“美国之音”2024年11月26日报道（摘要）：
参议院外交委员会主席、来自马里兰州的民主党参议员本·卡丁(Ben Cardin)星期一(11月25日)联袂来自阿拉斯加州的共和党参议员丹·沙利文(Dan Sullivan)推出一项法案，名为《以自由、公开与可靠媒体让一国知情法》(Informing a Nation with Free, Open, and Reliable Media Act)，简称《知情法》(INFORM)
Act)。两位参议员表示，法案是为了改善独立信息的可及性并推进中华人民共和国公民的表达自由。
卡丁参议员当天还撰文提到珠海发生的恶性撞人事件以及中国政府随后压制信息的措施。他强调，与美国有分歧的是中国的威权政府，而不是中国人民，美国必须努力加强与中国人民的接触并帮助中国人民绕过审查制度（原文附后）。
这项法案要求加强美国国务院和美国全球媒体总署(USAGM)的努力，开发绕过中国互联网审查的技术，向中国公民提供安全的内容分享工具，并支持中文普通话内容与新闻业。法案还赋权“公民新闻”和独立媒体机构制作和报道有关中国各地的新闻。
……
沙利文参议员在声明中说，中国共产党领导人习近平的“最大弱点之一是他害怕自己的人民。”
他接着说：“这就是为什么中共庞大的审查机构--它的‘防火长城’--会压制自由表达，并拒绝让公民获取有关中共领导人腐败的真实信息。我们可以更好地绕过中国的防火墙，让中国人民获取有关自己政府的信息，并与世界各地同样渴望自由的人们建立联系。这项立法提供了一种利用中共和习最大弱点的方法，并充分利用我们最大的战略优势--我们对自由的承诺。我将在下一届国会和特朗普行政当局中继续努力，使之成为现实。”
……
卡丁和沙利文跨党提出的这部法案的关键条款包括：
要求国务院和跨部门制定一项全面战略，以扩展信息和与中国公民在信息领域的接触。
提高联邦机构之间的协调水平，以开发和传播及时、令人信服的并且会被受高度审查和限制的中国互联网生态系统所屏蔽的中文普通话内容。
增加对媒体自由节目、调查性新闻和中文普通话内容开发计划的资金，包括建立和扩展由独立记者或媒体公司组成的网络，调查和制作与中华人民共和国实时的社会、政治和经济事件有关的文章、报告和其他内容。
向美国国务院和美国全球媒体总署提供资源，进一步开发和创新规避审查和安全共享内容的工具，让中国公民能够绕过中华人民共和国严格的审查制度，并确保这些工具更有效地与独立、可靠信息的可及性相结合。
加强外交努力，以反制中华人民共和国在网络信息和公共外交空间的缺乏对等。
……
（“美国之音”该报道的原文）
https://www.voachinese.com/a/cardin-sullivan-introduce-bipartisan-bill-to-counter-censorship-in-china-and-promote-free-expression-for-chinese-citizens-20241125/7876985.html
（卡丁参议员的原文）中国人民应该知道真相，而不是审查（自动翻译）
发布日期： 2024 年 11 月 25 日上午 6:00（美国东部标准时间）
（作者）本·卡丹 （美国）参议员兼参议院外交关系委员会主席
11 月 11 日，在中国珠海，一名 62
岁的男子驾车冲入体育场馆人群，造成 35 人死亡，43 人受伤。这是中国十多年来最严重的大规模屠杀。虽然这场悲剧在西方几乎没有成为头条新闻，但许多中国公民可能并未听说过此事，因为中国共产党 (CCP) 庞大的审查机构迅速而彻底地掩盖了此事。甚至外国新闻机构也面临恐吓，一位BBC记者在试图报道珠海事件时甚至遭到人身攻击。
在遇难者的亲朋好友们还没有开始哀悼之前，中共当局就迅速拆除了临时纪念碑，并撤走了悼念的鲜花。中国社交媒体平台被要求删除表达愤怒和悲伤的帖子。中共再次迅速加大审查力度，压制公众对这场悲剧及其影响的讨论，让中国公民在信息封锁中应对这一事件——以及它对他们国家意味着什么。
在华盛顿，我们往往关注中国的全球野心、其与美国的经济竞争以及其在国际舞台上的咄咄逼人的行为，这些行为挑战了我们和我们的盟友自二战以来一直坚持的全球准则。我们从外交、经济和安全的角度分析中国的行为，但我们一直忽视美中政策的一个关键要素——中国人民。
