As Beltway organizations cut ties with Chinese Communist Party front groups, a group of previous congressmen has actually kept a close relationship with a think tank that manages Beijing’s foreign influence efforts. The Association of Former Members of Congress, a networking center for previous legislators, has actually hosted several occasions given that 2020 for the China-United States Exchange Foundation, the CCP’s leading foreign impact think tank.
The Exchange Foundation sponsors the association’s yearly awards gala, which will be held next month, and it has actually worked hand-in-glove with the Exchange Foundation’s lobbyist to host policy occasions where pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong have actually been blamed on “foreign forces” and the United States has actually been implicated of directing “vitriol” towards China.
” It’s lovely and truly dirty gross,” stated Dylan Hedtler– Gaudette, federal government affairs supervisor at the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan openness group. Hedtler-Gaudette states the overlapping ties in between Capitol Counsel, the Exchange Foundation, and the Association of Former Members of Congress make up a “shadow lobbying operation.”
The plan reveals the degree of the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda operation in the United States. It likewise highlights a kind of influence peddling widespread in Washington, where consulting companies deal with think tanks and not-for-profit companies on behalf of foreign entities and business customers, frequently without divulging the connections.
Since its introduction in 2008, the Exchange Foundation has actually contributed greatly to American universities, think tanks, and not-for-profit companies to access their spheres of influence. The group has actually come under analysis over the last few years over its participation in the Chinese Communist Party’s “unified front” system, which Beijing utilizes to wield impact overseas. CIA director William Burns said he cut ties with the Exchange Foundation when he functioned as president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace because of the group’s aggressive efforts to affect American views towards China.
The Association of Former Members of Congress, which boasts ties to more than 200 sitting members of Congress and senior staffers, is among the few Beltway companies that keep a relationship with the Exchange Foundation. The group has actually hosted or participated in a minimum of 8 policy conversations with the Exchange Foundation considering 2020, according to an evaluation by the Washington Free Beacon.
For John Dotson, a China-watcher at the Global Taiwan Institute, the Exchange Foundation has actually shown an “ongoing pattern” of lobbying to gain access to Beltway power. The think tank once worked with Democratic lobbyist Tony Podesta and sponsored research study at the think tank his bro John established, the Center for American Progress. Dotson has written before about the Exchange Foundation’s “lobby laundering,” including its deal with the Podesta Group and Capitol Counsel.
Founded by Democratic lobbyist John Raffaelli, Capitol Counsel has actually represented the Exchange Foundation because 2014. Capitol Counsel’s filings under the Foreign Agents Registration Act reveal it agreed to facilitate “coalition-building” with the Association of Former Members of Congress on behalf of the Exchange Foundation. Capitol Counsel lobbyist Martin Gold has actually hosted policy conversations at the association on behalf of the Exchange Foundation about a controversial national security law in Hong Kong, the state of U.S.-Chinese economic relations in the wake of COVID-19, and a discussion of the summit between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Capitol Counsel is linked straight to the association through previous congressman Charles Boustany (R., La.), a partner at Capitol Counsel and the association’s president. Boustany has actually led a number of China policy conversations for the association, consisting of 2 occasions sponsored this year by the Exchange Foundation. Boustany took part in a virtual event last month to mark the 50th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s journey to China. He revealed assistance for China’s position on Taiwan and was important of Trump-era trade constraints on China. Boustany has interviewed legislators at other Association of Former Members of Congress occasions, highlighting the group’s ongoing access to Capitol Hill.
The overlapping monetary interests in between Capitol Counsel, the Exchange Foundation, and the Association of Former Members of Congress are not constantly explained at occasions. Capitol Counsel divulges in its filings with the Justice Department that it sets up policy conversations on behalf of the Exchange Foundation, however, the lobbying company does not acknowledge they were hosted by the Association of Former Members of Congress. The Exchange Foundation’s association with the Chinese federal government is likewise not divulged at the association’s panel discussions.
The absence of disclosure was on display screen throughout a July 27, 2020, panel discussion on a national security law passed in Hong Kong. Gold, the Capitol Counsel lobbyist, talked to 3 previous senators and Allan Zeman, a Hong Kong-based business owner. Zeman echoed unproven claims from State-run media and Chinese authorities outlets that “foreign forces” lagged presentations versus the national security law. While Gold acknowledged his own deal with the China-U.S. Exchange Foundation, did not divulge that Zeman is a counselor for the think tank.
The Exchange Foundation pays Capitol Counsel $180,000 a year for its consulting services, according to the company’s foreign agent disclosures. The think tank likewise pays the Association of Former Members of Congress to sponsor its yearly gala, though it is uncertain just how much. Capitol Counsel and the Association of Former Members of Congress did not react to requests for comment.
The absence of disclosures about the monetary relationship leaves customers of the association’s occasions in the dark about who is funding the occasions, stated Hedtler-Gaudette of the Project on Government Oversight.
“It’s not good that all these former members of Congress are involved in this way, but aren’t captured in a disclosure framework,” Hedtler-Gaudette told the Free Beacon.
