Once upon a time, we expected that senior officials in a Presidential administration were chosen for their ability to serve the American people effectively. No more. Now, in the world of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, in fact, we need to consider the very real possibility that the individuals being put in charge of our most important agencies are, in fact, working for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Colin Kahl is the new Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. Like so many of Biden’s picks, he is coming to government from a stint with an institute with very troubling ties to the CCP. Such entities, part of China’s United Front activities, focus on co-opting foreign elites and are a dime a dozen now in the United States. Our policies have made the Chinese rich, and that wealth has bought a lot of influence.
From early 2018 until his recent appointment, Kahl worked at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. That institute runs the Stanford Center at Peking University in Beijing. Peking University is run by former Beijing spy chief Qiu Shuiping. The school has been connected to multiple espionage cases in the United States. Its charter requires employees to swear loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party. Its employees and students are, of course, subject to the ubiquitous Chinese internal surveillance system which monitors the behavior of all Chinese citizens.
Scholars at Risk, an organization that monitors academic freedom on campuses around the world, says that since 2018 there have been at least 10 attacks on academic freedom at Peking University. He Weifang, a law professor at Peking University, said faculty members are required to have lecture plans and conference presentations approved by the Communist Party Committee and that classrooms are monitored by cameras and facial recognition software.
The Department of Education is now investigating Stanford for failing to report the sources of over $67 million in donations from China since the Peking institute opened in 2012. In a letter to Stanford, the Department of Education specifically questioned whether the undisclosed Chinese funding to the school was linked to the Peking University center run by the Freeman Spogli Institute.
“As Stanford must know, Peking University is directly controlled by Chinese Communist Party officials and recently even amended its charter to reinforce its long-standing role as a tool of the Chinese communists.” The letter from the Department of Education also noted that the Stanford Center at Peking University’s website “features a full-page banner image of Stanford students and faculty posing in front of a [People’s Republic of China] monument commemorating the ‘front of the old railroad tracks in Dandong, Liaoning province, that helped transport Chinese troops into North Korea during the Korean War.'” Thirty thousand American troops died fighting the Communist Chinese in that war.
In 2020 Stanford accepted $58 million from an organization known as the Committee of 100. The cash came in the form of an award for the school’s “Advancement in U.S.-China Relations.” The Committee of 100 is a pro-Beijing group, which pushes CCP narratives in the United States.
A primary focus of the Committee of 100 is the protection of Chinese spies from investigation and prosecution. In 2017 it published a white paper critical of American efforts to crack down on Chinese spies and branding such efforts as racially prejudiced. Such accusations are intended to make it more difficult for federal authorities to investigate Chinese nationals.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a national-security think, has warned that Peking University partners with the Chinese military and cautioned groups partnering with the school that it is “high risk.” “Peking University (PKU) is designated high risk for its involvement in defence research and links to China’s nuclear weapons program,” the think tank said on its China Defence Universities Tracker site.
In recent years the FBI has interviewed at least five students of Peking University as part of investigations into Chinese espionage in the United States. Last year a former researcher at Peking University pleaded guilty to spying on the United States for Communist China. In 2010 a chemistry professor at the university was convicted of stealing trade secrets from DuPont Chemicals.
Not surprisingly, one can search in vain for any evidence that either the Freeman Spogli Institute or the Stanford Center at Peking University voice any criticism of the policies of the Chinese Communist government. What one can find in spades, however, are articles and publications that read as if they came straight out of CCP talking points.
“One-child policy: Not the main driver of fertility decline in China”
“Breathing better: China’s emissions trading system offers economic and health benefits.”
“Hardening hearts: Anti-Chinese racism may increase support for authoritarian rule.” (A condemnation of discrimination in the United States against Chinese citizens.)
“The Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) Task Force has been putting the needs of students, scholars, and staff from underrepresented backgrounds at the forefront since its inception last summer. What is the goal of the REDI Task Force? The fundamental goal is to address the ways in which systemic racism manifests at Stanford, and at FSI in particular.”
“As scientists continue to study how the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in Wuhan, China, and around the world, the infection’s early pathways have proven fertile ground for speculation and conspiracy theories…A hostile messaging war between U.S. and Chinese officials seeking to deflect blame for the pandemic’s harms has included the U.S. president labeling the pandemic a “Chinese virus.”
https://scpku.fsi.stanford.edu/ and https://fsi.stanford.edu/
Your new Undersecretary of Defense for Policy just came from a job working for an institute, which was in partnership with a university known to be part of Chinese intelligence operations inside the United States. Your new Undersecretary of Defense for Policy was until recently employed by a U.S. university, which has taken tens of millions of dollars from Beijing under the table and has bragged about taking another $58 million from a group, which pushes Chinese propaganda inside the United States.
Sleep well at night? You should not. You should be asking yourself this question – Does the CCP own the Biden administration?
