BREAKING: Trump Administration is declaring Chinese state media in US "offices of foreign missions," meaning personnel, property must be reported to State Department. Applies to @XHNews, @cgtnamerica,
China Radio Intl., China Daily Distribution Corp.,
Hai Tian Development USA
China Radio Intl., China Daily Distribution Corp.,
Hai Tian Development USA
In the future, the Administration will be able to accept or reject the company's property rentals or purchases, and will receive reports of personnel movements.
We asked senior officials why now. One official told a few of us, "All of these media entities have been under state control," but "the control has gotten more draconian," and "Xi has made it clear lately these are mouthpieces of the Communist Party."
This will apply to all employees of these companies in the US, regardless of full-time status, and regardless of nationality. So the information of US citizens who are part-time or contractors to the companies will have to be included.
Under the Systems of Records Notice, senior official says the information on the companies’ employees will include name, date of birth, home address, and job title. And data will be available to federal, state, and local government agencies upon request.
During the Cold War, senior official says all Soviet media were also designated “foreign missions.” But current Russian media are not under the same designation.
