(PatriotWise.com) — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent money to a newspaper registered as a Chinese foreign agent in her 2022 re-election bid, according to The Post Millennial. The newspaper, Sing Tao Newspapers, is a U.S. subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Sing Tao News Corporation, which was considered to be “too pro-Beijing” according to the Department of Justice. In August 2021, it was then required to register as a foreign agent.
AOC was joined by Democratic Reps. Kevin Mullin, Grace Meng, and Nicole Malliotakis putting their campaign funds toward the newspaper for advertising expenses, according to Fox News. AOC had given about $1,500 to Sing Tao, while Reps. Mullin, Meng, and Malliotakis dished out between $1,000 and $7,000, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
The newspaper reportedly receives most of its content from Chinese company Star Production (Shenzhen) Limited. While it claims to be free from the influence of the Chinese Communist Party, the Council on Foreign Relations stated that the Chinese government maintains the “world’s most restrictive media environments, relying on censorship to control information in the news, online, and on social media.”
Censorship guidelines are disbursed weekly to editors and media providers from the government’s propaganda department and Bureau of Internet Affairs, the council continued.
The Chinese government reportedly continues to keep a stranglehold on media publications by limiting what its citizens can or cannot read, both physically and on social media, and has thrown dissident journalists in jail. The CCP has recently amplified its operations against journalists, jailing Jimmy Lai, who runs “Apple Daily,” a pro-democracy outlet that often criticizes Beijing.
Lai was reportedly sentenced to a total of 20 months for pro-democracy protests. He faces six additional charges, which may carry a maximum term of life in prison.
“It is our responsibility as journalists to seek justice,” Lai wrote in a letter from prison that the newspaper published.
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