The legislation is aimed at banning CCP-controlled publications from House facilities.
Freshman Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-Ariz.) on Wednesday used his first legislation as a congressman to target the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) influence in Congress.
Hamadeh, a former U.S. Army intelligence officer and a former prosecutor, introduced a resolution aimed at banning the distribution of CCP-controlled publications such as China Daily within the U.S. House of Representatives facilities.
In an interview with EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” program, Hamadeh said he introduced the resolution after finding China Daily among other newspapers distributed in the halls of Congress.
The publication is “propaganda by a foreign government that’s trying to influence the highest echelons of the United States government. It’s unacceptable,” he said.
“And we should ban it, at least for it to be publicly distributed into the halls of Congress.”
China Daily is one of several major CCP mouthpieces controlled by the party’s Central Propaganda Department. The publication’s Chinese website says its English edition “actively publicizes and explains Xi Jinping Thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era,” and strives to influence public opinion in favor of communist-ruled China.
Its U.S. distributor China Daily Distribution Corporation has been registered as a foreign agent in the United States since 1983 under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
It’s among 17 organizations designated by the U.S. State Department as “foreign missions” in 2020. Among them, 14 are news publications or broadcasters.
Hamadeh said there are “real life consequences” of having a CCP-controlled publication in Congress as many young staffers may not know China Daily is paid by a foreign government when they see the publication within House facilities.
“So if they’re able to influence these staffers who then go ahead and influence their boss, their congressman, that’s a big problem.
“I’ve met with Uyghurs, and I’ve seen the plight that they’ve had to go through. Again, these staffers who continue to read this—and if it could influence a vote, for instance, or it can influence sanctions on the communist Chinese—it moves far past just information warfare,” he said.
It’s “the new reality” of modern warfare, Hamadeh said.In 2020, China Daily also came under scrutiny for paying millions to major U.S. newspapers to insert articles that paint the Chinese regime in a positive light and downplay its oppression of Chinese and other peoples.
For instance, it ran a piece in The Wall Street Journal titled “Law-Based Campaign Transforms Xinjiang,” and another in The Washington Post under the headline “Education Flaws Linked to Hong Kong Unrest,” 35 lawmakers noted in a letter to the Justice Department in February 2020.
Between November 2016 and April 2024, China Daily Distribution Corporation received 78.3 million in funding from its China-based headquarters. That’s almost 97 percent of its total income during the period, according to FARA filings.
In the same period, the corporation spent nearly $81 million in printing and operation expenses, including almost $20.78 million in advertisement payments to various media outlets, including Wall Street Journal ($6.02 million), Washington Post ($4.66 million), Time USA LLC ($3.76 million)—which publishes the Times Magazine—the Los Angeles Times ($1.73 million), the Financial Times ($1.62 million), Foreign Policy ($1.26 million), and USA Today ($0.5 million).
The New York Times received a one-off payment of $50,000 during the period. Twitter also ran ads worth $2.66 million until 2019, before it became X under new ownership.
The Post last ran ads for China Daily in 2019. The publication previously told The Epoch Times that the insert “was clearly labeled advertising.”
In an email to The Epoch Times, a USA TODAY spokesperson said: “Gannett and the USA TODAY Network implements a diligent review process with all advertisers while maintaining absolute discretion for determining the types of advertising that will be accepted, published, and displayed on all our platforms. Our publications accept advertisements that adhere to our protocols and guidelines.”
A New York Times spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the publication “made the decision in 2020 to stop accepting advertising from state-run media that do not have editorial independence.”
The Epoch Times has reached out for comment to the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, who facilitates the distribution of some foreign publications within House Office Buildings; the Chinese embassy, and other U.S. media outlets.
Wall Street Journal received no new payment since July 2020. FARA filings show.
Foreign Policy appears to have stopped selling ads to China Daily since 2023.
Hamadeh said China Daily’s campaigns show that the CCP knows how to influence the United States.
“If people want to read this, … they are free to do it, but to have it distributed in the halls of Congress should not be allowed,” he said.
If the resolution is adopted, any publications controlled by the CCP or its affiliates, and required to register under FARA, will be banned from House facilities.
Cathy He contributed to this report.