有些事情是我们无法控制的。在国家主席习近平的领导下，中共一再限制美国外交官的接触，并取消了美国驻华使团组织的数十场公共活动。他还负责扩大中共强大的媒体和网络审查制度，封锁外部、独立或“敏感”信息（例如有关珠海大规模伤亡事件的新闻），压制中国人民的言论自由。
我们能够控制的是如何应对这些挑战。到目前为止，尽管自由亚洲电台和美国之音等媒体做出了出色的工作，但我们与中国人民接触并赋予他们获取未经审查的信息的权利的努力仍未达到预期。短期内，这削弱了我们反击针对中国 14 亿公民的反美宣传的能力。随着时间的推移，它有可能在我们国家之间造成相互理解和善意的持久分歧，可能导致更广泛地支持或默许习近平的一些极端政策。
尽管审查制度仍在继续，但中国公民对政府的政策和行为的质疑却日益增多。越来越多的人寻求其他信息来源，呼吁更大的经济和政治自由。2022 年白皮书运动抗议中国政府严厉的“零新冠”政策，清楚地表明了这种愿望。尽管不断有针对性的反美宣传，但人们对美国的看法最近有所改善。风险比以往任何时候都高，但所有证据表明，我们拥有前所未有的参与机会。
这一关键时刻需要采取大胆措施，加深了解，弥合分歧，与中国人民建立真正的联系。正因如此，当我提出跨党派的《向国家提供自由、开放和可靠的媒体信息法案》（简称 INFORM 法案）——该法案要求行政部门向中国公民分享清晰、独立的信息——时，我希望在国会引发一场急需的对话，讨论美国政策如何更好地支持那些长期遭受严厉镇压和审查的人的权利和自由。这场对话还应该提醒我们，中国人民不是我们的对手；他们是全球社会的成员，有权享有所有人应享有的自由，只要政府尊重他们的尊严。
随着新政府就职以及参议院外交关系委员会下一任主席的上任，他们必须将这个问题作为优先事项并参与这一重要对话。我们必须继续强调，我们的分歧在于中国独裁政府，而不是其人民。通过承认中国人民是国际社会的伙伴而不是敌人，美国可以重新制定其美中政策方针——将其立足于我们两国公民共同的人类价值观。
在我们继续优先考虑与中国政府进行经济、军事和技术竞争的同时，我们也应该将我们的努力和资源用于与中国人民进行有意义的接触。从天安门广场抗议活动到白皮书运动中展现出的坚韧不拔，中国公民在面对镇压时一再表现出非凡的决心。珠海最近发生的悲剧凸显了我们所面临的危险——不仅是人们哀悼和寻求正义的权利，而且是中国未来的灵魂。每一个被压制的故事、每一个被删除的帖子和每一个被拆除的纪念碑都清楚地提醒我们，如果没有联系、学习和质疑的手段，中国人民就会被孤立于真相和外部世界之外。
如果我们像我们所宣称的那样严肃对待中国的挑战，我们就必须继续支持勇敢引领道路的中国人民。
（英文原文）
China's People Deserve the Truth—Not Censorship | Opinion
Published Nov
25, 2024 at 6:00 AM EST
By Ben Cardin Senator and Chair of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee
On Nov. 11, in
Zhuhai, China, a 62-year-old man drove his car into a crowd at a sports
complex, killing 35 people and injuring 43 others. It was China's deadliest
mass killing in more than a decade. While the tragedy barely made headlines in
the West, many Chinese citizens may not have heard about it inside China, where
it was swiftly and thoroughly swept under the rug by the Chinese Communist
Party's (CCP) vast censorship apparatus. Even foreign news agencies faced
intimidation, and in the case of a BBC reporter, physical assault, when he
attempted to cover the developments in Zhuhai.
