The influential Atlantic Council think-tank has partnered with a premier Chinese Communist Party propaganda organization flagged for “co-opting” Western elites and academics into backing “positions supportive of Beijing’s preferred policies,” The National Pulse can reveal.
The Atlantic Council hosts regular, high-profile events in Washington, D.C., briefs policy and lawmakers, and has presented speeches from the likes of President Bush, Governor Huntsman, and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The Atlantic Council receives its funding from corporates such as Facebook, as well as national governments and even Hunter Biden’s Ukrainian oil firm Burisma.
Alongside a number of Western media outlets, think tanks, and politicians, The Atlantic Council think-tank has also collaborated with the China-United States Exchange Foundation.
Founded by the chairman of the “highest-ranking entity overseeing” China’s United Front, CUSEF functions as part of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department. The billion-dollar effort aims “to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of its ruling Chinese Communist Party” and influence Western elites to “take actions or adopt positions supportive of Beijing’s preferred policies,” according to the U.S.-China Security and Economic Review Commission.
In practice, the group has set out to “effectively disseminate positive messages to the media, key influencers and opinion leaders, and the general public” regarding the Chinese Communist Party, according to Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) filings with the Department of Justice.
Together, the two entities produced the study “China-US Cooperation: Key to the Global Future,” which “examines how China-US Cooperation is the key to the global future,” according to a CUSEF summary.
“The report was presented to policymakers, foreign policy elites, and the public in both countries to provide a better understanding of the global trends, challenges, and threats faced by both nations and their policy implications,” CUSEF adds.
“This project and report were made possible by the generous support of the China-United States Exchange Foundation,” the 2013 report, which was authored by Atlantic Council and Chinese Institute of International Studies (CIIS) scholars, reads. CIIS is an explicit Chinese Communist Party entity, operating under the auspices of the regime’s Ministry of Foreign affairs.
Among the U.S. participants were Atlantic Council fellows, Stanford and Georgetown academics, and former intelligence officials. William Colglazier, then-Science and Technology Adviser to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, functioned as an “observer” to the effort.
The report argues in favor of closer ties between the two countries, positing “the future prosperity and security of both China and the United States require sustained cooperation.”
“The three scenarios explored in this report indicate that if Washington and Beijing fail to find ways to build a stronger, more cooperative relationship, there are very bad potential outcomes for the global future,” the study reiterates.
