Chinese Think Tank Tackles Island Disputes

There Is A New Chinese Institute 

Poised To Tackle The China Seas 

Island Disputes    

American Admiralty Books Safety & Privacy Policies   EU VISITORS WARNING POSSIBLE COOKIES AHEAD

The Swimming Dragon Is Setting Up Shop In Washington DC To Sell High Production Value BS 

There Is Propaganda and Fancy Propaganda, This is The Fancy Stuff With A Foggy Scientific / Historic Faux Finish. 

The Dragon has launched a "think tank" of  Chinese scholars to influence U.S. debate surrounding maritime disputes. It's Not in China, It's in Washington DC.

The First Chinese "Think Tank" within the DC Beltway  is designed to sway U.S. public opinion away from strict interpretation of existing maritime international law, with a focus on justifying the Chinese island grab in the East and South China Seas. 

The "Think Tank'"/ Lobby is called  "the Institute for China-America Studies" and is off to a modest start with  three staff members working  from a small office near Ronald Reagan International Airport. Their advertised mission is to research and conduct exchanges on maritime issues and China-U.S. relations, not to represent the Chinese government. If you care to believe their executive directo. Ms. Hong Nong.  We also have some deeds to the Brooklyn Bridge for sale in another part of this website. 

According to the Institute's director ;

“We want to build a platform from which we can convey the right message to both sides,” said Ms. Hong, whose doctoral dissertation from Canada’s University of Alberta examined legal and political issues of the South China Sea.

The institute was founded  in response to an  appeal last year from Chinese President Xi Jinping for new types of "think tanks" to improve governance and enhance China’s “soft power, can you say "propaganda"? 

This concept is only new for China, other  Asian nations such as  Japan and Taiwan,  have long funded U.S. "think tanks" and  university chairs in a bid to influence American policy making.

South Korea for example recently engaged a U.S. public-relations firm to promote its position on Japan’s war history ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Washington. Abe has refused to apologize for Japanese atrocities during WWII such as the Rape of Nanking and had visited Japanese shrines to WWII leaders hanged by the allies as war criminals. This is actually an old game in DC that the Chinese are newly joining, it benefits few but the entrenched politicians and a few unscrupulous academics. 

The new Chinese institute could provide opportunities for Chinese scholars and officials to try to influence U.S. public debate and policy making,  on maritime disputes in Asia.  Island claims particularly  have verged on escalating into military confrontation. China’s aggressive and militaristic pressing of its ridiculous claims to the entire South China Sea has alarmed Washington, between golf outings, and our Pacific allies like Japan and the Philippines

Some  observers think that the Chinese institute must  establish its independence from the Chinese government to have credibility. We think credibility has never been a big Communist concern since that philosophy maintains that the best way to get the big lie across is constant repetition.  

At the institute's  inaugural conference last month, China’s ambassador to the U.S., Cui Tiankai, gave a keynote address defending China’s illegal and indefensible efforts to build artificial islands in the South China Sea, some within the recognized exclusive economic zones of other nations. 

The institute  is set up in Arlington, Va and incorporated in Virginia pending accepted status as a non profit. The director Ms. Hong saids she isn't a Communist Party member ( sounds like a convenient technicality to us)  and the think tank would be free to do research critical of Chinese policy, (yeah right) as long as it fits within its research programs. “We want to be an independent nonprofit organization here,” she said. We believe that they want to be perceived as an independent research organization by us poor American schmucks and our empty headed politicians.  

In fact the institute  is,  an offshoot of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, a government-affiliated body, which also employs Ms. Hong. The National Institute  plays a prominent role in promoting China’s views on maritime issues including the Dragon's claim to the entire South China Sea..

Establishing the institute’s independence from direct Chinese government control  may also be necessary legally if it is to serve as a research institute. Under U.S. law, anyone acting on behalf of foreign governments for political purposes has to register with the Justice Department, while those doing academic work don’t. So the Dragon calls propaganda dissemination "academic work". 

Frankly we have had enough of the forked tongue pronouncements of the Dragon about its island  land grabs from its maritime neighbors. International law is well settled on the matter and China is simply an aggressive thief, a thug state. We need to start calling them and all of our enemies for what they are. To what extent it is our job to rebuke evil in the world is a matter of legitimate debate on any one issue, but we ought to exercise some freedom of speech and call things what they are. The institute is a propaganda mill.