From article China to Marco Rubio: Corruption Bill Challenges
Red Line. June 26,2024, Susan Crabtree.
Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Andy Ogles are brushing aside warnings from the Chinese Communist Party to stop
pushing forward legislation designed to expose the corrupt nature of China’s
regime to the world.
…
In mid-June, the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., sent
sternly worded emails to staffers for the two Republican lawmakers, expressing
“grave concern” over their sponsorship of the Communist Party Malign Influence
Act.
The messages said the bill “seriously challenges China’s
political red line” and labeled it “a
blatant political provocation” that could threaten recent efforts to improve
U.S.-China relations.
…
If passed into law, the measure would require the U.S.
director of national intelligence (DNI) to produce
a public report detailing the wealth and corruption of Chinese party members,
including President Xi Jinping, within 90 days.
The bill also would mandate a hearing on the report’s findings
with the DNI before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House
Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
…
Over the last 15 years, different entities, including China’s
central bank, have found thousands of corrupt Chinese
government officials have stolen more than $100 billion from the Chinese people
and fled overseas, mainly to the United States.
…
As recently as January, media outlets also have reported close relatives of China’s top leaders have
used secretive offshore companies as tax havens to shroud the Communist elite’s
wealth, an embarrassment for President Xi, who has cast himself as a
devoted anti-corruption crusader.
…
The bill grabbed the attention of Chinese officials at the
embassy in Washington, D.C., less than six days after Rubio and Ogles
introduced it.
Rubio’s and Ogles’ efforts “will
serve as another campaign to slander and defame the Chinese Communist Party and
the Chinese leadership, and seriously challenges China’s political red
line and constitutes a blatant political provocation,” a Chinese official wrote
in a June 18 email to Rubio and Ogles. “We strongly deplore and firmly oppose
this Act.”
…
“The China-U.S. relationship is the most consequential one in
the world,” the email continued.
“Its steady and healthy development serves our two countries’
best interests.
Our two countries may have competition, but we don’t have to
be rivals. Instead, we should strive to be partners.”
The embassy said, “undermining
the legitimacy of the CCP will undermine the crucial bilateral relationship
between the U.S. and China.”
“We hereby urge Sen. Rubio to stop pushing forward with this
act,” the diplomat asserted.
…
But far from backing away from their measure, Rubio and Ogles
consider the open CCP opposition a point of pride.
“The Chinese Communist Party hates not being able to control
the narrative,” Rubio told RealClearPolitics.
“But the regime’s
actions are undeniable, and U.S. policymakers have an obligation to expose and
combat Beijing’s tactics.”
…
Ogles was equally steadfast in supporting the legislation
after receiving an almost identical embassy email.
“To receive an email with such a strong response to a request
for accountability seems telling, but we
remain undeterred in our quest for the truth and exposure of any corruption
that might exist,” an Ogles spokesperson said in a statement.
…
Sending vaguely threatening emails to U.S. lawmakers isn’t a
novel concept for the Chinese embassy, which did not respond to RCP’s inquiry,
although instances of it are rarer in recent years because it isn’t an
effective strategy, according to China expert Gordan Chang.
Still, Chang said, Chinese diplomats are forced to do things
they know aren’t effective because Xi
has “this hostile, belligerent attitude towards the world, and he expects his
diplomats to display that belligerent attitude.”
…
Chang also scoffed at the email’s contention “the CCP is a
party that serves the people wholeheartedly” and its reference to surveys
conducted by “institutions in the West” that, it purports, show “more than 90%
of Chinese people are satisfied with the party and their government.”
The email from the Chinese embassy asserted “In the past, there have been attempts to
undermine the CCP’s leadership, but all failed. Any future attempt of this
nature is also doomed to failure.”
…
Chang said no poll about government effectiveness can be
trusted in China because of the authoritarian and coercive nature of the Xi
regime.
“Nobody really knows what the Chinese people think, especially
the Communist Party, because when you run an especially coercive regime, people
do not necessarily express how they feel about things,” he said.
“And, if the party officials
were confident about the way the Chinese people felt, it wouldn’t have to be so
coercive.”
…
Chang also argued it’s past time for the U.S. intelligence
community to expose officials’ widespread misuse of Chinese government funds
and their attempts to conceal it.
“Chinese leaders should
not be parking the fruits of corruption in the United States,” he said.
…
“Obviously, the Chinese
regime is worried about this because if the Chinese people knew how corrupt
their leaders were, then that could very well lead to the end of the party.
For the party, this is an existential matter, and they will go
to the ends of the earth to try to defeat this legislation.”
(end of article)
… …
“The email from the Chinese embassy asserted
‘In the past, there have been
attempts to undermine the CCP’s leadership, but all failed. Any future attempt
of this nature is also doomed to failure.’”
Xi and CCP bribes
and threats to expose the corruption of high level U.S. politicians’ dealings
in China (including accepting bribes) should result in this troublesome disturbance
going away, and Rubio and Ogles made to look bad at best.
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