Washington think tanks are being funded by the Chinese Communist Party, according to a "congressional commission report" revealed this week by The Washington Free Beacon.
At the helm of these covert influence operations in the U.S. is the United Front Work Department, an agency of China’s Communist Party which seeks to promote the party’s policies, the Free Beacon said.
The United Front has been engaging in numerous strategies to increase influence operations within the U.S. and amongst these strategies is providing funding to several of Washington’s think tanks, the Free Beacon said.
"The [Chinese Communist Party] has sought to influence academic discourse on China and in certain instances has infringed upon—and potentially criminally violated—rights to freedoms of speech and association that are guaranteed to Americans and those protected by U.S. laws," the report said, according to the Free Beacon.
"Despite the CCP's candid discussion of its United Front strategy, the breadth and depth of this issue remain relatively unknown to U.S. policymakers."
The Free Beacon didn't name the congressional commission but said the report was produced by Alexander Bowe, a policy analyst specializing in security and foreign affairs.
Among the think tanks receiving funding is the Johns Hopkins School of Advance International Studies, which has been financially backed by Tung Chee-hwa, the vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which directs the United Front Work Department, the Free Beacon said.
Several other think tanks have been linked to China including the Brookings Institution, Atlantic Council, Center for American Progress, EastWest Institute, Carter Center, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Free Beacon said.
According to the report, efforts do not end there.
The American Partisan reported that students on campus are being recruited by the United Front Work Department to curtail discussions of China, with 142 Chinese Students and Scholars in the U.S. targeted through the coveted operations.
The associations “routinely coordinate with the Chinese government and … have been involved in the suppression of free speech and the harassment, intimidation, and surveillance of Chinese student activists,” the report said, according to The American Partisan.
“Chinese intelligence officers posted in diplomatic facilities are the primary point of contact for CSSA members.”
Commenting on this, China Commission member Larry Wortzel, who is a former military intelligence officer once posted to China, said “most Americans and many members of Congress have no idea of the range of activities undertaken by this Chinese Communist Party web,” adding that it was a “form of activity by Communist parties that dates back to the days of Lenin.”
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