A new member of President Joe Biden’s State Department previously worked to build strong ties between Americans and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the Washington Free Beacon first reported.
Nina Hachigian is currently serving in the newly created State Department position of “Special Representative for Subnational Diplomacy.” Hachigian will be tasked with developing the department’s ties with cities in the U.S. and abroad, but she previously worked with multiple groups to foster closer ties between the U.S. and China, according to the Free Beacon.
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‘Embrace China’: Biden’s Latest Diplomatic Hire Called China a ‘Security Partner,’ Worked with CCP Front Groupshttps://t.co/WKYZpWwYqP
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While she was Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, Hachigian worked with the president of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, a CCP influence cutout, on developing “exchange and cooperation” between the U.S. and China. She also worked at the liberal Center for American Progress, where she was part of the U.S. delegation at a “high-level dialogue” organized by the China-U.S. Exchange Foundation, another CCP-backed group, which proposed an “exchange of military personnel” with China.
Hachigian has consistently encouraged American leaders to go soft on China when controversy arises. In 2007, she wrote an op-ed urging Americans to “embrace China” even though “China’s growth will cause some Americans to lose their jobs or get paid less.” She also discouraged a boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. That same year, she described China as a “security partner.”
Hachigian also worked Yuan Peng, the head of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, which the CIA classifies as an intelligence organ of the CCP. (RELATED: ‘Course Correction’: China Recalibrates Its Plan For World Dominance)
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence warned in the summer of 2022 that the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries “exploits” sister cities in other countries to get state and local leaders to embrace China.
A spokesperson for the State Department told the Free Beacon the department has “full confidence” in Hachigian and that her “background will be integral in engaging local partners and fostering collaboration on many of the Department’s key priorities.”