Communist China's Influence in US Universities Source https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/11/28/this-beijing-linked-billionaire-is-funding-policy-research-at-washingtons-most-influential-institutions-china-dc/ The Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), located just a short walk from Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., is one of the top international relations schools in the United States. Its graduates feed into a variety of government agencies, from the State Department to the CIA, and the military. Its China studies program is especially well known; many graduates come away with expert knowledge of the language, culture, and politics of the United States’ most important strategic competitor. In August, SAIS announced a new endowed professorship in the China Studies department as well as a new research project called the Pacific Community Initiative, which aims to examine “what China’s broader role in Asia and the world means for its neighbors and partners.” What the SAIS press release did not say is that the money for the new initiatives came in part from the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), a Hong Kong-based nonprofit. CUSEF is a registered foreign agent bankrolled by a high-ranking Chinese government official with close ties to a sprawling Chinese Communist Party apparatus that handles influence operations abroad, known as the “united front.” The China-U.S. Exchange Foundation’s partnership with a premier U.S. academic institution comes amid a Chinese Communist Party push to strengthen its influence over policy debate around the globe. The Chinese government has sought to repress ideas it doesn’t like and to amplify those it does, and its efforts have met with growing success. Even as Washington is embroiled in a debate over Russian influence in U.S. elections, it’s China that has proved adept at inserting itself in American politics. “The Chinese approach to influence operation is a bit different than the Russian one,” said Peter Mattis, a fellow at the Jamestown Foundation. “The Russian one is much more about an operational objective and they work backward from that objective, saying, ‘How do we achieve that?’” But on the Chinese side, Mattis said, “they focus on relationships — and not on the relationships having specific takeaway value, but that someday, some way, those relationships might become valuable.” The Chinese seek a kind of “ecological change,” he explained. “If they cultivate enough people in the right places, they start to change the debate without having to directly inject their own voice.” Source https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/2128338/university-texas-austin-rejects-funding-hong-kong-based University of Texas at Austin rejects funding from Hong Kong-based foundation, citing its links to Communist Party. UT-Austin says it will not take money from ex-Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-hwa’s China-United States Exchange Foundation, with Republican senator Ted Cruz saying the outfit could ‘disseminate PRC propaganda within’ the school. The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) has reportedly rejected funding from a foundation helmed by Hong Kong’s former leader, amid concerns it is linked to a branch of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) dedicated to helping the country achieve global influence. Letters exchanged between university president Gregory Fenves and US senator Ted Cruz of Texas and published by The Washington Post on Monday revealed the school recently decided it would not accept money from the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF) – headed by Hong Kong’s first chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa – for its China Public Policy Centre programmes, student exchanges or other initiatives. In a letter to Fenves on January 2, Cruz described the Hong Kong-based CUSEF as a “pseudo-philanthropic foundation” with ties to the CCP. The Republican senator added that Tung serves as vice-chairman of China’s top political advisory body – the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – and that the body works closely with the party’s united front work department, “the structure the CCP utilises to manage foreign influence operations”. Beacon seeded by Fontheim. Fontheim & Podesta Group lobby China US Exchange Foundation (CUSEF). Fontheim is a bridge between China US Exchange Foundation & Center for American Progress.  Look at the names in Pic below. Picture Source