US Ambassador to China Draws Criticism Over CCP-Linked Forum Appearance

On 14 Novem­ber 2024, Fox News report­ed that U.S. Ambas­sador Nicholas Burns faces mount­ing crit­i­cism over his planned keynote speech at a forum host­ed by an orga­ni­za­tion with alleged deep ties to the Chi­nese Com­mu­nist Par­ty, rais­ing con­cerns about Bei­jing’s influ­ence oper­a­tions. The arti­cle begins:

The Biden admin­is­tra­tion is fac­ing back­lash after it was revealed on social media that a top offi­cial would be par­tic­i­pat­ing in a two-day forum host­ed by a group with deep ties to the Chi­nese Com­mu­nist Par­ty (CCP). U.S. Ambas­sador to Chi­na Nicholas Burns will be a keynote speak­er at the 5th US-Chi­na Hong Kong Forum start­ing Fri­day, which is being host­ed by the Chi­na-Unit­ed States Exchange Foun­da­tion (CUSEF), accord­ing to the group’s website.

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Key Points:

1. CUSEF has doc­u­ment­ed con­nec­tions to Chi­nese gov­ern­ment organizations
2. Crit­ics say Burns’ par­tic­i­pa­tion legit­imizes Bei­jing’s influ­ence operations
3. Sev­er­al for­mer U.S. offi­cials also sched­uled to par­tic­i­pate in forum
4. Foun­da­tion’s part­ners include Chi­nese Min­istry of For­eign Affairs and major U.S. universities