Beijing Has Enormous Sway Over Wall Street, Hopes for Biden Win: Chinese Professor

Beijing Has Enormous Sway Over Wall Street, Hopes for Biden Win: Chinese Professor
The American flag flies above the Wall Street entrance to the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 13, 2015. AP Photo/Richard Drew
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A Chinese professor recently revealed how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) used their connections or “good friends” in Wall Street to manipulate the United States, politically and financially.

Furthermore, the scholar claimed that the Party was hoping to restore close economic ties with the United States under a Joe Biden presidency.

Di Dongsheng, associate dean of the School of International Studies at the Renmin University of China in Beijing, gave a speech via the Chinese online video-sharing platform Guan Video on Nov. 28.

The discussion included Zhang Zhixiang, former director general of the Asian Development Bank and former director general of the International Department of the People’s Bank of China (China’s central bank); Ding Yifan, China forum expert and deputy director of China Development Research Center; and Yao Yang, dean of the National School of Development at Peking University.

For more than a decade, Chinese companies operated under lax standards and were loosely regulated on Wall Street, which allowed them to take advantage of U.S. capital markets and benefit from massive inflows of American capital.

The Chinese scholar openly admitted to this reality during his speech, noting that the CCP has had enormous influence on Wall Street. The video soon went viral.

Di said that the CCP is pushing hard to open China’s financial market at this time, but there are political and strategic factors to consider—one being that it is pinning its hopes on Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden becoming the president-elect. However, the outcome of the U.S. presidential race is still unclear due to pending legal challenges and recounts.

Di also said that the reason why the CCP was able to resolve “problems” with the United States for more than two decades was because of its “old friends” on Wall Street—powerful elite who would lobby for the regime’s interests in Washington. But all this came to a halt when Trump became president in 2016, he said.

“We know that the Trump administration is fighting a trade war with us. So why are we having trouble with Trump, when we were able to handle all kinds of problems between China and the United States from 1992 to 2016?” Di said. The administration enacted punitive tariffs on billions worth of Chinese imports in 2018, as part of efforts to curb Beijing’s unfair trade practices.

“What was the reason? It’s because we have people high above. We have our old friends in the United States’ core circle of power,” he continued.

Di remarked that Wall Street began to strongly influence U.S. domestic and foreign affairs in the 1970s—and around that time, the Chinese regime started to develop ties with U.S. companies. “So we figured out our path and those we could be dependent on,” he said.

Chinese professor Di Dongsheng gives a speech via the Chinese online video-sharing platform Guan Video on Nov. 28, 2020. (Screenshot from Guan Video)
Chinese professor Di Dongsheng gives a speech via the Chinese online video-sharing platform Guan Video on Nov. 28, 2020. Screenshot from Guan Video

But Wall Street’s status declined after the 2008 financial crisis. Above all, Wall Street has no influence on Trump, Di said.

“[Wall Street] tried to help during the Sino-U.S. trade war. … As far as I know, friends from the United States told me that they tried to help, but they were too weak.”

“But now we see that Biden has come to power. The traditional elites, political elites, and the establishment have a very close relationship with Wall Street,” he added.

He then spoke about accusations that Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, had extensive ties to Chinese and other foreign governments through investment funds.

Di implied the CCP helped Hunter Biden to build those relationships. “Who helped him build the funds? You understand? There are transactions involved.”

Di shared a story to prove his point. Prior to Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to the United States in 2015, all levels of the CCP had to help “warm up” and “build momentum” for the high-profile event, he recalled. One such “warmup” was to create positive public opinion about the Chinese regime. A book release event was organized for the publication of the first English-language edition of “Xi Jinping on State Administration”—a book containing Xi’s speeches on political ideology.

Di said he was assigned to find a venue for the event.

The location was set at a popular independent bookstore on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, D.C.

However, due to the short notice, the bookstore was unable to arrange the time slot. Di claimed the bookstore’s manager was a former reporter based in Asia, and he was unwilling to accommodate Di’s request due to his “biases” toward the CCP.

But eventually, Chinese officials managed to hold the press conference at the bookstore, because the store owner was pressured by an elderly Jewish woman who had some clout on Wall Street, Di claimed.

The woman was the chairman of the Asia division of a top financial institution on Wall Street, according to Di. She had Chinese citizenship and a Beijing-registered permanent residence, he added.

A Chinese state media report praised the event afterward: “On Sep. 17, 2015, the bookstore hosted Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, and a senior Chinese government official for a discussion about Xi’s book on governing China.”

This anecdote was later taken out of the Guan Video stream of Di’s speech.

The Trump administration has sought to restrict financial ties with Chinese companies, citing national security risks. Most recently, Trump issued an executive order banning U.S. investments in a group of companies with ties to the Chinese military.
U.S. regulators are also working on a proposal to require Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges to be subject to auditing, according to media reports. Regulators in Beijing have refused to allow audit inspections on the grounds that Chinese companies’ books are state secrets.
As of Oct. 2, there were 217 Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges, with a total market valuation of $2.2 trillion, according to the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Some U.S. lawmakers and financial experts have criticized U.S. financial firms and companies for ignoring the CCP’s human rights abuses in pursuit of the Chinese market.

This year, Wall Street financial giants such as JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have successively increased their holdings in mainland China.