Chinese state media have celebrated US President Donald Trump’s decision to slash funding for government-backed broadcasters, including Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA), a move widely seen as a blow to US soft power.
The Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party-affiliated newspaper, welcomed the cuts in an editorial, calling VOA a “lie factory” with a history of spreading falsehoods about China.
The Beijing Daily, another state-run publication, echoed similar sentiments, describing the move as a step toward “eliminating Western disinformation.”
The reaction follows Trump’s executive order last week, which significantly reduces the budget of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the entity overseeing VOA, RFA, and other outlets. The order mandates that operations be cut to the “bare minimum required by law,” effectively freezing the work of these media organisations.
The White House justified the decision by arguing that American taxpayers should not fund what Trump labelled “radical propaganda.” According to USAGM’s latest report to Congress, the agency had an $886 million budget in 2024 and employed nearly 3,500 people.
The move has led to 1,300 VOA employees being placed on administrative leave, with further layoffs expected.
Trump’s decision has drawn sharp criticism from journalists, media experts, and human rights organisations, who warn that it will weaken Washington’s influence abroad, especially in countries where independent news is already under threat.
RFA President Bay Fang called the shutdown a “reward to dictators and despots”, arguing that nearly 60 million people rely on RFA weekly for independent news, particularly in countries with restricted media access.
“This decision benefits America’s adversaries at our own expense,” Fang said.
VOA Director Mike Abramowitz condemned the move as a serious threat to press freedom, stating that the organisation has played a crucial role in countering disinformation from authoritarian regimes.
The union representing RFA journalists also denounced the decision, stating that it “hands a victory” to the Chinese Communist Party and emboldens authoritarian rulers like North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.
In China, nationalist commentators have celebrated the closure of US-funded media. Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of the Global Times, wrote on Weibo that VOA’s shutdown was “long overdue” and that its reporting had been a key tool for US ideological infiltration into China.
“Almost every fabricated story about China, from Xinjiang’s human rights situation to the so-called ‘China virus’ narrative, had VOA’s fingerprints on it,” the Global Times editorial claimed.
China’s state-run media have long accused VOA and RFA of spreading “anti-China propaganda” and promoting unrest in regions like Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong.
Trump’s decision comes at a time when China is expanding the reach of its state-controlled media globally. Chinese-backed networks like CGTN and Xinhua have increased their influence across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, filling the void left by declining US-funded journalism.
Media scholars warn that VOA’s dismantling could weaken US influence abroad, especially in regions where American-backed news outlets served as alternative sources of information to state-controlled media.
The cuts also extend beyond media organisations. Trump’s executive order includes the elimination of several US government-funded entities, such as the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the US Interagency Council on Homelessness, and the Minority Business Development Agency.
As press freedom groups call on Congress to intervene, it remains uncertain whether the funding cuts can be reversed before USAGM’s operations are fully dismantled.
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