On November 28, Di Dongsheng, Vice Dean of the School of International Relations at Renmin University and Vice Director and Secretary of the Center for Foreign Strategic Studies of China, delivered a speech at a forum on the topic of the opening of China’s financial sector and the implications in Shanghai. In his speech, Di disclosed that, prior to 2016, China used its connections with Wall Street to influence U.S. political circles but has failed to do so under the Trump’s administration. He indicated that China will restore its ties again under Biden’s administration.
The event had a live audience and was broadcast live via Guan Video, the Chinese online video-sharing platform. Other participants at the event included Zhang Zhixiang, former President of the Asian Development Bank and former Director of the International Department of the Central Bank of the Communist Party of China; the State Council Development Researcher Ding Yifan, deputy director of the Center’s World Development Institute; and Yao Yang, dean of the National Development Institute of Peking University.
Below is a translation of a partial summary of the speech:
At 3:35 minutes: The Trump administration is in a trade war with us. So why can’t we influence the Trump administration? Why is it that, between 1992 and 2016, China and the U.S. used to be able to settle all kinds of issues No matter what kind of crises we encountered, be it the Yinhe Incident, the (U.S.) bombing of the (Chinese) embassy in Belgrade, or the Hainan Island incident, things were resolved in no time. It was like (a couple) “fighting starting at the bedhead but ending at the bed end” [editor’s note: this is a Chinese Idiom meaning disagreements between a couple are usually resolved quickly]. Everything was fixed within two months. Why? Here is the smoking gun: we have people at the top of the America’s core inner circle of power and influence. We have our old friends.
At 4:33 minutes: Di told a story. In 2015, before Xi Jinping’s visit to the U.S., the CCP needed to do warm up preparation work on public opinion. To help to build up the momentum, before Xi’s visit, the CCP wanted to hold a book release event for the first edition of the English version of Xi Jinping’s new book “Xi Jinping: The Governance of China.” Di was assigned the task to book the event and also be the host and guest speaker at the event. When Di contacted the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington to book the event, he was told that he had given too short a notice and the time slot was already booked. Di quickly found out that the owner of the bookstore was a Democrat, a former a journalist in Asia, and didn’t like the CCP. In the end though, the book release event was held at the time the CCP wanted because an elderly Jewish lady intervened. The lady spoke fluent Mandarin with a Beijing dialect. She told Di that she had Chinese citizenship, held Beijing permanent resident status and owned a Siheyuan (quadrangle dwellings) on Chang’an Street in the Dongcheng district. She was the president of the Asia region of a top financial institution.
At 9:30 minutes: For the past 30 to 40 years, we have been utilizing the core power of the U.S. As I said before, since the 1970’s, Wall Street had a very strong influence on the domestic and foreign affairs of the U.S. So we had a channel to rely on. The problem was that after 2008, Wall Street’s role declined. More importantly, after 2016, Wall Street couldn’t influence Trump, … so during the U.S.-China trade war, they (Wall Street) tried to help. I know that my friends on the U.S. side told me that they tried to help but they couldn’t do much.
At 10:26 minutes: But now we see Biden was elected. The traditional elite, the political elite and the establishment … they are very close to Wall Street. So you heard it, right? Trump has been saying that Biden’s son has some sort of global foundation. Did you notice it? Who helped him (Biden’s son) to build the foundations? There are a lot of stories in all this.
Source:
1. Youtube, December 4, 2020
https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwGLItcb498&feature=youtu.be
2. Epoch Times, December 6, 2020
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/20/12/6/n12599572.htm