Victims of China's forced sterilization get news from VOA radio

Anonymous victim of China’s forced sterilization policy —

This woman from a rural area insisted that her name could not be publicized on “foreign radio”, otherwise local officials would never stop persecuting her. I was puzzled and asked what she meant by “foreign radio”. “Voice of America and that Radio something Asia,” she told me.

Ms. Jing Zhang, former Chinese political prisoner and president of U.S.-based NGO Women’s Rights in China, wrote in a recent article for Free Media Online:

Earlier this year, I interviewed a victim of botched sterilization operations mandated by the government’s birth planning policy, which resulted in a crippling disability. This woman from a rural area insisted that her name could not be publicized on “foreign radio”, otherwise local officials would never stop persecuting her. I was puzzled and asked what she meant by “foreign radio”. “Voice of America and that Radio something Asia,” she told me. How would the village officials know of what was being reported on those stations? The victim told me that they would be listening. There were many others who listened in her village. They first found out about the Sichuan earthquake from “foreign radio”. Even village officials were now openly listening to “enemy stations”.

BBG officials dismiss these stories as irrelevant and insist that their reseach shows that almost no one in China listens to VOA on shortwave radio.

How do they conduct their research?

The BBG pays millions of dollars each year to a U.S. company which hires a research company in China. Members of Congress of both parties made fun of these BBG claims. Rep. Connie Mack said: People in China or Cuba, as you can imagine, will not jump in joy and admit it | listening to VOA, RFA, and other Western radio stations|. If you say yes, in China or Cuba, the government will punish you. People are afraid for their own lives.”