Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist attended a controversial “collaboration summit” between Chinese Communist Party officials and U.S. Governors.
The summit, which occurred in May of 2019, was touted as an “exclusive deal making opportunity” for closer financial ties between the Chinese government and their U.S. counterparts.
Gilchrist, a Democrat who’s held the position since 2019 and labeled President Trump’s election grievances a “house of cards,” attended the summit alongside the Governors of Kentucky and Tennessee. A Chinese Communist Party mayor, two Vice Governors, and one Governor attended the summit.
The summit featured “one-on-one meetings” between the U.S. and their Chinese Communist Party counterparts, and, at the time, was met with harsh criticism from the Trump administration for its “ties to Beijing’s overseas propaganda wing – the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFCC), which co-hosted the conference.”
Its parent organization, China General Chamber of Commerce, also features a host of executives from controversial Chinese Communist Party-linked companies on its board such as Huawei, China Telecom, China Mobile, and Inspur Group. All of the aforementioned firms have been identified by the U.S. Department of Defense as proxies for the Chinese military for over two decades.
