Submitted March 3, 2011
Dear Members of Congress:
This
letter is to request your strong support to restore the
budget for Voice of America Cantonese Service and Voice of America
Mandarin
Service in the FY 2012 Budget.
We object to the proposal by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG),
which
serves to manage Voice of America (VOA), to eliminate the entire VOA
Cantonese
Service, as well as eliminate the positions of more than half of the
VOA Mandarin
Service staff members.
This egregious effort to disappropriate funding from VOA will effectively eliminate the purpose of the Congressionally mandated Public Law 94-350 to the people in China who speak Cantonese and Mandarin to be provided with news broadcasts that promote freedom and democracy.
This target against Voice of America – right on the heels of PRC President Hu Jintao’s recent visit to the United States – is nothing less than a concession that will dismantle America’s commitment to broadcast news from the United States. During the same time of this funding cutback, the PRC intends to spend more than a billion dollars to enhance their propaganda goals in the United States.
This campaign against Voice of America comes during the PRC’s media crackdown on stories against Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo. It comes during a time when PRC’s media has blocked news about uprisings in Egypt and Libya. It comes during a PRC crackdown against any stories shared about the blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng, and all prisoners of conscience in China.
We implore you to restore the FY 2012 Budget funding for the Voice of America’s Mandarin and Cantonese Services so Voice of America can continue to fulfill its mandate to provide a balanced and comprehensive view of significant American thought and institutions; and to clearly present the policies of the United States to the people of China.
Respectfully,
Harry Wu, Laogai Research Foundation,
Justin Yu, The Chinese Chamber of Commerce in New York
Ann Lau, Visual Artists Guild
Ann Noonan, Free Church for China
Bob Fu, China Aid
Anna Cheung, Alliance for Hong Kong Chinese in the US
New York State Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz
Peggy Chane, Visual Artists Guild
Joe Brown, Pasadena NAACP
-
Reggie Littlejohn, Women's Rights Without Frontiers
Ganden Thurman, Tibet House
Jeremy Taylor, Free Burma Alliance
Ethan Gutmann. Recipient Tiananmem Spirit Award
Jonathan Cao, Chinese Coalition for Citizens’ Rights
Juntao Wang, National Committee Democratic Party of China
Robert A. Senser, Human Rights for Workers
Jing Zhang, Women’s Rights in China
Karin M. Burke, Esq., New York, NY
Jim Roberts
Agnes
Lin, Beverly Hills
Bobby Wang, Visual Artists Guild
Lucas Kamp, Pasadena
Sandy Wang, City of La Palma, Ca
Aivars Jerumanis
Wendy Maccoun, Coastline Community College ESL Instructor
Dr.
Frank de Balogh, Hungarian American, South Pasadena
Song Yongyi, Associate Professor/Librarian, California State University, Los Angeles
Robert Branch, Visual Artists Guild
Bishop Ron Allen/CEO & President, International Faith Based
Coalition
Albert
Roman,
Amnesty International Club, South High School, Torrance, Ca
Philip
Watt,
Visual Artists Guild
Fred
Leong, San Jose, Ca
Ann
Leong, San Jose, Ca
Arnold
Hung
Joon
Lee
Linda Lin
Shan He
Wenqian Gao
Xuan Meng
Shujun Wang
Ning Ye
Qihuang Tang
Lewis Liu
Dongfang Xiao
Youcai Wang
Tiancheng Wang
Nianchun Liu
Shenqi Fu
Shuyuan Song
Baosheng Guo
Ce Wang
Cheng Wang
Zhijian Yu
Junjuo Liu
Liqun Chen
Guangjun Gao
Fengjie Mo
Yan Xiong
Jinjin Li
Jinghua Lv
Xueyuan Zhu
Gai Yi
Ming Xia
Xiaoqin Huang
Quanbao Wei
Ping Gao
Yan Jin
Dimin Shen
Jianwei Li
Juemin Dong
Qilong Liu
Chengshan Tan
Weijiang Shi
Open Letter to Members of House Appropriations Committee
Addendum
There are a total of 27 pages with approximately 717 people who signed the open letter online to the members of the House Appropriation Committee.
The people include those who live in the United States as well as those who live inside China as well as the rest of the world.
Those who are from China include people from various provinces of China and from all walks of life. Many are human rights activists, banned political parties members, writers, labor activists, etc. Many also include their phone numbers.