Owning America

The CCP’s security and intelligence agents have had access to the highest levels of the US government for decades

The sun sets over the U.S. Capitol building in Washington on Jan. 5, 2023. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

Commentary

Who would’ve imagined that a Chinese military surveillance balloon could cross the North American continent from Alaska to beyond the Atlantic coast of South Carolina unmolested by a U.S. military response?

But that’s exactly what happened under the Biden administration. Given the Biden family’s alleged extensive business ties to China, it shouldn’t surprise anyone.

One can’t help but wonder, if that balloon had been of Russian origin rather than Chinese, would it have gotten the Nord Stream 2 pipeline treatment as soon as it crossed into Alaskan airspace?

CCP Deeply Embedded in America

By all appearances, China can do what it wants with minimal, if any, U.S. response. The inescapable fact is that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its intelligence arm, the Ministry of State Security, are deeply embedded in our media, political, and military establishments.

Why wouldn’t they be?

The United States has been the primary target of the CCP for a long time. Contrary to what the Council on Foreign Relations would have us believe, that “Beijing’s heightened efforts in the United States are relatively new,” it just isn’t so. The CCP has been running freely in the United States for decades, successfully targeting the highest levels of the U.S. government.

That may be old news, but given current events, it bears repeating.

Clinton Administration and China

The Clinton administration is allegedly responsible for much of the technological advancements the Chinese have made over the past 25 years. In exchange for millions of dollars in alleged illegal campaign funding provided to the 1996 Clinton campaign by China’s military and intelligence services, then-President Bill Clinton gave Beijing access to technologies that enabled China’s rapid ascent into a nuclear-armed adversary of the United States.

Clinton allegedly relaxed security measures that allowed Chinese agents access to multiple militarily significant technologies. According to The Wall Street Journal in 1998, “Beijing has stolen U.S. design data for nearly all elements needed for a major nuclear attack on the U.S., such as advanced warheads, missiles, and guidance systems.”

But wait, there’s more.

U.S. President Bill Clinton signs the U.S.-China Trade Relations Act of 2000 during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on Oct. 10, 2000. With him are (left to right): Sen. William Roth (R-Del.), U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, U.S. Trade Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.). (Mario Tama/AFP via Getty Images)

Clinton also allegedly gave China a 20-year quantum leap in technological advancement by waiving export bans on supercomputers that are crucial for nuclear weapons development and missile guidance systems. A Washington Post editorial noted that “in the first three quarters of 1998, nine times as many [supercomputers] were exported [to China] as during the previous seven years.”

Get the picture?

Chinese influence, if not outright control, over many of our top political leaders was in full swing by 1996. The regime’s efforts went on from there by targeting other members of Congress for influence and control in 1998.

But today, not only does the Ministry of State Security have a long record of penetrating U.S. intelligence agencies, such as the CIA and the FBI, but Beijing has also successfully hollowed out U.S. spy activities in China.

How that happened is a question that’s worth pursuing on its own.

Influencing American Public Opinion and Elections

In the meantime, the CCP also enjoys unprecedented influence over information in the United States. It dominates all Chinese-language media in the United States. It has regular “reports” published in major news outlets such as USA Today, CNN, Time magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and Foreign Policy.

Furthermore, the CCP has focused on local elections in the United States over the past several years to gain influence at the grassroots level of American life. According to a 2022 report by the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center, the CCP’s focus includes governors, state legislators, and even mayors and city councils.

In short, your last local mayoral election may have been decided for you in Beijing, not in your hometown.

The implications of this kind of power are staggering.

Too Little, Too Late?

In April 2021, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) introduced H.R.2329, the Countering Chinese Communist Party Malign Influence Act. The specific purpose of the act authorizes “activities to counter globally the malign influence of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), including CCP attempts to undermine the free and open international order or the sovereignty of the United States or other countries.”

In other words, McCaul introduced the bill because such a bill is needed. But will it be enough?

It doesn’t look like it.

Recall that as president, Donald Trump withdrew U.S. funding and membership from the World Health Organization (WHO) over its deep connections to the CCP and its misguided COVID-19 policies.

But upon taking office in 2021, Biden reversed Trump’s decision, and the United States rejoined and re-funded the WHO. As of Feb. 18 this year, the Biden administration is getting ready to sign an agreement with the WHO that could effectively eliminate American sovereignty.

The reality is that the CCP’s influence over America’s leaders, institutions, and culture isn’t as bad as it seems.

It’s much worse.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.