Allen-Ebrahimian: Who's Who in US officials lobbying for China?

The old homestead

Previously, during the first year of the Zhihe era, during the fifth lunar month, it had appeared at dawn, in the direction of the east, under the watch of Tiānguān (天關, Zeta Tauri). It had been seen in daylight, like Venus. It had rays stemming in all directions, and its colour was reddish white. Altogether visible for 23 days.

So there I was a few years ago, gazing up at the firmament of writers and scholars on Taiwan, and suddenly this 客星 appeared: Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian. She has been churning out stuff on China and Taiwan of steady high quality and usefulness, and her Twitter feed sparkles. This week she came out with an excellent piece on former US officials working for the China Lobby in the US:

“Nobody in the 1980s would have represented the Russian government. And now you find so many lobbying for the Chinese government,” said Frank Wolf, a retired U.S. representative from Virginia who long served as the co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. “I served in Congress for 34 years. I find it shocking.”

As she noted on Twitter, this is only a first pass.

This problem is immense, and it has seldom been written on. Silverstein's old The Mandarins at Harpers was already noting the immense influence of China back in 2008, and it has only grown.

The problem isn't just retired US officials acting as lobbyists. That is only one facet of this multi-faceted problem. A second issue is the numerous consulting and finance firms that are deeply involved in the China business who send and receive people from the government. The consulting firm Stonebridge supplied several people to the Obama Administration, as the Silverstein piece above notes, including Obama's first Asia chief, Jeff Bader. Evan Medeiros, who followed Bader, rotated out of government into the Eurasia Group, which does an extensive China business.

Another facet is the individuals who frequently comment on US-China policy, such as Charles Freeman and Henry Kissinger, who have longstanding business and social ties to China. Indeed, officials-turned-businessmen are routinely permitted to speak in major publications with no identification that they have close links to the PRC, a problem I have commented on many times (one example). This group includes people I have dubbed the China Explainers who have developed an extensive apologetics for Chinese expansionism and authoritarianism. I have commented on them numerous times (like here).

Yet another facet of this issue are the academics and commenters who have institutional or personal links to China and who now advocate for it. The Confucius Institutes are an obvious problem (they should be banned and closed), but many organizations have direct China links which they are loathe to lose. To gain an understanding of this problem, follow Michael D Swaine of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace on Twitter. The CEP has institutional links with China, and Swaine poo-poos the idea that there might be problems with China. Other names that rhyme with clown and blight will occur to longtime followers of China issues. This group constantly deploys weaponized narratives to silence its critics.

Yet another facet of this issue is, as I have noted ceaselessly on this blog, the pro-China narratives and positions of the international media.

"These hearings on the Mafia are in no way what-so-ever a slur upon the great Italian people. Because I can state from my own knowledge and experience - that Italian-Americans are among the most loyal - most law-abiding - patriotic, hard working American citizens in this land. And it would be a shame, Mr. Chairman, if we allowed a few rotten apples to bring a bad name to the whole barrel. Because from the time of the great Christopher Columbus up through the time of Enrico Fermi right up to the present day - Italian-Americans have been pioneers in building and defending our great nation. They are the salt of the earth and one of the backbones of this country."

Just remember when you look at all these highly educated people and their wealth, status, and influence, that they have made common cause with the CCP and the Bamboo Union gang.

The final facet of this problem is the most insidious: the self-censorship among academics (and journalists). Carsten Holz wrote about this ages ago in FEER, yet it is still relevant. Scholars struggle to find a position from which they can keep their access to China yet also stand against its authoritarianism and savagery. The revelation of a massive concentration camp system in Xinjiang has simply rendered this issue ever more urgent, and triggered much anxious discussion. This is one key way the academic community is different from these other communities: ethical concerns are honestly faced and openly discussed.

So glad, thirty years ago, I came down on the right side of the China issue.
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