President Joe Biden’s top choice for the role of ambassador to Israel is the chair of a pro-China think tank that has hosted top Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, the Washington Free Beacon reported on Monday.
Jack Lew, Biden’s choice candidate, is the current chair of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, an organization devoted to strengthening diplomatic and economic ties between the U.S. and China, according to the Free Beacon. Lew has hosted a number of top CCP officials through the committee, which was criticized by one intelligence analyst as being “consistently soft on China.”
“Individuals with strong links to China, including through organizations like the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations or Asia Society, should have no place in U.S. politics,” Anders Corr, intelligence analyst and principal at Corr Analytics, said to the Free Beacon. (RELATED: China Secretly Revived Its Elite Scientist Poaching Program To Gain Supremacy In Tech War)
Jack Lew shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to Beijing in 2013. (Photo by Feng Li – Pool/Getty Images)
In June, Lew met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who blamed the U.S. for initiating the “root causes” of tension between the two countries, according to the Free Beacon. Wang implored the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations to “continue to stabilize the China-U.S. relationship from deterioration, advance friendly exchanges, and disseminate true stories of mutually beneficial cooperation.”
Lew followed Wang’s remarks by declaring that the U.S. and China were intertwined and an economic “decoupling” would be impossible, according to a press release from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 2021, Yang Jiechi, a top CCP official, warned U.S. officials against interfering and “meddling” in Chinese affairs and made accusations that the U.S. was “harassing” Chinese students at American universities, the Free Beacon reported. Lew responded that Jiechi had “raised several important areas that will require deeper exploration and further dialogue.”
Lew also spoke at an event in 2022 hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and promised that his organization would “continue to promote dialogue and exchanges among all sectors of society,” according to a press release from the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. The Biden administration has accused CPAFFC of using its exchange program to leverage influence and advance China’s “global agenda.”
The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations is backed and funded by companies such as Citigroup, Blackstone and Blackrock, the latter of which has been described as a “powerful friend” to China, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Lew’s pro-Beijing stance could interfere with his potential role as ambassador to Israel, a country which the U.S. has sought to disengage from China, according to the Free Beacon. The Biden administration has called on Israel to cut its ties with China and encouraged an alliance with Saudi Arabia in lieu of Beijing’s advancing influence in the region, according to Bloomberg.
The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.