HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020533.jpg

74

Broader Concerns

Think-tank analysts voiced a range of concerns around the issue of Chinese
influence–seeking activities in the United States. One is the deliberate effort to manage
US perceptions and to frame issues in ways that are favorable to the Chinese
Communist Party. As one analyst noted, “This requires pushback, which is tough work.”
While many believed that they could adequately defend themselves against efforts to
influence them, noting as one did that the “the general capacity of US society to push
back is not bad,” they worried about their colleagues who were not knowledgeable
China experts and might therefore be more easily deceived. For example, one scholar
pointed out that with US-China cooperation, the incentive is to come up with shared
values and ideas. He noted that in the case of the Sanya Initiative (the US-China
dialogue featuring retired military officers from both sides), he has had to “talk them
(the American participants) off the ledge; they think they are being tough, but they
are mistaken.” This same analyst sees the American media as complicit in echoing
Chinese perspectives, noting that when Xi Jinping delivered his speech in Davos in
January 2017, few reporters understood that the Chinese were in the midst of a major
propaganda campaign to promote globalization 2.0. He also suggests that there is “de
facto self-censorship” of entire areas of scholarship: human rights for one. Another
analyst noted that outside of the National Endowment for Democracy, she does not see
much foundation interest in normal discourse in this issue either.

One scholar worried about growing Chinese control over all areas of US-Chinese
interaction: “The Chinese are following people, bugging our hotel rooms. There is
imbalanced control that serves CCP interests not ours. There is lack of serious training
by the US side on how to deal with Chinese influence.” The potential for Chinese
money to give China leverage over American think tanks also provoked a degree of
anxiety. Several scholars expressed concern over funding issues, noting that reliance
on a single funder with an agenda makes scholars vulnerable. In addition, one scholar
worried that the amount of money China is spending to promote its views, whether
through think-tank cooperation or the Chinese media (such as CGTN paying for its
interviews) means that China will ultimately be able to “buy its way in.”

A number of analysts believed that the involvement of the US government in these
issues will only make things more contentious. There is concern that Washington will
overreact. As one analyst noted, there is a type of “binaryism in Washington, in which
you must be ‘for or against’ China; you are either friendly to China or producing stuff
that says China is evil.” This scholar, along with several others, raised the issue of
the rise of anti-China sentiments, such as the “yellow peril” and McCarthyism, and
expressed concern about Chinese Americans and anyone who has interests with China
coming under attack. One analyst mentioned the Committee of 100, a collection of
prominent Chinese Americans, as being particularly vulnerable to unfair attack.

Think Tanks

HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020533