Di Dongsheng, associate dean of the School of International Studies at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, claimed that for the past 30 to 40 years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had been taking advantage of a "core power circle in the United States." Di made the claim in a speech given at an event in Shanghai, though the original video of it has since been deleted.
In his speech, Di was specifically referring to Wall Street, a sector that he states has exerted "a very strong influence on U.S. domestic and foreign affairs in the 1970s."
"So we figured out our path and those we could depend on," he stated.
China has connections with "people in high places" in Wall Street
While Beijing had been able to manipulate Wall Street, the influence they gained from this waned over the past decade. This started when the 2008 financial crisis hit, which weakened Wall Street's influence. But what really hurt them was the election of President Donald Trump in 2016.
"More importantly, starting in 2016, Wall Street had no influence on Trump," said Di, who cited disputes the President had with Wall Street financiers.
When he ran for office in 2016, Trump campaigned on a tough-on-China platform. He focused on the regime's supposed unfair trade practices that he said cost thousands of American manufacturing jobs. In 2018, President Trump followed up on his campaign's promises, slapping billions of dollars worth of tariffs on a range of Chinese imports. (Related: The Chinese Communists are running Silicon Valley.)
Di says that Trump posed a different kind of challenge for Beijing. He stated that prior to this, all other crises between the United States and China, such as the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in 199, were resolved "within two months."
Back then, Di said that Beijing had "people in high places" within the U.S. through Wall Street.
When China tried to do the same in the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, these same people "tried to help, but they were too weak."
Trump advisor has also called out Wall Street
Di's report isn't the first confirmation that China has tapped Wall Street to help it out during the trade war. In November 2018, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro launched a scathing attack on what he called the "globalist billionaires" of Wall Street.
In his attack, Navarro accused a "self-appointed group of Wall Street bankers and hedge fund managers" of engaging in "shuttle diplomacy" with China. He says that this group attempted to sabotage U.S. trade negotiations with China by putting enormous pressure on the White House to give way to the latter.
Navarro went on to further accuse the financial elite of being "unregistered foreign agents" acting as part of the Chinese government's influence operations in Washington.
In a recent interview with the Epoch Times, Navarro backed up his rhetoric, calling Wall Street in general as "writ large a sociopath," in response to the continued ramp-up of investments in China.
"They have no morals or patriotism," Navarro said. "It’s all about the money."
As part of Trump's team, Navarro has advised the President to remain tough on China. This has resulted in a number of continued actions to limit the latter's influence. Most recently, Trump issued an executive order barring U.S. investments in Chinese companies deemed by the Pentagon to be either owned or controlled by China's People's Liberation Army. This ban takes effect in early January 2021, with U.S. investors having until November 2021 to divest of their investments.
Follow CommunistChina.news for more on Beijing's efforts to influence the U.S. and the world.
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