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practices for cooperating with China in ways that do not undermine national interests should be a regular topic at annual meetings.

• Meet with stakeholders across sectors—local leaders of industry, academia, the arts, religious groups, Chinese American organizations, and professional associations—to discuss issues emerging from cooperation with China, because a community-wide approach is required.

• Celebrate successes and share best practices. In the era of US-China competition, there is more reason than ever to publicize cooperative projects that enrich local communities, build understanding, and solve common problems, while always being mindful of the larger framework of China’s goal and American interests.

Promote Integrity

Sub-national governments should:

• Educate themselves and other stakeholders on the goals and methods of Chinese influence operations. While Americans are quick to label any wariness of communist parties as McCarthyism, and while the potential for racial stereotyping is real, the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department and International Liaison Department—two of the main bodies overseeing such exchanges—are in fact active and well resourced and determined. No mainland Chinese organization in the United States—corporate, academic, or people-to-people—is free of Beijing’s control, even if it is not formally part of the United Front.

• Keep abreast of Washington’s China policies and improve political risk analysis capabilities. American China policy is evolving rapidly and cannot be incorporated into local practice without expert counsel and advice. China’s responses to US actions are also fast-moving, as are Chinese domestic events that have an impact on local American interests. The 2018 sell-off of Chinese-owned properties in the United States was instructive in this regard.18 State and municipal governments should therefore improve their political risk analysis capabilities and continually reassess their cooperative relationships with China. In effect, to successfully play in the China arena, sub-nationals need to develop their own sources of expertise.

Section 2
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