Elite Capture – USA Gov Policy

Elite capture probably is not a political term on the tip of the tongue of most Americans. Yet this CCP tactic is both pervasive and effectively used inside the United States. It is a standard tool in the CCP’s arsenal of influence operations techniques. Some of the most senior leaders in Washington from previous administrations have succumbed to China’s alluring siren offering lucrative benefits. The CCP leadership over the last three decades has developed a multi-prong approach to influence peddling in America that includes highly placed, former US officials, federal officeholders, state legislators, and Ivy League academicians. Add to this cadre the decades-long threat from Chinese media entities intervening in US domestic politics and one can conclude that a fundamental reevaluation of the US response to China’s aggressive moves is needed to protect the country and the foundation of the international system.

China’s strategic planning takes into account the historical lack of American political willpower to oppose Beijing since normalization. It exploits the rules-based order of the international system to push a communist ideology and the authoritarian giant’s global ambitions. Perhaps, worse, it willingly undermines the sovereignty of nation states around the globe to achieve its predatory goals. Its free rein, however, may be coming to an abrupt end.

The new 2020 White House approach to China has two objectives, according to a recently released “United States Strategic Approach to the People’s Republic of China” White House report. It recognizes that the country must “improve the resiliency of our institutions, alliances, and partnerships to prevail against the challenges the PRC presents,” and second, it must “compel Beijing to cease or reduce actions harmful to the United States’ vital national interests and those of our allies and partners.” The Administration may be the first in several decades to campaign successfully against Chinese influence. The report indicates the current Administration understands cooperative engagement with multiple stakeholders, including Congress and the private sector, is needed to counter Beijing.

Congress is key to providing the legal avenues and resources needed to achieve Washington’s strategic objectives toward China. However, when former high-ranked legislators, including Senator Max Baucus who also served as US Ambassador to China (2014-2017), join an influential consulting group containing communist Chinese client firms, it is time to question the extent of Beijing’s elite capture inside Washington. And, when a former White House staffer, Andy Purdy, gets hired as the chief security officer for Huawei, it is without question time to STOP Beijing’s elite capture successes inside this country.

The triumvirate of Chinese challenges to American values, the economy, and US national security require Washington to rethink its approach to handling the US-China great power rivalry since 2000. During the past three years the US Department of Justice and the FBI have joined forces to begin to identify and prosecute those who violate US law. Unlike previous administrations of late, Washington is directing resources to “prosecute trade secrets theft, hacking, and economic espionage,” according to the White House report. It also is increasing efforts to protect against malign foreign investment in infrastructure, the supply chain, and foreign agents seeking to influence American policy.

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Although the IC (intelligence community) decades ago established an active measures working group to guard against foreign propaganda, disinformation campaigns and influence peddling, it lacked the support of the Oval Office to end Chinese false narratives. Times are changing. Washington in 2020 is “woke” as millennials might say.

The current Administration, under the direction of the State Department, now requires Chinese diplomats to notify the US Government if they intend to meet with state or local government officials or academic institutions. The FBI is proactively meeting with university administrations to warn of the Chinese threat, although the agents often are rebuffed by the Ivy League schools who call the threat nonexistent. NIH and the Department of Energy recently revised regulations pertaining to foreign access and compliance. Finally, it appears a US President is working on behalf of the American people to demand that Beijing comply with international norms of behavior. In the end can it succeed against those well-connected Americans who willingly sell their soul to Beijing? And, will the Trump Administration’s whole-of-government approach produce tangible results and constructive outcomes that protect America and the international order? It remains to be seen.

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government. Each Friday, she presents key updates on China.

Quick Analysis

Russia Expanding Aggression

President Putin is using more than one pathway to enter Europe and undermine the West. While most of the world watches the conflict he initiated in Ukraine, the Russian government is actively pursuing a second front in a little noticed campaign in Cyprus. Although the corrupt Cypriot government ended its issuance of “golden passports” in 2020, Russian intelligence is functioning quietly there to transform this EU country into a Russian beachhead of illicit economic activity aimed at penetrating the capitalist West, according to Paul Goble of the Jamestown Foundation. Cyprus is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nor does it receive as much attention as those countries who are member states. That adds to its allure as a prime location for Russia to attempt to gain a European foothold. Last week a NATO report, cited in the European Daily Monitor, noted that Russian intelligence agents have been plotting to destroy European infrastructure across the continent to disrupt states supporting Ukraine. It further suggests that Putin’s immediate goal is to lay the framework for a future move against the security organization’s members. Hungary, in particular, is another country garnering Moscow’s attention as it opposes the Western response to Russian aggression. Russia is focusing its intelligence efforts on other European, non-NATO member countries in addition to Cyprus, including Austria, Malta, and Ireland. The NATO report suggests that Moscow has had success in disseminating the Russian political narrative in these states to advance its campaign against the West. The island of Cyprus is proving to be a good target for Moscow as it is an ethnically divided island that is part of the EU since 2004. Northern Cyprus, officially called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that is only recognized by Turkey. The division precludes it from joining NATO. As Goble suggests, “it offers Russia troubled waters in which to fish.” Over the last 20 years, he points out, Cyprus’ challenges have opened it to a massive influx of Russian citizens, who now comprise approximately 10 percent of the island state’s population. Over 2,900 residents are Russians who entered until the “golden passport” program that allowed wealthy or well-connected Russians to move to Cyprus. It also provided them with documentation to travel freely throughout Europe! Although less visible on the world’s radar than the war in Ukraine, Moscow is also being helped by Cyprus’ banks opposition to seizing Russian assets and its support in evading Western sanctions. Russia has placed tens of billions of US Dollars there for money laundering. It has been more than two years since a single Russian “diplomat” has been deported and, in fact, the Embassy has grown to over 300 staffers on this tiny island state of only 1.2 million people. The Russian embassy in Nicosia has advanced communications antennae on its roof and opened a consulate on the northern end of the island. Moscow’s Ambassador, Mura Zyazikov, is a lieutenant general in the FSB with no diplomatic experience. The FSB, SVR (Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service), and GRU are actively using the island as a base of operations against NATO Member states, Israel, and other Western allies. Moscow backs pro-Russian political parties who in turn influence Cypriot decisions on education, language, and other issues. “Dmitry Khmelnitsky of the Dossier Center says that its findings should be of concern not only to Cyprus but to the West as a whole. Those who ignore what Moscow is doing because Cyprus does not follow the EU sanctions regime are missing something critical,” says Goble. “Cyprus does not seek to get rid of Russian agents and does not interfere with their work,” Khmelnitsky concludes, “despite the fact that what the Kremlin is doing is so clearly visible.” This has an impact not only on the small island but on the EU, NATO, and the West in general. Earlier this year the Moscow Times reported that when the FBI became more interested in Russian business and oligarchs in Cyprus, at least 10 of the major Russian businesses operating there left. Despite the government of Cyprus’ vow to implement plans for new sanctions against Russia, it continues to ignore Putin’s atrocities in Ukraine and to shield the wealth of the 50,000 wealthy Russian citizens and oligarchs residing there. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept. Illustration: Pixabay