Filings with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) show that China Daily, an English-language newspaper controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, has paid nearly $19 million to American newspapers in less than four years.
The payments to the US news outlets were mostly for advertising and printing, the filings mandated by the DoJ under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) show.
In total, the Chinese newspaper, which often carries the Communist Party’s propaganda, spent $11,002,628 on advertising in U.S. newspapers, and another $265,822 on advertising with Twitter between November 2016 and April 2020.
Some of the beneficiaries of the payments are: The Wall Street Journal ($6 million), The Washington Post ($4.6 million), Foreign Policy ($240,000), CQ-Roll Call ($76,000), The New York Times ($50,000), and The Des Moines Register ($34,600).
Other clients of China Daily in the US are: The Los Angeles Times, The Seattle Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Chicago Tribune, The Houston Chronicle and The Boston Globe.
Also, China Daily said it had spent $7.6 million to newspapers and printing companies for its newspaper for U.S.-based readers.
According to the filings submitted on June 1, The Los Angeles Times got $657,523 for printing services.
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This comes amid concerns among pro-democracy groups of the Communist Party’s propensity for spreading Chinese propaganda in America.