Joe Biden’s State Department transition review team is full of people that have worked on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.
The group is full of consultants and lobbyists from the Albright Stonebridge Group (ASG), a company that has deep roots in the Chinese Communist Party.
ASG focuses in China proudly stating the country is “the firm’s largest single-country practice.”
The review team employs 30 people from ASG, including Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Senior Vice President at the firm.
Thomas-Greenfield is also slated to be Biden’s pick for US Ambassador to the United Nations.
Another member of the transitions team, Sumona Guha, is also a VP at the firm “where she draws on twenty years of experience in Europe and South Asia to advise clients on market entry and expansion, including political and regulatory strategies.”
ASG helps American companies comply with the Chinese Communist Party’s business rules. The firm touts how they help US companies “align” with Chinese “government goals.”:
“We then arranged meetings for company executives with key stakeholders in the resort sector to deliver messages demonstrating our client’s commitment to China, and its alignment with government tourism goals.”
On one occasion ASG bragged about “leveraging” a US Cabinet Secretary listing China to help complete a business deal:
“We first identified and engaged key Chinese officials and other stakeholders who might be willing to support approval for the acquisition. We then maintained close contact with officials and agencies involved in the government approval process to monitor progress and immediately address challenges as they arose. Our client also leveraged U.S. government advocacy in support of the investment, and the strategy culminated in a visit by a U.S. Cabinet Secretary.”
ASG’s China practice has very close ties with the CCP. Analysts and directors for the firm have held important positions inside the Chinese government. Analyst James Oswal has worked “under the Communist Party of China Central Committee,” helping to translate “central government documents and Marxist and Party literature” including “key articles on China’s politics, economy, society, culture, and environment from the CPC’s journal Qiushi, as well as government reports and Xi Jinping’s speeches.”
ASG director, Harry Hu spent more than a decade working with a think tank affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the list goes on and on and on.
