Communist China’s Influence on U.S. Congress Growing | Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.)

While Communist China continues it totalitarian practices and abuses of human rights, the Washington Post is reporting how Communist China is gaining power in the U.S. Congress. The Post should know, after all, its own Bob Woodward has been a scheduled speaker at cocktail parties at the Communist Chinese embassy. (See also R.E.A.L. article in April 2009.)

— Image showing the millions of dollars that Communist China spends on lobbying in Washington DC

— Washington Post reports: “China’s lobbying efforts yield new influence, openness on Capitol Hill”
— “Ten years ago, U.S. lawmakers publicly accused the China Ocean Shipping Co. of being a front for espionage and blocked plans to expand its Long Beach, Calif., port terminal over fears that Chinese spies would use it to snoop on the United States.”
— “By last year, Congress was seeing the state-owned Chinese behemoth in a far kinder light. Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) authored a resolution applauding the company for employing thousands of Americans and helping keep the waters of Alaska clean. Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Mass.) hailed the firm on the House floor, calling its chief executive “a people’s ambassador” to the United States after it rescued Boston’s port — and thousands of jobs — when a European shipping line moved out.”
— “The congressional about-face illustrates a dramatic increase in China’s influence on Capitol Hill, where for years its lobbying muscle never matched its ballooning importance in world affairs. Members of Congress, lobbyists and other observers said China’s new prominence is largely the result of Beijing’s increasingly sophisticated efforts to influence events at the center of U.S. power — and a growing realization among U.S. lawmakers that China has become a critical economic player across America.”
— “Although many Americans still view China with deep suspicion because of its communist system and human rights record, the results of Beijing’s image-and-influence campaign are clear. Members of Congress ‘are starting to understand that the Chinese are not communist but that the Chinese are Chinese,’ said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). China is Oregon’s biggest export market after Canada.”
— “The new openness toward China is often subtle and not shared by all. But an undeniable evolution is taking place, congressional staffers and analysts said, as members of Congress, many with increasing numbers of large and small businesses in their districts that depend on trade with China, are now far more likely to kill or water down measures opposed by Beijing.”

R.E.A.L Postings on Totalitarianism