m**c
发帖数: 1012 | 1 Fronts for the People's Liberation Army and the Chinese Communist Party
donated at least $450,000 to Trump's 2017 inaugural and his campaign, money
the newspaper said was crucial to obtaining direct access to Trump and GOP
strategy meetings. A furtive organization was created in California to boost
Trump's chances of getting a second term.
The Journal focused on four men, three of whom operate through fronts for
the Chinese military or the Communist Party. One of the three, Tang Ben, is
a naturalized American citizen. He and his wife gave $300,000 to Trump
Victory, among the largest donations made to that organization. After
assuming office, Trump and wife Melania posed for photos with Tang.
The fourth man, a Chinese national whose green card allows him to work here,
created Chinese Americans for Trump. The group boosted Trump's political
fortunes and ignored his many racist anti-Asian comments, which have
continued to this week.
The Journal said David Tian Wang acted at the behest of the Chinese
consulate in Los Angeles in creating the group. This appears to be an
example of astroturfing, the practice of masking the identities of sponsors
to make them seem to be grassroots participants and to hide financial
connections.
Wang gave $150,000 to the group, which passed the money on to the Trump
campaign and the Republican National Committee.
The Journal's report included the following disturbing incident shortly
after Trump assumed office and already was campaigning for a second term:
"In May 2017, Mr. Wang attended a Republican National Committee invitation-
only leadership meeting in San Diego as a guest of [GOP official Shawn]
Steel, the California committeeman, people familiar with the matter said.
The gathering was an early chance for Republican leaders to plan the path
forward for the party after Mr. Trump's inauguration.
"Accompanying Mr. Wang to the meeting as Mr. Steel's guests were three men
linked to China's government. The first was Zhao Gang, whom Chinese official
websites identify as a researcher for China's Ministry of Science and
Technology focused on national security, tech diplomacy and other issues. Mr
. Zhao's work has connected him with the senior echelons of China's
Communist Party, including a close associate of President Xi Jinping, say
people who have met Mr. Zhao."
Rank incompetence
As I read the Journal article—and taking into context the notorious
interview Trump gave ABC News last year—Trump is not acting in league with
Beijing. Rather, the article shows, Trump and his staff of unqualified
family and equally unqualified sycophants are naive and gullible, their rank
incompetence unwittingly putting our national security in jeopardy.
A closed-door meeting in San Diego in September 2016, just weeks before the
election, was visited by foreigners. The Journal was unable to identify one
of the four men who attended, describing him as "an older man wearing a Mao
suit [who] led the Chinese side, who participants were told was a personal
adviser to President Xi."
The conduct of the four Chinese men so alarmed one of the Americans present
that he alerted American national security officials. That action by Welton
Chang, a former U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency officer, stands in sharp
contrast to the Trump campaign leadership secretly meeting with Kremlin
agents. Donald Trump Jr. received an email that the Putin regime was eager
to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016. None of the Americans alerted
American intelligence officials. Instead, they repeatedly lied, denying any
such meeting occurred until The New York Times published incriminating
emails.
Moscow TV calls Trump a "Russian agent"
The Journal revelations come six months after Russian state television,
which is under the control of Vladimir Putin, called Trump a "Russian agent"
and referred to Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov as Trump's "puppet
master."
Rossiya 1, a Kremlin channel, titled its Dec. 11, 2019 program "Puppet
Master and 'Agent'—How to Understand Lavrov's Meeting With Trump."
Given the absolute power with which Putin rules as a modern czar, murdering
political opponents and jailing rivals, that no rebuke was issued about the
television program is the most telling indication of what Putin thinks about
Trump.
The Journal report was posted online just hours after John Bolton, Trump's
former national security adviser, revealed that Trump pleaded with Chinese
President Xi Jinping for help to win a second term. Trump wanted Xi, general
secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, to buy billions of dollars of
American soybeans and wheat so that Midwest farmers, a key Trump
constituency, would maintain support for him, Bolton wrote in "The Room
Where it Happened."
The Trump Justice Department tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade a federal
judge to block publication. The book went on sale June 23.
Trump OK with foreign interference
Soliciting or accepting help from foreign interests is a felony. But in 2016
, the leadership of the Trump campaign met with Kremlin operatives after
being told in writing that Moscow wanted to help Trump win election. Then,
for a full year, Trump associates lied and denied any such meeting happened.
In June 2019, George Stephanopoulos of ABC News asked Trump about accepting
help from Moscow or Beijing to win re-election. Embedded in his question was
the fact that accepting such help is a violation of American law. Trump
disputed that point.
"It's not an interference, they have information—I think I'd take it,"
Trump said, adding that he saw nothing wrong with accepting campaign
assistance from foreign powers, even adversaries of the United States. That
is one of many examples of Trump's criminality, disloyalty and utter lack of
patriotism.
At the same time that Trump & Co. have either been duped by or willingly
embraced fronts for the Chinese military and the ruling Communist Party, the
administration has posed as tough on Chinese infiltration of American
academic institutions.
Various academics have been arrested on charges whose significance is
unclear, but some of which appear from my reading of court records to be
trumped up.
Professor arrested
In January the Justice Department arrested Charles Lieber, a globally renown
nontechnology expert who is chair of Harvard University's Chemistry and
Chemical Biology Department. Two Chinese nationals also were charged in
connection with aiding the People's Republic of China.
As described by the Justice Department, the case against Lieber seems to be
technical, not substantive. It seems aimed primarily at securing Lieber's
help in convicting the Chinese nationals, one a People's Liberation Army
lieutenant, on theft and spying-related charges. Lieber's lawyer, Marc
Mukasey, says Lieber is a victim, not a perpetrator.
The Trump Justice Department and local authorities persuaded judges to
impose harsh penalties against two Chinese women, one who appears to be just
a tourist whose sightseeing went awry.
Mystery still shrouds the separate cases of two Chinese nationals arrested
at Mar-a-Lago.
Yujing Zhang, a 33-year-old Chinese businesswoman who carried a Faraday bag
that blocks electronic signals lied her way into the resort last year. It is
unclear whether she was a bumbling tourist who wanted to see the American
president or an inept spy. Zhang got eight months in federal prison for
lying to a Secret Service agent and an order of deportation.
Harsh sentence
The other woman, Lu Jing, 56, who was acquitted by a state jury on
trespassing charges, says she innocently was taking photographs. She was
sentenced to six months. Her crime? Nonviolently resisting arrest. Jing
crossed her arms, balled her hands and shouted, "No, no, no," according to
Palm Beach police. Think about that –– six months behind bars for that.
Those harsh sentences, the arrest of Lieber and recent arrests of others all
are designed to show the Trump regime is looking for ways to make voters
believe it is pushing a hard line on Chinese infiltration and spying even as
Trump pleads for favors from President Xi, as John Bolton revealed.
These Trumpian tactics create confusion about where Trump stands. They also
deflect attention about Trump & Co.'s perfidy in dealing with fronts for the
communist dictator in Beijing. |
|
