The infiltration of the CCP into American leadership

By Bill Connor

In 1976, hard-line Communist Chinese ruler Mao Tse-Tung died, and his successor, Deng Xiaoping, came to power. Deng appeared to move China away from Mao’s staunch communism of the Cultural Revolution and toward more economic openness. Deng famously said, “It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white, so long as it catches the mouse” in allowing either communism or capitalism. In the coming decades, many American elites believed China could be brought toward freedom and capitalism through trade and incorporation in the world economic system. That openness eventually turned on the U.S., and we became the target of infiltration by Chinese Communist influence into the top tier of American power, which must end. Let me explain.

First, it’s important to recognize the explosion of China’s economy in comparison with the relative decline of United States. After World War II, half the global economy was under the United States, and America held 80 percent of the world’s hard currency reserves. Our percent of the world economy is now only 15.2. Conversely, China’s foreign currency holdings are now 26 times that of America. According to Claire Burlinski, “China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, when more than 80 percent of the world did more trade with the United States than with China. By 2018, this figure was 30 percent. Of the world’s 193 countries, two-thirds now do more trade with China than the United States.”

The infiltration of American political and economic leadership during the past three decades helps explain what happened. It goes beyond issues like devaluing currency and intellectual property theft. In late November 2020, Chinese professor Di Dongsheng was filmed speaking about the infiltration and influence of China from 1992 until 2016. Di asked, “Why did China and the U.S. use to be able to settle all kinds of issues between 1992 and 2016?” then answered his own question with a bombshell admission: “I’m going to throw out something maybe a little bit explosive here. It’s just because we have people at the top. We have our old friends who are at the top of America’s core inner circle of power and influence.” Di noted the lack of Chinese influence during the Trump administration but said, “We’re seeing Biden was elected, the traditional elite, the political elite, the establishment, they’re very close to Wall Street, so you see that, right?”

According to Far East expert Gordon Chang, the CCP “believe(s) that America is in terminal decline. That China can do whatever it wants” and “will use any means possible to corrupt Americans, infiltrate them, influence them, and work to overthrow the U.S. government.” Chang also warned of China’s perception of the incoming Biden administration: “They are looking forward to the return of America’s elites to the White House and influence in Washington.” Chang spoke of Chinese Communist spy Christine Fang’s association with Congressman Eric Swalwell: “They contacted [Swalwell] when he was a council member in Dublin City, California. They were grooming him. They are grooming a lot of Americans right now in the hopes they become more influential.” He warned, “China is overwhelming the FBI and American law enforcement, the CIA.”

According to the Washington Examiner, “A Chinese Communist Party data leak of information about almost 2 million CCP members exposed nearly 80,000 who have infiltrated some of the world's largest Western companies and universities.” According to Sky News host Sharri Markson, “Communist Party branches have been set up inside Western companies, allowing the infiltration of those companies by CCP members, who, if called on, are answerable directly to the Communist Party, to the chairman, the president himself. … It is also going to embarrass some global companies who appear to have no plan in place to protect their intellectual property from theft, from economic espionage.” The CCP has infiltrated companies including Boeing, Volkswagen, Pfizer and AstraZeneca and banks such as ANZ and HSBC.

Beyond politics and economics, it’s important to understand the primary influence of the CCP in cultural corruption. It potentially explains why CCP is majority shareholder in companies like Disney. Father Cuthbert O’Gara, a Catholic bishop imprisoned by the Communist Chinese for missionary activities in 1951, describes CCP indoctrination: “Now, what, I ask, was the first lesson given to the indoctrinees? One might have supposed that this would have been some pearl of wisdom let drop by Marx, Lenin or Stalin. Such, however, was not the case. The very first, the fundamental, lesson given was man’s descent from the ape — Darwinism! This naturally shocked the Christians,” he went on to explain. “I knew very well that the primary purpose of the Peoples’ Government in Peking was to extirpate all religious belief and practice from China.” The slogan of O’Grady’s prison camp was “Bring your mind over to us, and all your troubles will end.”

America is at a crossroads with the CCP. We have previously ignored the infiltration, while pretending we were the influencers. It’s time to face the truth and regain and our national sovereignty — while we still have time.

Bill Connor is a 1990 Citadel graduate, 30-year Army infantry colonel and combat veteran. He is a writer and attorney and lives in the Charleston area.