Harvard University’s Belfer Center – which counts participation from a host of current and former Joe Biden advisers – has repeatedly hosted conferences alongside the Chinese Communist Party, frequently publishing papers peddling CCP narratives, all while refusing to disclose its source of funding.
Compromised Conferences.
The National Pulse can reveal the center has hosted cybersecurity working groups alongside Chinese Communist Party government and military officials,despite China’s repeated poaching and hacking of U.S. technology:
The working group in Cambridge brought together 20 representatives including former government and military officials, as well as tech, business, and academic professionals to discuss current issues in the bilateral cyber relationship.
The group roleplayed “fictitious cyber scenarios” and discussed sensitive technology matters relating to artificial intelligence, Huawei, arms control frameworks, and more:
Both sides worked through a fictitious cyber scenario to discuss what their respective governments and companies would do in the face of a third party cyber attack on critical infrastructure. The working group also discussed AI, IP theft, supply chain security and Huawei, arms control frameworks, and controlling the spread of malware over the dark web.
The conference is held alongside the China Institute for International Strategic Studies (CIISS), which boasts participation from Chinese Communist Party “political figures, diplomats, military scholars, economists, public figures and academicians.”
The Beijing-based group’s leadership is entirely comprised of former Chinese Communist Party officials, often high-level, or former leadership of Chinese government-run bodies. Similarly, every member of the group’s academic committee has either worked directly for the Chinese Communist Party or a state-run organization.
Group members have been repeatedly seen their works published by the Press of the Party School of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee, including “How to Become a Great Power: World Order and China’s Role” and “The 500-Year History of Socialism.”
Nonetheless, the Harvard center felt comfortable swapping cybersecurity tips with the group, even inviting its Senior Adviser, General Hao, for a speech,“Perspectives from the PLA: A Conversation with Major General Hao Yeli.”
Biden’s Buddies.
A host of high-level advisers in the Biden White House appear to have no issues with the aforementioned liaising with the Chinese Communist Party and its military.
Ash Carter, an Obama-era Secretary of Defense, leads the Belfer Center, and Eric Rosenbach, fellow Obama administration national security alum, leads the China initiative.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s National Security Adviser, has served as a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center.
What’s more, Biden’s Director of National Security Avril Haines – who recently hesitated to call China a “competitor” and instead opting for “global competitor” – appeared on the center’s “Office Hours” podcast in October2017.
On the episode, Haines discusses her rise to power within the Obama White House as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and North Korea.
“The relationship between North Korea and China is a fascinating one,” she notes.
Haines, Sullivan, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken also signed a Belfer Center-backed letter advocating for collaboration between the U.S. and China to “develop” a vaccine and insisting the U.S. can rely on China for “protective gear and medicines needed to fight the virus.”
And former Fellow Paul Rosen served as Counsel to then-Senator Biden, former Associate Jon Wolfsthal served as a Special Advisor to Vice President Biden for nuclear security and nonproliferation, and current Senior Fellow Elizabeth D. Sherwood-Randall previously served as then-Senator Biden’s Chief Adviser on foreign and defense policy.
Peddling Propaganda.
The group also fails to disclose its funding on its website, although Harvard as an institution leads its peers in accepting nearly $1 billion in donations from the country.
When reached out to for comment, the center refused to comment on whether or not it had received money from the Chinese government or its affiliated entities. The Belfer Center also refused to turn over financial documents relating to its donors.
The center’s financial arrangements are made shadier by its routine publication of papers and research aligning with or in defense of Chinese Communist Party narratives. Often times, the work is laundered in establishment magazines such as The Atlantic and Foreign Policy.
Fellow Calder Walton rationalized Chinese telecom company Huawei spying, a national security threat he downplays, in a piece entitled “China Will Use Huawei to Spy Because So Would You” in Foreign Policy. Writing in Financial Times, Senior Fellow Robert Hannigan argued “Blanket Bans on Chinese Tech Companies Like Huawei Make No Sense.”
Articles entitled “America, Don’t Try to Out-China China” and “China and U.S. Must Learn From One Another and Collaborate on CBDC” have also been penned by center researchers.
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