More Dangerous China Trade? Globalist Push vs. Trump Promise

Article audio sponsored by The John Birch Society

Getting tough on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) — on both trade and security issues — was a central theme of Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign message. Did he mean it? If he did, he must know he’ll be bucking enormous U.S. (and global) banking and corporate interests. “If U.S. President-elect Donald Trump delivers on campaign pledges to get tough with China on trade,” Bloomberg News reported last November, “lining up against him likely will be another powerful adversary: American multinational corporations.”

“These companies have more than $228 billion in China investments at stake in the event of a trade conflict between the world’s two biggest economies,” the Bloomberg report noted. “Their track record of pushing back against Washington on trade indicates they’ll back their own interests — and thus China — if enmity erupts.”

The upcoming China Development Forum in Beijing (March 18-20) is but one in a series of high-level conferences and soirees that are part of the visible campaign by global financial/political elites to keep their decades-long U.S.-China “convergence” scheme on track. That plan calls for the increased intertwining (convergence) of the Chinese and American economic and political systems, and the continuous transfer of U.S. technology, jobs, and capital to China, to the point where China has been raised up and the United States has been sufficiently enfeebled and made dependent, that the two countries are roughly equivalent (see here and here. The next phase of the globalist convergence scheme, which we have already entered into, is the open push by the ruling elites of China, the United States, Russia, and the EU to establish an operational world government, unrestrained by constitutions, checks and balances, and all those troubling impediments to oligarchic rule and the exercise of raw power. You may have missed it — since the “fake news” Big Media largely ignored it — but the aspiring global oligarchs have come out into the open, with their recent World Government Summit held in February in the United Arab Emirates.

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The upcoming China Development Forum (CDF) will convene the latest gathering of the globalist convergence choir. Joining China’s top Communist Party officials for the event, according to the CDF agenda, will be (among others):

• Stuart Gulliver, group chief executive, HSBC Holdings;
• Kristalina Georgieva, CEO, The World Bank;
• Mark Fields, president & CEO, Ford Motor Company, chair of the US-China Business Council;
• Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the Board of Management, Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars;
• Pierre Beaudoin, executive chairman of the board, Bombardier Inc.;
• Amin H.Nasser, president & CEO, Saudi Aramco Oil Company;
• Ajay Banga, president & CEO, MasterCard;
• Derek Aberle, president, Qualcomm Inc.;
• Lawrence Summers, president emeritus & Charles W. Eliot university professor, Harvard University, former secretary of treasury, USA;
• Andrew Liveris, chairman & CEO, the Dow Chemical Company;
• Joe Kaeser, president & CEO, Siemens AG;
• Virginia M. Rometty, chairman, president & CEO, IBM Corporation;
• Martin Feldstein, professor, Harvard University, former chairman, Council of Economic Advisors, the White House;
• William Cohen, chairman & CEO, The Cohen Group, former U.S. senator and secretary of defense;
• Jacob Joseph Lew, former secretary of treasury, USA;
• Tim Cook, CEO, Apple Inc.

The CDF’s “About” page provides this sanitized information about the organization and the conference:

Approved by the State Council, the 18th session of China Development Forum (CDF) will be hosted by the Development Research Center of the State Council on March 18-20, 2017 at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. Themed “China and The World: Economic Transformation through Structural Reforms”, this year’s CDF will address a comprehensive list of major issues, including deepening supply-side structural reform, cross-border capital flows, economic globalisation, promoting ecological progress and innovation-driven growth.

“The China Development Forum,” the CDF webpage continues, “is the first major state-level international conference held after the conclusion of the ‘Two Sessions’, i.e. the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). With the goal of ‘Engaging the World for Common Prosperity’, the Forum is China’s foremost platform for dialogue between its senior leadership and representatives from global businesses, international organisations, and scholars from home and abroad.”

Nowhere mentioned, of course, in the above canned description, is the fact that the State Council, the National People’s Congress (NPC), and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are merely rubberstamp window-dressing to disguise the brutal totalitarian control exercised by the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The China Development Forum in Beijing follows close on the heels of back-to-back soirees in New York City in December and January, glamorous black-tie events sponsored by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (NCUSCR) and the China General Chamber of Commerce (CGCC). The NCUSCR event, held at the Cipriani Wall Street on December 15, was billed as the organization’s “50th Anniversary 2016 Gala Dinner,” and featured the presentation of “special Lifetime Achievement Awards to two remarkable individuals with whom we have worked closely for nearly five decades”: Henry Kissinger and Maurice “Hank” Greenberg. “Henry A. Kissinger and Maurice R. Greenberg have served as vice chairmen of our board, advised both U.S. and Chinese leaders, and done a great service to the world through helping to build constructive Sino-American relations,” the gala program states. More accurately, Kissinger and Greenberg, two pillars of the globalist establishment (especially as represented by the Council on Foreign Relations, where they are top leaders) have enriched themselves, while helping demolish American prosperity, security, and sovereignty.

