated the move, the reactions of ordinary Chinese citizens remain unclear due to strict internet censorship. However, outside China, exiled dissidents and longtime listeners have expressed deep concern.
Du Wen, a Chinese dissident living in Belgium, wrote on X: “For decades, exiles, intellectuals, and ordinary people have found hope in VOA and RFA. If the free world stays silent, only the dictator’s voice will remain.”
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