US terminates 5 exchange programs with China

By Faruk Zorlu

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US has canceled five cultural exchange programs with China because Beijing uses them as propaganda tools.

"While other programs funded under the auspices of the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act (MECEA) are mutually beneficial, the five programs in question are fully funded and operated by China's government as soft power propaganda tools," the US State Department said Friday.

"They provide carefully curated access to Chinese Communist Party officials, not to the Chinese people, who do not enjoy freedoms of speech and assembly," it said.

The programs include the Policymakers Educational China Trip Program, US-China Friendship Program, US-China Leadership Exchange Program, US-China Transpacific Exchange Program and the Hong Kong Educational and Cultural Program.