10 December 2002
Chinese Government Still Jams VOA, RFA Broadcasts
(China's media practices seen as unfair) (1140)
"Beijing is working hard to prevent the news we report from getting
through to the Chinese people" says Joan Mower, communications
coordinator for the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the agency
that oversees Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Speaking before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China on
December 9, she reported that the Chinese government jams not only VOA
and RFA broadcasts but blocks access to their Web sites as well.
"By controlling outside media, the Chinese government has manipulated
the news and stopped the United States from telling its side of the
story," Mower said.
A majority of Chinese people views the United States as their "number
one enemy," she said, adding that they remain ill informed of U.S.
policy, culture and society.
Mower called the Chinese government policies "unfair." She noted that
the U.S. government allows over forty journalists from Chinese state
media to operate freely in the United States and gives the Chinese
state media access to American cable television. In contrast, the
Chinese government allows only two U.S. correspondents to work in
China for U.S. international broadcasting; other American journalists
work under stringent restrictions.
VOA and RFA spend millions of dollars every year to broadcast into
Asia, Mower said. Costs would be greatly reduced if the Chinese
government did not jam the broadcasts, she said.
The BBG filed formal complaints to the International
Telecommunications Union over these issues. According to Mower, the
Chinese government has not responded favorably to BBG requests to
formally discuss their concerns.
Mower said that only a "concerted strategy involving Congress and the
Executive Branch" will solve this problem.
Following is the text of the statement made before the
Congressional-Executive Commission on China, as provided by the
Broadcasting Board of Governors:
(begin text)
Statement of the Broadcasting Board of Governors
Before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China
"Open Forum"
December 9, 2002
China's Jamming of U.S. International Broadcasting
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is the independent federal
agency that oversees all U.S. nonmilitary international broadcasting,
including the Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA).
Our mission, quite simply, is to "promote and sustain freedom and
democracy by broadcasting accurate and objective news and information
about the United States and the world." In China, however, we face a
serious problem in fulfilling that mandate because Beijing is working
hard to prevent the news we report from getting through to the Chinese
people.
Even as China is actively trying to expand its role in the global
marketplace, it is isolating its people, cutting off the free flow of
information and denying citizens reliable and credible news from the
United States, among other places.
The BBG, which monitors jamming with the assistance of the Federal
Communications Commission, knows that virtually all of VOA's and RFA's
shortwave radio transmissions directed to China in that country's
languages are jammed. VOA broadcasts in Cantonese, Mandarin and
Tibetan. RFA broadcasts in Cantonese, Mandarin, Tibetan and Uyghur.
Unfortunately, jamming seems to be on the rise, despite increased
commercial and diplomatic contacts between the United States and
China. In Lhasa, Tibet's capital city, for example, it is impossible
to receive a good signal for VOA Tibetan, even though the service is
on three or five frequencies, depending on the time of day.
As has been widely reported, the Chinese government also is determined
to censor the fast-growing internet by blocking sites, including those
of VOA www.voanews.com and RFA www.rfa.org. Researchers at Harvard Law
School recently concluded China has the world's most censored
internet, with the government blocking up to 19,000 websites.
Additionally, email subscription services are blocked.
The BBG - along with, we hope, all Americans -- is concerned about the
Chinese government's actions for a number of reasons.
First, it's a human rights issue: Everyone is entitled to factual,
uncensored information.
Second, the Chinese people know woefully little about the United
States - and that's not good. Surveys show a disturbing 68 percent of
urban dwellers in China consider the United States their country's
number one enemy. By controlling outside media, the Chinese government
has manipulated the news and stopped the United States from telling
its side of the story. As a result, some 1.2 billion people are
ill-informed about our people, our culture, our democracy, our
freedoms and our government policies.
Not only are the Chinese government's actions wrong - they're unfair.
While China jams VOA and RFA, the United States allows China's
government television, CCTV, on many cable systems across the country.
China Radio International, China's government radio, broadcasts
unjammed on shortwave and on a number of affiliated AM and FM radio
stations in the United States. Of course, as a country that support a
free exchange of views and ideas, we wouldn't have it any other way.
At the same time, the U.S. government has granted more than 40
journalists from China's state-run media permission to live and work
in the United States without restriction. The same cannot be said
about China where American journalists work under more stringent
restrictions. Moreover, the Chinese have refused to increase from two
the number of correspondents working for U.S. international
broadcasting in China.
So what can be done? At a minimum, the issue needs to be brought to
the forefront of the public agenda.
Top administration officials already have promised to raise the issue
with the Chinese through diplomatic channels and other discussions so
we're hopeful that there might be some movement on that front.
The BBG also has filed complaints of "harmful interference" with the
International Telecommunications Union monthly since August 2000,
claiming Chinese jamming violates radio regulations. China first
acknowledged receipt of the complaints in July 2002, and again in
August 2002. Failure to acknowledge complaints is itself a violation
of radio regulations. China insists, implausibly, that what we hear as
jamming is merely an accidental overlap of broadcasts on the country's
highly congested airwaves. The BBG believes these responses are
duplicitous at best. Chinese officials have not responded positively
to a U.S. request to discuss frequency management.
To overcome jamming, the BBG generally broadcasts on different
frequencies to reach a broad geographic region. U.S. international
broadcasting spends about $9.5 million annually to transmit about
100,000 hours of RFA and VOA programming to China. Costs could be
slashed about 25 percent if China ceased jamming. China spends a
comparable amount to counter U.S. transmissions.
Finally, both VOA and RFA continue to research and experiment with
proxy servers and mirror internet sites to circumvent the bamboo
curtain.
But the bottom line is this: the United States, now engaged in a
global war on terrorism, cannot afford to have 18 percent of the
world's population misinformed about our country. We need a concerted
strategy involving Congress and the Executive branch to grapple with
this problem - and to stop the jamming.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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