Maybe two things are true.
The founder of China Labor Watch, Li Qiang, tells of how Voice of America provided a lifeline when he was growing up in China, an alternative to CCP propaganda that for decades “has not only brought accurate information to China but has served as a rare conduit for Chinese activists to speak to the world” (“The Disappearance of Voice of America Is a Failure of American Values,” The Diplomat, March 21, 2025).
If the U.S. government reduces or even shuts down Voice of America, China’s authoritarian regime will be the biggest winner….
In a country where news is entirely controlled by the government, VOA is not just a media outlet—it is the frontline in the fight against authoritarianism and a beacon of American democratic values….
I first heard Voice of America in 1981, when I was nine years old. China had just emerged from the Cultural Revolution, and the government was putting former leaders on trial. I vividly remember my older brother, and my uncles, and neighbors, secretly huddled together to listen to VOA shortwave radio broadcasts, eager to obtain more accurate information about turmoil happening in their own country.
Later, I came to understand that VOA was considered an “enemy station” by the Chinese government, and listening to its programs could even lead to imprisonment.
As a child growing up in China, my education was saturated with political slogans and propaganda. By the age of four, the first phrase I learned was “Long live Chairman Mao.” In kindergarten, we were taught to criticize Confucianism, oppose the bourgeoisie, and recite Maoist ideology as preparation to become “successors of communism,” despite not knowing exactly what any of this meant.
Then, VOA changed everything.
Li says that it was while listening to Voice of America during the Chinese student movement in the late 1980s—described by VOA as “students demanding democracy, freedom, and equality,” described otherwise by the Chinese government—that he began to question the government’s take on things.
“In my quest for the truth, VOA became one of my most trusted sources, helping me understand the real meaning of freedom, democracy, and human rights.”
He says that if Voice of America is weakened or shut down, “authoritarian regimes will only tighten their grip on information, further suppressing the truth…. And Voice of America is one of America’s strongest tools in the global battle for information dominance.”
A mixed legacy?
Li’s testament comes in the wake of a Trump administration shutdown of VOA; more than 1,300 of its employees have been placed on leave.
The person whom Trump wants to lead Voice of America, Kari Lake, has described its parent agency, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, “as ‘a giant rot and burden to the American taxpayer’ and said it was ‘not salvageable.’ Lake, referring to herself as a USAGM senior adviser, said she would shrink the agency to its minimum possible size under the law.”
Not yet in charge, Lake would have to be appointed by the head of USAGM, Brent Bozell, whose nomination to lead USAGM has not yet been confirmed.
In February, The Hill reported that Lake sees VOA’s reporting as a mixture of the “incredible” and the “pitiful.”
“We are fighting an information war, and there’s no better weapon than the truth, and I believe the VOA can be that weapon. With a relatively small budget, along with honest reporting, we can spread the values of freedom all over the world and prevent trillion-dollar wars.”
Also see:
China Labor Watch: “What we do”
“CLW conducts investigations on forced labor and labor trafficking through multiple channels including direct worker outreach, desktop research, and field visits.”
PBS News Hour: “What is Voice of America and why Trump is dismantling the broadcaster”
The White House: The Voice of Radical America
The Washington Free Beacon: “VOA Misallocates Funds and Suppresses Negative Stories About Iran. This Lawmaker Wants To Investigate.”
“The U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees VOA and other government media outlets, has obstructed several congressional investigations into its misallocation of taxpayer funds and slanted coverage, including suppressing stories about the Iranian regime’s mass human rights abuses. A government watchdog has also cited USAGM for failing to properly vet 40 percent of its workforce, which includes those with security clearances and many foreign nationals, including Iranians.”
