China’s drive to influence how Americans think—and, by extension, U.S. policy—takes many forms. Beijing has sought to
buy its way into our top universities and biggest Hollywood studios, for example. Now it appears that China is also surreptitiously taking over U.S. radio stations to spread its own propaganda.
In fact, with radio, China has acted so stealthily that the federal government—which limits foreign entities’ ownership of media outlets and regulates agents of foreign governments seeking to exert political influence in the U.S.—was unaware of the effort until the British news agency Reuters
informed them.
In a three-part blockbuster series that should be getting far more attention, Reuters has detailed the extent of China’s radio penetration. Most of the radio stations China now controls, according to the investigative series, are in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. One operates out of a Washington, D.C. suburb, and its footprint includes Capitol Hill and the White House.
