China Is Quietly Running An Influence Operation

(NewsGlobal.com)- An investigative study claimed China had established connections in Utah, resulting in public affairs and legislative successes for the communist country.

The report found that the Chinese used the lawmakers’ affiliation with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a wedge issue to gain favor. The Chinese used it to delay legislation that would have taken action against CCP propaganda. It canceled resolutions that censured China and promoted it in a false good light.

According to the news outlet, the church has always hoped to grow in China.

Frank Montoya Jr., a former FBI counterintelligence officer who now resides in Utah, has called the state a crucial outpost. It’s safe to assume that if Chinese businesses can thrive in Salt Lake City, they will thrive everywhere.

Confucius Institutes, propaganda organizations supported by the Chinese government, will remain open at public universities for another year thanks to a legislative reprieve.

A report shows that a Chinese schoolteacher arranged for her 4th graders to send greeting cards to China’s President, who then responded by writing to the pupils.

Chinese state media utilized the episode to portray Xi as a loving grandpa figure, despite being a harsh tyrant responsible for sending tens of thousands of people to concentration camps. Some state legislators complimented the cards the Communist tyrant delivered to the children.

According to the article, several dozen Utah legislators have been traveling to China annually since 2007. On these visits, they reportedly make comments that are then exploited as propaganda by Chinese state media.

Regional diplomacy is something that many governments, including the United States, do. Experts on U.S. national security have emphasized that the Chinese government’s emphasis on language and cultural interactions is not motivated by ulterior motives. 

Nevertheless, they also noted that few countries had courted local leaders as vigorously as this one, raising serious national security concerns.

The United States intelligence community warned earlier this month that China is ramping up its local influence activities in the face of intensifying opposition at the national level. This information was included in the agency’s yearly threat assessment. 

China sees municipal authorities as more malleable than their federal colleagues.