President Joe Biden’s new senior adviser has maintained ties with a Chinese government influence operative for over 10 years, the Daily Caller News Foundation found.
Since at least 2009, Democratic powerbroker John Podesta, former chairman of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, has cooperated with Tung Chee-hwa and his Chinese Communist Party-backed organization, the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), according to CUSEF’s annual reports. Podesta sits on CUSEF’s “U.S.-China 2022 Steering Committee” and has written at least three articles for its website since 2011 — the same year in which he appeared on the front cover of the group’s annual report.
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz characterized CUSEF as a “pseudo-philanthropic foundation” in 2018, writing that “CUSEF’s ties to the CCP are an issue of grave concern.” CUSEF is registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act as a Chinese foreign principal controlled by Tung, the vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) — an organization which directs China’s influence operations, according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
Including Tung, eight of CUSEF’s core leaders have served in the CPPCC, while Chinese military personnel, members of the CCP and former government officials are also listed among the group’s advisers, according to its website.
Tung is “clearly associated” with the CCP’s United Front Work Department (UFWD), according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The UFWD engages in propaganda, espionage and physical violence, according to the State Department.
via joemiller