Corporate sponsors of the NCUSCR Gala Dinner included Boeing, United Airlines, Walmart, General Electric, United Technologies, Citi, DuPont, Chevron, Intel, Mastercard, AIG, American Express, Bloomberg, Dow Chemical, JPMorgan, Chase, Walt Disney Company, KMPG, Pfizer, PepsiCo, Amgen, Cigna, Coca-Cola — and more.

Illustrating the bipartisan nature of the ongoing sellout to China and the globalists was the lineup of honorary chairs and vice-chairs of the event. The “Honorary Chairs” listed for the gala event were “President George H.W. Bush and President Jimmy Carter.”

In addition, here is a partial listing of the high-level former Republican and Democrat U.S. officials that were listed as “Honorary Vice-Chairs” for the Gala:
The Honorable Michael H. Armacost
The Honorable James A. Baker, III
The Honorable W. Michael Blumenthal
The Honorable Zbigniew Brzezinski
The Honorable Elaine L. Chao
The Honorable Robert M. Gates
The Honorable Winston Lord
The Honorable John D. Negroponte
The Honorable Leon Panetta
General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret)
The Honorable Robert E. Rubin
The Honorable Brent Scowcroft
The Honorable George P. Shultz

Overwelmingly, the above named individuals are members of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and have shown themselves to be thoroughly committed to the organization’s convergence vision for a New World Order. That should surprise no one, since, as we have detailed in previous articles, the NCUSCR is one of the principal fronts in the CFR’s China Lobby. We reported in 2015, for instance:

The NCUSCR’s chairman emeritus, W. Michael Blumenthal, is a current member (and former longtime director) of the CFR. The vice chairs of the National Committee on US-China Relations board of directors are:

Maurice R. Greenberg (CFR)
Thomas H. Kean (CFR)
Henry A. Kissinger (CFR)
Nicholas R. Lardy (CFR)
Joseph W. Prueher (CFR)
William R. Rhodes (CFR)
J. Stapleton Roy (CFR)
James R. Sasser (CFR)

We then provided a list of additional prominent CFR members populating the NCUSCR ranks.

It was much the same at the China General Chamber of Commerce (CGCC) Lunar New Year of the Rooster Gala at Manhattan’s historic Waldorf Astoria on January 12, where CFR “capitalists” and CPC communists socialized in opulent luxury. The CGCC, which is completely a creature of the Communist Party of China, is nominally headed by Chen Xu, the president and CEO of Bank of China USA, headquartered in New York City. The Bank of China USA is a primary vehicle of the CPC for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) penetration of the American economy, and is spearheading China’s ramped-up purchases of U.S. real estate and businesses (see here and here).

The economic threat posed by increased Red Chinese control of America’s domestic markets should be obvious, but there is also a huge security risk as well. A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned that the federal General Services Administration (GSA) is leasing “high security” office space in the United States for the FBI, Secret Service, DEA, Social Security, IRS, and other agencies from foreign-owned companies based in China. The risks of national security compromise — not to mention personal privacy and security compromise dangers to ordinary citizens — from exposing U.S. agencies and data bases to espionage in Chinese-owned properties would seem to be so self-evident as to require neither special comment nor official cautionary policies. However, the Obama administration, apparently, saw no problem with the practice. And these security risks will certainly escalate, if the PRC is allowed to continue its buying splurge of American properties.

Beijing’s Gangsters and Banksters

There are additional security concerns as well. The Bank of China USA is the defendant in an ongoing $1 billion lawsuit by the families of Israeli victims of a Hamas terrorist attack. The plaintiffs charge that the bank “knowingly assisted the Islamic group … with the full approval of the Chinese government.” The Bank of China is also facing money-laundering investigations by U.S., Italian, and other national authorities involving billions of dollars slushed through accounts for crime cartels engaged in drug trafficking, prostitution, and counterfeiting. However, the lawsuit and government investigations are unlikely to slow down the Chinese FDI juggernaut, unless the Trump administration and Congress employ additional executive and legislative measures. If we consider, for instance, the track record of banking behemoth HSBC, one of Bank of China’s major partners, there is little incentive to behave ethically and legally.

London-based HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, flagrantly laundered tens of billions (perhaps hundreds of billions) of dollars for the Colombian and Mexican drug cartels and terrorist organizations. Faced with public exposure of this rampant criminality, the Obama administration made a show of prosecuting HSBC. In 2012, the administration proudly boasted it had secured a “record” punitive settlement of $1.9 billion against HSBC. While this was generally heralded in media accounts as a get-tough blow to gangsters and banksters, it was nothing of the sort. For one thing, the Obama Justice Department dropped prosecution of all criminal charges. For another, the fine, hefty as it may appear, really only amounted to about five weeks of the banking giant’s income, as one financial analyst pointed out. In reality, the “punitive” fine should be seen as a reward; the bank got to keep all the tens (or hundreds) of billions in ill-gotten gain and escaped criminal prosecution for a cost-of-business write-off that doesn’t even qualify as a slap on the wrist. So Bank of China and HSBC will continue merrily on their evil ways — along with other members of their bankster fraternity — unless the new Trump administration makes big changes.

