A delegation composed of former U.S. Congressional representatives – including fundraisers for the “Republicans for Biden” group – visited a Chinese Communist Party-led think tank flagged by the U.S. government for conducting “undercover intelligence gathering” operations, The National Pulse can today reveal.
The trip was organized as part of the CUSEF operation seeking to “disseminate positive messages” and “favorable coverage” regarding China.
The delegation, which visited China’s capital city of Beijing and province of Hunan in April of 2012, featured five former members of the U.S. House of Representatives: Constance Morella, Barbara Kennelly, Philip English, John Tanner, and Martin Frost.
Morella, one of two Republican members on the five-person delegation, backed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020, holding fundraisers on behalf of Biden as part of the “Republicans for Biden” group. She has also recently participated in pro-CCP policy events alongside Chinese Communist Party representatives on Capitol Hill.
“I just don’t hold [Trump] in the highest regard with regard to integrity,” said Morella, who accepted the trip and speaking roles from the greatest human rights-abuser nation in the world: China.
Useful Idiots.
A 2011 Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) between lobbying firm BLJ Worldwide and its client, trip organizer China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF). CUSEF is a Chinese Communist Party-funded initiative founded by Tung Chee Hwa which often targets American universities with offers to fund policy research, high-level dialogues, and exchange programs.
Its chairman, Tung, also serves as Vice-Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, (CPPCC) which is identified by the U.S.-China Security and Economic Review Commission as a key component of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Work Front effort, “to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of its ruling Chinese Communist Party.”
“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 commission’s report adds before noting Tung’s CPPCC is the “highest-ranking entity overseeing the United Front system” whereby “military and civilian officials coordinate foreign influence operations.”
The filing reveals: “following the visits, BLJ will work with the former Congressmen to create reports on their experience that will be distributed to politicians, experts, and other relevant individuals and organizations in the US. BLK will also explore securing media coverage surrounding the visits” as part of CUSEF’s broader goal to garner “favorable coverage” and “disseminate positive messages” in Western media.
The attendees – chosen due to their euphemistically-called “open-minded perspective to China” – are listed in a 2013 CUSEF FARA filing as having had China-bound trips “arranged”:
Morella recently collaborated with CUSEF and the Chinese Communist Party-linked Committee of 100 to deliver a “Capitol Hill Briefing” on China’s exploitative One Belt One Road initiative.
“Morella delivered welcome remarks, touching on the importance of the One Belt One Road project. She was followed by keynote speaker Liu Mingkang, a member of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China,” an event summary notes.
‘Undercover Intelligence Gathering’
While visiting Beijing, the delegation met with the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party’s Foreign Affairs Committee, the China Association for International Friendly Contact (CAIFC) leader, and a host of other high-level apparatchiks to discuss “approaches to promote the exchanges and cooperation between China and America,” according to an event summary.
They attended the CAIFC meetings at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse – a diplomatic complex used by the Chinese Communist Party for official state visits.
The U.S. government now identifies the CAIFC as a key component in China’s aforementioned United Work Front, dubbed a “front” for the Chinese military by the U.S.-China Security and Economic Review Commission:
“CAIFC is a front for the former PLA GPD which may now report directly to the PLA Central Military Commission’s Political Work Department.”
“CAIFC has additional ties to the Ministries of State Security, Civil Affairs, and Foreign Affairs, and it is a platform for deploying undercover intelligence gatherers,” the commission adds.
The other members of the delegation include high-profile Democrats such as fundraisers for Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and those who traded in their congressional credentials to become lobbyists.
Kennelly, who served on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and as Vice-Chair of the Democratic Caucus while in Congress, leveraged her congressional credential to become a lobbyist and secure a spot on the board of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems. Frost, who served as Chair of the Democratic Caucus, the third-highest elected leadership position for the party, from 1999 to 2003, now chairs the board of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and lobbies. He also was a co-host on a Biden fundraising Zoom call.
Two former Democrat representatives on the delegation – English and Tanner – now lobby at Arendt Fox and Prime Policy Group, respectively.
