By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

Once again, we see real journalism out there from Bill Gertz over at The Washington Free Beacon. That guy rocks. He just uncovered something that should ring alarm bells across America. A large Spanish-language radio station in Mexico will soon begin broadcasting Chinese propaganda. That’s right, the Chinese are setting up shop in Mexico. They’ve been there for a long time, but this is a new step in arrogance for them in an attempt to spread communism in Mexico and South America as well as the U.S. They are joined by their good friends Russia, Iran and Cuba in doing so. You can toss Venezuela into the mix as well. Critics know that the propaganda is specifically aimed at Chinese Americans throughout Southern California. This should not be allowed. It is subversive and in my book, a definite step towards war.

Think about this for a minute and it should make your blood run cold. If the Chinese and others are successful in spreading communism not only in South and Central America via Mexico, and then into Southern California where there are already many communist radicals that aren’t Chinese, what do you think will happen? If the Chinese can rally Chinese Americans who are communists and have been planted in Southern California and sway enough useful idiots in the state, if war breaks out, California would be the first to fall, along with their vital seaports and military bases. No easy feat, but think like the Chinese and you see what the longterm goal is here.

Gertz says there is a Federal Communications Commission filing on the sale of radio station XEWW AM 690 radio near Tijuana. In that filing, it is revealed that the buyer has ties to Phoenix Satellite Television US, a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing Phoenix TV. Phoenix North America Chinese Channel is one of the six channels that Phoenix Television operates. It was launched on January 1st, 2001 in order to serve Chinese viewers in North America, and it is the first Chinese language channel that is available across the continent. This channel now broadcasts on both EchoStar, Dish and DirectTV satellite systems and shares similar programming with Phoenix Chinese News and Entertainment Channel. Some of its in-house programs include “Phoenix North America News” and “Experience America.”

That’s right, they’ve had a Chinese broadcasting outfit on American soil for 17 years. My critics will say, “Oh, they haven’t done anything.” Yet. The Chinese do not think the way we do. They think and plan long term – I’m talking decades out. This should never have been allowed. It was a major mistake letting the communist Chinese have this kind of reach in America and elsewhere. Are we so easily bought and infiltrated? It would definitely seem so.

At least the Trump administration was paying attention. Government sources gave Trump a head’s up that Phoenix was involved in the purchase of the radio station. When Trump found out he started an immediate investigation into the national security implications of the sale. Our intel agencies have identified Phoenix TV as a major overseas outlet used to spread propaganda and promote the policies of the communist government in Beijing. I’m sure you’ll be shocked to know that they have very close ties to China’s intelligence service and military. Now you know why I say they should never have been licensed in the U.S.

A New York financial company, H & H Capital Partners, are the ones that struck the deal for XEWW, a 77,500-watt station capable of reaching all of southern California. If the FCC approves the sale (and they better not), it will transform the AM radio station into a Chinese-language outlet with the capability of reaching 600,000 Chinese Americans living in the San Diego-Los Angeles area with Beijing’s propaganda themes. This is Xi’s dynastic agenda at work. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is incensed at the move by the communists and is strongly urging the FCC to block the sale. “The FCC must protect American security and economic interests, and deny any attempt by the Chinese government to broadcast Communist Party propaganda and other programming into the United States,” Rubio said.

Rubio is also preparing legislation requiring all media outlets owned, directed, or otherwise controlled by the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party to register as foreign agents. That’s a no-brainer and should have always been the case but was roundly ignored as a requirement for some blindingly stupid reason. The FCC is involved here because the Mexican station broadcasts into the U.S. The station was sold by GLR Southern California. GLR, or Grupo Latino de Radio, is the U.S. subsidiary of PRISA Radio, the world’s largest Spanish-language radio group. XEWW is conveniently located in Rosarito, Mexico, about 10 miles from the U.S. border.

H & H Capital Partners is denying that they brokered the deal for Phoenix. “We purchased the radio station ourselves and there is nothing to do with Phoenix,” stated Managing Director Vivian Huo. But they have never operated a radio station before, so this doesn’t add up. According to Huo’s LinkedIn page, the company “brings value to investors through its talent for obtaining the best possible strategic partners for its corporate clients, including cross-border M&A deals.” As I was looking into Phoenix TV on the Internet, my computer system blocked malware from their sites. Let’s just say, I’m not surprised.

