Tag: cina

China-Focused Influence Program Courted Senior US Media Figures With Sponsor-Paid Trips

A journalist’s review of Committee of 100 (C100) records has renewed scrutiny of sponsor-paid trips that brought senior figures from major U.S. news organizations to China and recorded changes in their views and professional plans.

In response to questions from The Epoch Times, C100 confirmed that it covered travel costs, selected the participants, set their itineraries, and chose whom they met.

The organization rejected journalist and media host Natalie Winters’s description of the trips as “pay-for-play,” saying no coverage was exchanged for the travel and participants retained editorial independence.

Winters published her review on Substack on July 28, characterizing the multiyear journalist delegation program as a “propaganda pipeline.” Her report drew attention to documents posted on C100’s website.

A 2012 trip report on the website marked “Internal Use” placed the cost of a nine-day delegation for five journalists at approximately $60,000.

The report said the program sought to improve perceptions of China and encourage participants to share their experiences with professional peers.

The five journalists represented The New York Times, The Atlantic, the Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and WNYC. A page about the delegation on the C100 website says they traveled through Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou from Nov. 25 through Dec. 3, 2012.

The trip report described lodging, meals, transportation, sightseeing, corporate and cultural visits, and about 20 arranged meetings with Chinese officials, academics, media representatives, students, and business executives.

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China sold Iran spy satellite that was used to target U.S. bases: report

ran secretly purchased a spy satellite from China in 2024, which it then used to target U.S. bases. 

According to the Financial Times, Earth Eye Co, a Chinese company, built and launched a TEE-01B satellite in 2024. After it was launched into space from China, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Corp purchased the satellite, leaked Iranian military documents show. 

Iran used the satellite to monitor major U.S. military sites. Satellite imagery was taken in March prior to drone and missile strikes on the military locations. The sites included Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. On March 14, President Donald Trump said aircraft at the base were hit in missile strikes. 

Trump said Wednesday that China has agreed not to send weapons to Iran, but China has not confirmed the statements. 

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Chinese intel agency official helped raise over $300,000 for Dem Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s campaign: report

A man who helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Boston Democrat Mayor Michelle Wu has been revealed to be listed by a Chinese intelligence agency as an official.

The Daily Caller News Foundation reported that Boston International Media Consulting founder Gary Yu assisted in raising over $300,000 for Wu with the help of the New England Chinese American Alliance, a civic association of which Yu serves as co-chairman.

Yu, whose Chinese name is Yu Guoliang, is listed as an official with an agency of the United Front Work Department (UFWD), a Chinese Community Party influence and intelligence service, per the outlet.

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Community Party described united front work as “a unique blend of engagement, influence activities, and intelligence operations that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) uses to shape its political environment, including to influence other countries’ policy toward the PRC and to gain access to advanced foreign technology.”

The central UFWD reports directly to the CCP’s Central Committee, is the “lead organization for coordinating and carrying out united front work both inside and outside of China,” and “oversees the united front work departments of provincial and local party committees as well as those subordinate to party committees in companies, research institutes, and other entities.”

Yu is listed as an “overseas committee member” of the Hangzhou municipal All-China Federation Of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC) and has met with their officials in China multiple times, and is the chairman of the North American Hangzhou Association (NAHAUS).

Per the Daily Caller, ACFROC is an agency of the UFWD that conducts overseas influence operations such as allegedly directing Chinese community leaders to create a Chinese police station in New York City.

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