Report Highlights Potential Exploitation of Chinese American Leaders by Chinese United Front Organizations

35 and dominated by the Chinese Communist Party. Members are expected to adhere to the disciplines and goals of the Party and work to strengthen China and the Party’s rule of China. Members of the CPPCC are expected to write reports about how their activities have aligned with China’s interests and to detail their work on China’s behalf.”* The potential exploitation of Chinese American members in this body by the Chinese government not only risks harming the interests of the United States but also has the potential to harm the security, reputation, and welfare of these Chinese Americans. A similar quandary could present itself to those Chinese Americans who have chosen to accept positions as consultants for another united front organization, the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, which also serves the Party’s interests. In 2018, twelve representatives from the United States, including wealthy businessmen and civic leaders, were listed as advisors of the Federation’s 10 congress. The Chinese government picked them in recognition of their prominence and efforts in advocating positions friendly to Beijing.” To engender a sense of close support, state-owned Chinese media outlets routinely report about such contacts made between prominent Chinese Americans and senior Chinese officials. There are literally hundreds of such reports in the Chinese-language press about prominent Chinese Americans escorting leading figures from China’s united front bureaucracy in the United States or being hosted by them in China.*° In May 2017, Li Kexin, the deputy chief of mission at the Chinese embassy in Washington, praised the Peaceful Reunification Council's DC chapter for holding a “peaceful reunification forum” in Washington and for opposing Taiwan’s independence.”’ Officials from China have also traveled freely to the United States to take part in conferences and activities designed to further China’s influence operations in the United States. For example, United Front officials traveled to the United States in November 2016 for the council’s annual executive meeting, during which the council pledged to renew its efforts to “oppose Taiwan’s independence.””8 Conclusion and Recommendations As US citizens, Chinese Americans enjoy the same constitutional rights of freedom of speech, association, and political participation as everyone else, and their exercise of these rights is fully legitimate and protected by the Constitution and law. What’s more, it is incumbent on the United States government and American society as a whole not to demonize Chinese Americans for their feelings for and pride in China. However, it is also important that all American citizens be aware that such feelings can sometimes be exploited by an authoritarian regime to advance its goals and interests. Here it is not Chinese Americans who are at fault for having an attachment to their “motherland,” but it is the Chinese Communist Party for cynically attempting to use Chinese Americans to further its own interests in the process making overseas Chinese communities vulnerable to distrust. Section 3 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020494