Before family
members, friends, and acquaintances of the victims could even begin to grieve,
CCP authorities quickly dismantled makeshift memorials and removed flower
arrangements placed in remembrance. Social media platforms in China were
instructed to delete posts expressing outrage and sorrow. Once again, the CCP
quickly escalated its censorship efforts to suppress public discussions of the
tragedy and its impact, leaving Chinese citizens to grapple with this incident—and what is
says about their country—in the midst of an information blackout.
In Washington,
we tend to focus on China's global ambitions, its economic competition with the
United States, and its aggressive behavior on the international stage which
challenge the global norms that we and our allies have upheld since World War
II. We analyze China's conduct through diplomatic, economic, and security lenses,
but we continually overlook a critical element of U.S.-China policy—the Chinese
people.
Some of this is
out of our control. Under President Xi Jinping, the CCP has repeatedly
restricted access to U.S. diplomats and cancelled dozens of public events organized
by the United States mission in China. He is also responsible for expanding the
CCP's powerful media and online censorship regime that blocks outside,
independent, or "sensitive" information—like news about the
Zhuhai mass casualty incident—silencing free expression among people in China.
What we can
control is how we respond to these challenges. So far, despite the excellent work
of outlets like Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, our efforts to engage
with the Chinese people and empower them with access to uncensored information
have fallen short. In the near term, this weakens our ability to counter the
anti-U.S. propaganda aimed at China's 1.4 billion citizens. Over time, it risks
creating a lasting divide in mutual understanding and goodwill between our
nations, potentially leading to broader support for—or an
implied acceptance of—some of Xi's extreme policies.
Despite ongoing
censorship, Chinese citizens are increasingly questioning their government's
policies and conduct. More are seeking alternative sources of information and
calling for greater economic and political freedoms. The 2022 White Paper
Movement protests against the Chinese government's draconian
"zero-COVID" policy clearly demonstrated that desire. And perceptions
of the United States have recently shown improvement despite a constant barrage
of targeted anti-U.S. propaganda. The stakes are higher than ever, yet all the
evidence suggests we have an unprecedented opportunity to engage.
This pivotal
moment calls for bold steps to deepen understanding, bridge divides, and build
genuine connections with the people of China. That's why, when I introduced the
bipartisan Informing a Nation with Free, Open, and Reliable Media (or INFORM
Act)—a bill directing the executive branch to share clear, independent
information to Chinese citizens—I hoped to spark a much-needed conversation in Congress about how
U.S. policy can better support the rights and freedoms of those who have long
endured intense repression and censorship. That conversation should also remind
us that the Chinese people are not our adversaries; they are members of the
global community, entitled to the same liberties that all people deserve from a
government that respects their dignity.
As the new
administration takes office and the next chair of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee steps into their role, it's critical that they make this issue a
priority and join in this important conversation. It is vital that we continue
to emphasize that our differences are with China's authoritarian government,
not its people. By recognizing the Chinese people as partners in the
international community rather than enemies, the United States can reframe its
approach to U.S.-China policy—grounding it in shared human values between our two citizenries.
While we
continue to prioritize economic, military, and technological competition with
China's government, it's also time to dedicate our efforts and resources to
meaningful engagement with the people of China. From the Tiananmen Square
protests to the resilience seen in the White Paper Movement, Chinese citizens
have repeatedly shown remarkable resolve in the face of repression. This latest
tragedy in Zhuhai underscores what's at stake—not only the rights
of those to grieve and seek justice but also the very soul of China's future.
Each silenced story, each deleted post, and each dismantled memorial is a stark
reminder that, without the means to connect, learn, and question, the Chinese
people are left isolated from the truth and the outside world.
If we are as
serious about the China challenge as we profess, we must continue to stand up
for the Chinese people who are courageously leading the way.
（原文链接）
https://www.newsweek.com/chinas-people-deserve-truthnot-censorship-opinion-1989808
