The programmes allowed employees of US government agencies to travel at the expense of foreign governments, said US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo
Michael Pompeo, US Secretary of State, said Washington is stopping five cultural exchange programmes with China because they are supposedly used by Beijing for propaganda purposes.
“The State Department is terminating five programmes with China designated as ‘cultural exchanges'”, – said Pompeo in a statement issued on Friday night.
The one-sided measures include educational travel programmes for politicians to China, American-Chinese friendship, Trans-Pacific exchange, leadership exchange and a Hong Kong educational and cultural programme. “These programmes, implemented in accordance with the law on educational and cultural exchange, allowed employees of U.S. government agencies to travel at the expense of foreign governments,” reminded the Secretary of State.
According to him, these five programmes are “fully funded and used by the Chinese government as propaganda tools through the use of soft power.
In Beijing, it has been repeatedly pointed out that unilateral steps taken by the US are counterproductive.