Just as we thought, a Chinese spy...

Chinese broadcaster registers as foreign agent

By JESSE CHASE-LUBITZ

The American branch of China’s English-language state TV broadcaster has filed with the U.S. government as a foreign agent of the Chinese government under the Foreign Agent Registration Act.

China Global Television Network America is the Washington bureau for CCTV, China’s primary state TV broadcaster. CCTV rebranded its international networks as CGTN a couple of years ago.

The filings come amid efforts by Trump to eliminate the Chinese government’s influence in the United States. The network filed under orders from the Justice Department. China’s official state news agency Xinhua was also directed to register but has not yet done so.

The filings were made on Feb. 1, one day after trade talks ended in Washington. BuzzFeed News was the first to report on the filing.

The filing makes clear that the company did not agree with the way that the Justice Department‘s characterized its relationship, but said it “is registering out of an abundance of caution and in the spirit of cooperation with U.S. authorities.”

“CGTN America enjoys editorial independence from any state direction or control,” one of the filings said. The company said it had 180 journalists that were part of CGTN America. The filing did note that it is wholly state-owned.

CGTN did not reply to a request for comment by the time of publication.