By Printus LeBlanc

A disturbing trend is developing. As Americans for Limited Government has been reporting for some time now, China is waging warfare against the U.S. It is using tariffs on U.S. goods waging trade warfare. The Communist dictatorship wages economic warfare by stealing intellectual property or uses its natural resources to force manufacturers to relocate to China. The warfare doesn’t stop there for China. Recent reports have shed more light on China’s activities.

China has been on a shopping spree lately, waging political warfare in our nation’s capital. Chinese companies and interests are doing everything possible to gain access to the highest levels of U.S. government.

Shortly after retiring, former Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) went to work for the lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs, according to Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian of the Daily Beast. The firm represents many Chinese government interests in D.C., including the recent signing of Sinopec Group, a Chinese government-owned oil company.

It is no accident the former Speaker landed at the firm. Aside from formerly being third in line to the Presidency, Boehner spent much of his congressional career advocating for China. In the late 90’s, Boehner was the House GOP Conference Chair and worked with President Bill Clinton to renew the most favored nation trade status of China. In 2000, China would be granted Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR). When Congress attempted to tackle Chinese currency manipulation, Speaker Boehner was there to stop an effort in 2011. Boehner killed the measure despite the bill having bipartisan support and passing the Senate.

Not only is the Chinese government popular with politicians, but it is also popular with government officials. Donald Purdy Jr. is a former high-ranking cybersecurity expert for the Department of Homeland Security that helped draft the U.S. National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace while in the Bush White House. When Purdy left the government, he went to a company with direct ties to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Huawei.

Huawei has been embroiled in multiple accusations of intellectual property theft, a common occurrence for Chinese companies. Several governments, including the U.S., have issued warnings to its employees about purchasing products made by the company. Citing concerns the devices could be used to spy on them. With all the holes in U.S. cybersecurity, kinda scary to think someone that helped write U.S. cyber strategy is working for China.

China is also waging cultural war on U.S. universities around the nation. Hundreds of universities in the U.S. are home to Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (CSSAs) and Confucius Institutes. Rachelle Peterson completed an extensive research report published by the National Association of Scholars detailing the level of infiltration Confucius Centers have achieved on U.S. campuses. Universities want the Chinese students because of the tuition payments, the funding from the Chinese government funding the centers, and gladly accept the Communist-controlled programs.

In FP Magazine, Peterson called the institutes a Trojan Horse, stating, Confucius Institutes also serve as a vehicle for Chinese propaganda, restricting what the teachers they supply from China can say, distorting what students learn, and pressuring American professors to censor themselves.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Chinese espionage methods. Wray stated, “The use of non-traditional collectors, especially in the academic setting—whether it’s professors, scientists, students—we see in almost every field office that the FBI has around the country,” he continued, “It’s not just in major cities. It’s in small ones as well, it’s across basically every discipline. And I think the level of naivete on the part of the academic sector about this creates its own issues.”

Most of the CSSAs around the country have direct contact with the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. or one of the five consulates located throughout the country. Many CSSAs receive direct funding from Chinese government officials or one of the consulates.

China knows if it can shape and mold the minds of America’s youth with cultural warfare, it will control the next generation of U.S. leaders.

If tensions between China and the U.S. ever boil over and a kinetic war is launched, it is likely going to take place in and around the Western Pacific, specifically the South China Sea. Since the end of the Cold War, the U.S. has been the dominant force on the seas. The fastest growing threat to that dominance is China, and it appears U.S. special interest groups are helping China challenge U.S. naval superiority by conducting lawfare against the U.S. Navy.

The Natural Resources Defense Council has launched an all-out assault against the U.S. Navy. When the U.S. Navy seeks to develop or improve weapons and sensors, it must undertake an extensive testing regime. The NRDC and other environmental groups do not like the testing quite often sue to stop the testing. The constant lawsuits have put new U.S. Navy systems behind schedule and over budget. These actions benefit the U.S. Navy’s primary adversary, China.

The House Committee on Natural Resources has uncovered suspicious links between the NRDC and the Chinese government. According to a letter sent from the Committee to the NRDC, the environmental organization regularly meets with Chinese Communist officials and operate in the totalitarian state, something most activists groups only dream of doing.

The letter goes on to point out how the NRDC often praises China’s environmental record, despite it being one of the world’s most horrendous. Because Chinese coastal waters are so terribly polluted, China is damning up the Tibetan Plateau to divert fresh water. Chinese appetite for fish is depleting not just its fisheries, but the world’s, and the air pollution from China is great enough to reach the West Coast of the U.S.

Yet despite the awful environmental record of China, the NRDC elects to attack the U.S. Navy, the primary adversary of China. So, while the U.S. Navy is mired in NRDC lawsuits, freezing advancements, China is allowed to catch up quickly. Maybe Robert Mueller should be looking at the NRDC for Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

There are two terms used in the policy debate when it comes to China, Panda Huggers and Dragon Slayers. Unfortunately, Washington D.C. is full of panda huggers. Congress and the policy wonks need to wake up and realize the threat China poses, and it is not a cute, cuddly panda. If America continues to hug China, it will end up with dragon claws in the back.

Printus LeBlanc is the Legislative Director at Americans for Limited Government.