HSBC is listed as a Platinum Sponsor of the China General Chamber of Commerce Waldorf Astoria Gala. Additional sponsors — besides a multitude of China’s state-sponsored companies — include Delta Airlines, Citi, Colliers International Group, ZTE Corporation, Tiffany & Company, C-Bridge Capital Partners, DLA Piper Global Law Firm, and the Brooklyn Nets (the NBA team owned by Russian Oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov).

Headline celebrities at this year’s CGCC Gala included former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (CFR); Michael R. Bloomberg (CFR), the founder, owner, and CEO of Bloomberg LP, three-term Mayor of New York (and eighth richest man in the world); and Stephen A. Schwarzman (CFR), chairman, CEO and co-founder of the Blackstone Group. The Schwarzman-CGCC connection is not surprising, especially considering that Blackstone has been a top beneficiary of China’s U.S. investments. Blackstone’s insiders pocketed handsome rewards in 2007 when China’s communist government invested $3 billion in the private firm before its IPO rollout. And as the Wall Street Journal reported last October, Blackstone “has sold at least $16 billion in hotels, office buildings and other real-estate assets to Chinese buyers since 2013.” Among the deals consummated by Blackstone was its sale, in 2014, of the luxurious Waldorf Astoria Hotel to China’s Anbang Insurance Group for nearly $2 billion. What should concern Trump supporters is that Schwarzman was picked by President Trump to be chair of the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum, an advisory group that held its first public meeting with the president on February 3.

Other prominent members of the globalist China Lobby on the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum are:

• Jamie Dimon (CFR), chairman and CEO, JPMorgan Chase & Co;
• Larry Fink (CFR), chairman and CEO, BlackRock;
• Bob Iger, chairman and CEO, the Walt Disney Company;
• Doug McMillon, president and CEO, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.;
• Adebayo “Bayo” Ogunlesi, chairman, Global Infrastructure Partners and member of the board of directors of Goldman Sachs;
• Ginni Rometty (CFR), chairman, president, and CEO, IBM;
• Mark Weinberger, global chairman and CEO, EY;
• Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO, General Electric;
• Daniel Yergin (CFR), Pulitzer Prize-winner, vice chairman of IHS Markit;

As noted in the Bloomberg article cited at the beginning of this article, “These companies have more than $228 billion in China” and have a “track record of pushing back against Washington on trade [that] indicates they’ll back their own interests — and thus China — if enmity erupts.” That assessment is undoubtedly accurate concerning key members of the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum, as well as members of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and participants in the China Development Forum and sponsors of the China General Chamber of Commerce programs.

Perhaps, it may be argued, President Trump is merely being cagey and temporarily placating the China Lobby by appointing these individuals to an advisory panel that he intends to (at least largely) ignore. However, there are additional troubling signs in the new administration in relation to the People’s Republic. One of those signs is President Trump’s appointment of Elaine Chao (CFR) to be his secretary of transportation. Besides serving as secretary of labor under President George W. Bush, she is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has proven himself amenable to many of the China Lobby’s programs and proposals. If he needs extra prodding on these matters, presumably his wife will provide that, since, in addition to her other pro-China indications, she is listed (as noted above) as an “Honorary Vice-Chair” of the NCUSCR Gala Dinner honoring Kissinger and Greenberg. Still another disturbing sign is Trump’s reversal vis-à-vis Taiwan and the PRC. During the campaign, he repeatedly challenged the Kissinger-Nixon “One China” policy that recognizes Communist China’s claim to sovereignty over the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. However, on February 9, he made a phone call to Chinese President Xi Jinping, during which he “agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honor our ‘one China’ policy.”

An article by the Los Angeles Times on the “One China” reversal credits Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Trump son-in-law Jared Kusher with effecting the change. “The reboot with China appears to be the handiwork of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and White House aide Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, who met with Chinese ambassador Cui Tiankai before a Lunar New Year event last week in Washington,” the Times piece asserts. Tillerson, while not a CFR member, has nonetheless been active as a speaker and participant at CFR events, a search of the Council’s website shows. And he has been endorsed or given high marks by CFR heavyweights and China Lobby stalwarts such as Henry Kissinger, Condoleezza Rice, Stephen Hadley, and Dick Cheney. All of these developments stack up as decidedly unfavorable signs for those who are expecting (or hoping for) major reversals in our decades of disastrous polices regarding China.