Thursday, March 28, 2024

The Bush Foundation, Paid Millions By Chinese Communist Party, Calls On U.S. To Stop ‘Demonizing’ The CCP.

The President of the George H.W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations – which has accepted millions of dollars from a top Chinese Communist tParty propaganda group – appeared on Chinese state-run media to encourage Americans to look at the regime positively and praise its “good governance,” The National Pulse can reveal.

The June 24th segment (full clip below) on the state-run broadcaster China Global Television Network (CGTN) followed an Axios report revealing that the George H.W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations agreed to accept $1 million per year from 2019 to 2023 from the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF).

 

CUSEF functions as part of the Chinese Communist Party’s “United Front” – a billion-dollar, military-linked effort that seeks to “co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority” of the Chinese government.

“The United Front strategy uses a range of methods to influence overseas Chinese communities, foreign governments, and other actors to take actions or adopt positions supportive of Beijing’s preferred policies,” the U.S. government report continues.

The National Pulse has exposed the organization for taking journalists and former officials on trips to China in exchange for “favorable coverage.” CUSEF also seeks to “effectively disseminate positive messages to the media, key influencers and opinion leaders, and the general public” regarding China, according to Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) filings.

The Bush Legacy: Selling Out America.

David Firestein, the Bush China Foundation’s President and CEO, is the latest example of how the Chinese Communist Party buys influence in American politics and mainstream media.

The CGTN appearance follows Firestein participating in interviews with other Chinese state-run media outletswhere he attacked then-President Donald Trump during the 2020 election in a piece titled “Trump Races to Rule the Bottom With Fool’s Fantasies.”

“Unable to run for reelection on his failed trade policies, Trump seemingly feels that he has no choice to but to resort to nonsensical bluster,” the Global Times piece alleges.

“Demonizing China is kind of the new national pastime in the United States of America. There’s no question about it,” Firestein begins the CGTN interview.

“There is no question that there is a huge amount of negativity toward China. As I’ve often said, if, to use a metaphor, if China were helping an elderly grandma across the street, to cross the street safely, many in America would find fault in that. No matter what China does, it’s wrong in the eyes of many, many Americans,” he adds.

FARA Violation?

Firestein – whose comments will raise questions about the Bush Foundation clearly lobbying for the Chinese government, and whether or not they are registered to do so – alleges there is a “pretty broad misunderstanding in the United States and in Washington as to what China’s aspirations are” before claiming that “I don’t think that China seeks to export its system to others, not to the United States, not to others.”

The following document establishes how the Bush Foundation was recently awarded $5 million through the controversial, Chinese Communist-led group:

When asked by the CGTN interviewer about the 100-year anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, Firestein appears to praise the regime’s economic development and “good governance”:

“The party itself, I think, is very different today, and one thing that it’s shown that it’s capable of doing is adapting to changes in the world and in China and being flexible and being nimble. I think that the leadership of the Communist Party of China no doubt looks to the future with a great sense of confidence, and for my part, I certainly would hope that the Communist Party will continue to embrace reform and opening and progress and good governance at home and peace and development abroad.”

The Foreign Agent Registration Act was first enacted in 1938 to shed light on which individuals or groups were acting as propaganda agents for foreign regimes.

It covers:

  • people and organizations that are under control of
    • a foreign government, or
    • of organizations or of persons outside of the United States (“foreign principal”),
  • if they act “at the order, request, or under the direction or control” (i.e. as “agents”)
    • of this principal or
    • of persons who are “controlled or subsidized in major part” by this principal.

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