Report: Prominent Chinese Prof Says a Biden Presidency Will Reconnect China to 'Core Circle Inside America’s Real Power'
If this is true, this professor might be teaching a lesson America needs to learn.
A Chinese academic told his audience at a late November speaking event in Shanghai that China had relied for decades on a network of “old friends” to influence U.S. policies but that the Trump administration had disrupted that cozy relationship, The Washington Times reported Sunday.
And that China is welcoming the prospect of a White House headed by former Vice President Joe Biden.
According to The Washington Times, the professor was Di Dongsheng, an associate dean at the School of International Studies at Beijing’s Renmin University. He was speaking on a Chinese television program called “The Answers,” on the topic “Will China’s Opening Up in the Financial Sector Attract Wall Street Wolves?”
A video of Di’s speech that was posted with The Times report was deleted by China after going viral, according to Bloomberg.
There’s one important caveat about the video. Di included a lengthy and, if it’s true, somewhat troubling anecdote about what amounts to a propaganda event at the noted Washington bookstore Politics and Prose in 2015.
In an email to The Western Journal on Monday, Politics and Prose co-owner Bradley Graham acknowledged the event itself, but disputed virtually every detail about it Di discussed, including the participation of the “friend,” whom Di described as “obviously a Jew simply by that look.”
“I’m still puzzled why, five years later, Di chose to portray this event at P&P the way he did,” Graham wrote.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 8, 2020
“In plain and simple language, during the last three to four decades, we used the core circle inside America’s real power,” Di said, according to a Washington Times excerpts of the speech.
The arrival of President Donald Trump changed that, he said.
“As I said the Wall Street had a very profound influence over America’s domestic and foreign affairs since the 1970s. We used to heavily rely on them. Problem is the role of Wall Street has been declining since 2008. But most importantly, after 2016 the Wall Street couldn’t control Trump, because, awkwardly, there was a soft breach of contract between them, which made them hostile to each other.”
The idea that the communist Chinese government had wielded influence in American policy for decades isn’t particularly a shock. Governments the world over try to influence each other in every conceivable way; diplomacy isn’t all U.N. conference tables and embassy dinner parties.
But hearing the matter put so plainly is unusual. And the fact that Di was so frank about how the Trump administration has upset an apple cart that China was clearly pretty satisfied with should be gratifying to any Trump supporter – just on principle.
It basically confirms what Trump has been saying about his administration since the beginning: That he’s taken on the establishment and the system it has created for itself, and for its own benefit.
However, what should be troubling to any American – regardless of political party – is how cynically Di described his country’s position in the aftermath of the Nov. 3 election, which Trump is still disputing.
And Di seems to have some knowledge of what he’s talking about.
According to The Washington Times:
“Mr. Di states on his biography page at Renmin University that he is a frequent consultant to Chinese Communist Party and government organs, including the Foreign Ministry and the International Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the Central Organization Department and other ministries and commissions.”
Di couldn’t be reached for comment for Sunday’s article, according to The Washington Times. His university had no comment, the newspaper reported.
Still, his view of the American political situation could well hold some clues to how his country’s totalitarian government sees the U.S.
The fact that he considers the 2020 election over, despite the fact that Trump and his allies are still disputing it, is telling.
And it’s not encouraging, particularly when he brings the infamous Hunter Biden into it. (There’s already too much smoke around Hunter Biden and China for any sane American to be comfortable, and Hunter’s father’s inability to explain things should make even Democrats queasy.)
“Now with Biden winning the election, the traditional elites, political elites, the establishment, they have a very close relationship with the Wall Street,” Di said, according to The Washington Times excerpt.
“You all heard that Trump said Biden’s son has securities companies all over the world.
“But who helped Biden’s son build his global companies? You understand? — There are indeed buy-and-sell transactions involved in here [audience applause].
“So I think at this particular time, it is of strategic and tactical value for us to show goodwill [to Biden] — of course, this is just from my limited perspective as a political economist.”
Now, why does a Chinese professor, one who brags to a televised audience about his ability to get things accomplished in the United States, think now is the time to show “goodwill” for a potential Biden administration?
“If we understand this matter from the perspective of the international political economy,” Di said, according to an English subtitle on the video, “I think there is a tactical and political value in it.”
No doubt there’s “tactical” value for the United States’ most serious rival in geopolitical affairs for restoring its influence over policymakers in Washington. No doubt there are numerous members of the Washington establishment – Di called them “the traditional elites, political elites” – who would be happy to get back to the swampy status quo that existed before the Trump draining operation came to town.
But the real lesson is just how clearly a Chinese academic with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party evidently welcomes the idea that the old system can get back into business with a Biden White House.
“Who helped Biden’s son build his global companies?” Di asked, according to the Washington Times excerpt.
That’s a good question. Don’t expect the American establishment media to be asking it anytime soon.
UPDATE, Dec. 10, 2020: After the publication of this article, the video of Di’s speech went viral. By Thursday, however, video of the event was removed from Chinese social media and video platforms, according to Bloomberg. This article has been updated to acknowledge the removal of the video and to include the discussion of the video on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” It otherwise appears as originally written.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
