My Take | China simply takes a leaf out of US book
In promoting China-friendly views, a foundation set up by former Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa is only doing what the US has been doing here for years
The influential Foreign Policy journal has just told how funding from China has infiltrated some of the most prestigious policy research institutes in the US with the aim of changing public opinion and promoting China-friendly views.
At the centre of what is described as “a united front” effort is, the report says, none other than our former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa. It makes it sound like the China-United States Exchange Foundation, founded by Tung in 2008, has secretly funded a new endowed professorship in the China studies department at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, as well as a new research project called the Pacific Community Initiative.
Money from the foundation has also gone to funding influential think tanks such as the Brookings Institution, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, the Atlantic Council, the Centre for American Progress, the EastWest Institute, the Carter Centre, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Tung is described as a billionaire with close ties to Beijing. In the words of the journal, “Tung currently serves as the vice-chairman of one of the united front’s most important entities – the so-called Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which is one of China’s two rubber-stamp assemblies. The body is one of Beijing’s most crucial tentacles for extending influence”.
None of this is secret though, as you can read all about it in the foundation’s website and published reports. Tung has long declared it a personal mission to promote a better Sino-US relationship.
