US anti-propaganda law ‘may set stage for war of ideas with China’
Washington’s new anti-propaganda legislation could be aimed at China in Trump era, analysts say
China and the United States could head down the slippery slope towards ideological confrontation after US President Barack Obama quietly signed an “anti-propaganda bill” into law, mainland observers said.
China is mentioned just once in the 1,623-word Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act, but observers said it could become a tool to counter Beijing.
The legislation was signed as part of the National Defence Authorisation Act of 2017 shortly before Christmas.
The anti-propaganda act is backed by an annual budget of US$800 million to, among other things, establish a fund to train journalists, and to give contracts and grants to non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, think tanks and private firms specialising in deciphering trends in disinformation campaigns by other countries.
In a panel discussion hosted by the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, in mid-March, one of the legislation’s architects, Republican Senator Rob Portman, said the act was not meant to target a specific country but the propaganda itself.
