A leaked database of registered members of the Chinese Communist Party has exposed a mass infiltration of American companies — with serious national security implications. The
data was originally reportedly extracted from a server in Shanghai in 2016 by Chinese dissidents, who used it for counterintelligence purposes according to reporting by France’s i24 News.
Among the companies exposed as having been infiltrated are Boeing, Volkswagen, AstraZeneca, ANZ, Qualcomm and Pfizer. Hundreds of senior employees at British banks HSBC and Standard Chartered have also been identified as members of the Chinese Communist Party, according to documents seen by the Daily Telegraph.
Yahoo News India reports The Mail on Sunday analysis of the material reveals that pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and AstraZeneca - both involved in the development of coronavirus vaccines - employed a total 123 party loyalists.
The analysis also revealed that there were over 600 party members across 19 branches working at the British banks HSBC and Standard Chartered in 2016.
Yahoo News India noted that, while there is no public specific evidence that anyone on the Communist Party membership list has spied for China, and many sign-up simply to boost their career prospects, experts say it defies credulity that some are not involved in espionage.
To that end, a report from The Australian said the leaked membership records revealed information regarding almost two million CCP members, leading to the discovery that 10 consulates in the Chinese city of Shanghai have Communist Party workers.
Fox News reports the database -- which was sent to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China in mid-September -- shows that CCP members are or have been employed by British, German, Swiss, Indian, New Zealand, Italian, and South African missions in the coastal metropolis through the Shanghai Foreign Agency Service Department.
The Chinese Communist Party members are serving as senior political and government affairs specialists, economic advisers, clerks, and executive assistants, according to The Australian.
Led by President Xi Jinping, China's Communist Party membership is estimated to stand at 92 million, including both the senior leaders and rank-and-file members, who swear a solemn oath to “guard Party secrets, be loyal to the Party, work hard, fight for communism throughout my life...and never betray the Party.”
According to the New York Times, the party has changed after President Xi took over, edging closer to its Communist roots as more emphasis has been put on political loyalty and ideological campaigns embracing the tools of the high-tech era.
What's amazing about this database is not just that it exposes people who are members of the Communist Party, and who are now living and working all over the world, from Australia to the US to the UK, but it's amazing because it lifts the lid on how the party operates under President and Chairman Xi Jinping, The Australian journalist and Sky News host Sharri Markson said. Ms. Markson said the CPC branches had been set up inside western companies where members, if called on, are answerable directly to the Communist Party and President Xi himself.
A few days before the reports on the list of Chinese Communist Party members who had infiltrated major corporations and government institutions broke, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke at the Georgia Institute of Technology, saying the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is poisoning our institutions. He and the director of National Intelligence described the CCP’s strategy as “rob, replicate, replace, and repress.”
Pompeo said China sends 400,000 students a year to study in the United States and American schools received at least $1.3 billion from China since 2013. Many universities failed to disclose gifts and funding from the Chinese regime.
Pompeo said the United States cannot allow this “tyrannical regime to steal our stuff,” “brainwash our people”, or “buy off our institutions to help them cover up these activities.”
Back in July of 2020 the United States considered banning all Chinese Communist Party members from entering the US, but the idea apparently lost steam after it was leaked prematurely. The latest revelations about Chinese Communist Party penetration of major Western institutions and corporations should prompt the Trump administration to reconsider a blanket ban and at a minimum declare all those on the leaked list persona non grata prompting their immediate expulsion from the United States.
2020 Election
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Chinese Communist Party
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American companies
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Volkswagen
AstraZeneca
ANZ
Qualcomm
Pfizer
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Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China
President Xi Jinping
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