Chinese state-owned broadcaster registers with US as foreign agent under anti-propaganda law
- CGTN America chose to comply ‘in the spirit of cooperation with US authorities’
- Russian state-backed English-language news outlet RT registered in 2017
A Chinese state-owned news network has registered as a foreign agent with the US government after pressure from the US Department of Justice, according to official documents.
CGTN America – the US division of China Global Television Network – denied that it was engaged in any “political activities” as defined by the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA), a federal law from 1938 that monitors the operation of overseas lobbyists and propagandists.
China Global Television Network was, until January 2017, the name of the international operation of state-owned broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV).
CGTN America said it had “elected to file this registration statement out of an abundance of caution and in the spirit of cooperation with US authorities”.
It identified itself as the Washington news bureau of CCTV to produce material for 24-hour broadcasts that target English-speaking audiences in more than 100 countries.
CCTV disagreed with the decision by the US Department of State to characterise CGTN America’s relationship with a foreign government and a foreign political party as one of interest to Washington, it said.
CGTN America’s registration comes as Beijing and Washington seek to end a damaging trade dispute.