I find it alarming and incompetent that the FCC filing does not mention Phoenix TV and also states no foreign entities are involved in the purchase. That’s obviously not true here. The filing does identify the location of where radio programming for the Mexican broadcasts will be produced as the address in Irwindale, CA of Phoenix Satellite TV US. Jackie Pang, a longtime Phoenix TV reporter, was also just hired by H&H as a senior adviser on all this. Huo is claiming that Phoenix TV will not be involved in producing the programming for the station, but if you believe that, I have some great beach property in the middle of Nevada for you.

The Justice Department getting involved in this probe shows how the Trump administration is working to counter foreign influence operations. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced last month that both the department and FBI are targeting foreign disinformation and influence operations, through prosecutions, counterintelligence operations, and other legal measures. “Influence operations are a form of information warfare,” Rosenstein said during a security conference in Colorado. “Covert propaganda and disinformation are among the primary weapons.” Bingo. I may not like Rosenstein, but he’s right about that.

From The Washington Free Beacon:

Phoenix TV was blocked from an attempt to buy into the U.S. broadcasting market in Southern California in 2013. The Chinese broadcaster tried to purchase radio station KDAY, an FM station in Redondo Beach, Calif., and turn it into a Chinese language broadcaster.

That deal was led by RBC Communications, a group of investors led by Phoenix and its editor, Anthony Yuen. The deal fell through in October 2013 after funding irregularities in the proposed $19.5 million purchase were discovered.

Earlier this week, another Los Angeles radio that broadcasts in Chinese, the Chinese Sound of Oriental and West Heritage, filed a petition with the FCC asking the FCC to block H&H’s purchase of XEWW.

The Chinese broadcaster from the low power FM station KQEV said FCC approval would cause economic harm and “might allow the Chinese government to provide its own propaganda programming to air on the station.”

“If the programming of XEWW-AM is tainted by, or worse controlled by, the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese American community of Southern, California could be indoctrinated with CCP propaganda, and the American political and economic community could be damaged,” the filing states. “An investigation of this issue is necessary.”

Former Chinese insider and billionaire businessman Guo Wengui said Phoenix TV was established under Chinese leader Jiang Zemin in the early 1990s specifically as a government and intelligence tool for overseas influence operations.

All Phoenix personnel are required to undergo some MSS intelligence training, Guo said.

“Phoenix TV is very close to the MSS and Chinese military intelligence,” said Guo, who was once close to MSS Vice Minister Ma Jian before breaking with Beijing several years ago.

Sarah Cook, who is a Chinese expert at Freedom House, testified recently in front of Congress that Phoenix TV is the second most widely viewed Chinese-language cable channel in the United States, and an example of a Chinese propaganda outlet not directly owned by the Beijing government. “Owned by a former military officer with close ties to Beijing officials, Phoenix TV’s coverage is typically favorable to the [Communist Party of China],” Cook told the U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission. Furthering Cook’s claims is that the chairman of the Hong Kong-based Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings Ltd. is Liu Changle, a former PLA propaganda official who is close to senior Chinese government leaders. “Moreover, over the past two years, it has been used as an outlet for airing televised confessions by various detained CCP critics, most notably all five Hong Kong booksellers abducted by Chinese security forces in late 2015,” Cook said.

China state television, CCTV, holds a 10 percent stake in Phoenix TV. Therefore they are totally controlled by the communist Chinese and don’t dare stray from the proffered propaganda from Beijing. This is part of a larger Beijing global propaganda operation and it is a danger to the national security interests of the United States. China began spending over $7 billion 10 years ago to implement a global propaganda strategy. This is being done to gin up support for China’s policies and to whitewash nefarious Chinese activities, such as arms proliferation to rogue states and human rights abuses.

“Today the Chinese government media’s presence can be seen everywhere in North America. It has systematically taken control of nearly all overseas Chinese language media, bought English-language radio and TV stations, hired hundreds of American journalists to do their bidding,” Lianchao Han, a former Senate aide said. Sounds exactly like what Russia did with RT (Russia Today). Han added: “Phoenix TV’s recent purchase of XEWW through H&H Capital shows the regime continues to carry out this strategy of brainwashing people in the free world to endorse Beijing’s policy of global expansion and to re-write the current international rules and order.”

Phoenix TV was also linked to the case of Chinese spy Chi Mak who was convicted of illegally exporting defense technology to China in 2007. Mak’s brother Tai Mak was revealed by investigators as a PLA intelligence officer working undercover as a broadcast engineer for Phoenix TV in southern California. Tai Mak was also convicted as a conspirator in the spy case.

So tell me again why the FCC is even considering giving consent on this sale? Just say no to the communist Chinese. We are already lousy with their spies… this has got to be stopped before we wind up speaking Mandarin as a nation.