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The_War_Economy @The_War_Economy
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We're gonna take some time out to look over Dianne Feinstein and China and see what can be found. There are probably others at this point who will have already covered some of what I find, but let's go for it anyway.
Dianne Feinstein became a United States Senator for California, assuming the office on November 4, 1992. She won this through a special election, defeating John F. Seymour.
According to CBS News, the Chinese spy was at Senator Feinstein's side for 20 years, although the reveal of her driver being the spy happened 5 years ago.

5 years ago was 2013.

20 years before that was 1993.

She became Senator on Nov. 4, 1992.

So roughly when she started.
At the time Senator Feinstein started her job, Richard Blum, her husband, only had one project in China worth less than $500,000.00.

By 1997, Newbridge Capital was receiving investments from International Finance Corp, an arm of World Bank.

articles.latimes.com/1997-03-28/new…
In 1996, the Federal Bureau of Investigation informed Feinstein and five other Senators / Representatives that donations to Congressional races may have originated from the Chinese Government and to be on alert.

nytimes.com/1997/03/13/us/…
In March 1997, Senators Feinstein and Barbara Boxer asked Samuel Berger about the leasing of a former Navy base in Long Beach to China's state-owned China Ocean Shipping Company, a lease signed in April 1996, shortly after the raid of the Empress Phoenix.

nytimes.com/1997/03/13/us/…
The raid of the Empress Phoenix resulted in Chinese gunrunners being caught in a sting operation titled Operation Dragon Fire, carried out by two undercover federal agents. The smugglers had ties to Polytech and the China Northern Industrial Corporation.

articles.chicagotribune.com/1996-05-24/new…
This is the official website for the China Northern Industrial Corporation, and it does sell products such as "Military Tent", "Flexible Circuit Board" and "TANK".

cccme.org.cn/shop/cccme0012…
According to "The Chinese Connection" written by Franklin Foer on March 16, 1997, the National Security Agency listened in on conversations between the Chinese Government and their embassy in Washington to discuss spending $2 million on the election.

slate.com/articles/news_…
Franklin Foer's 1997 article also mentions speculation in the media about which people may have been involved in the donations (despite a lack of hard evidence) - John Huang, Charles Trie and Pauline Kanchanalak.

slate.com/articles/news_…
Pauline Kanchanalak (a Thai businesswoman) pleaded guilty in June 2000 for funnelling $690,000 illegal campaign donations to the Democratic Party in 1996. Her sister-in-law, Duangnet Kronenberg, also pleaded guilty for assisting the scheme.

nytimes.com/2000/06/22/us/…
In January 1996, Senator Feinstein and Richard Blum both came to the defence of Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

Feinstein herself first visited China in 1979, while she was Mayor of San Francisco. Her Mayorship led to her friendship with President Zemin.

articles.latimes.com/1996-01-18/new…
"'I first met Jiang Zemin in Shanghai in 1985, and we saw each other every year after that. He's been a guest at our home in San Francisco. We've worked to build this relationship." -- Dianne Feinstein

She's criticised Taiwanese lobbying on Capitol Hill.

articles.latimes.com/1996-01-18/new…
Relations between China and the United States re-opened in 1972, and Mayor Feinstein, with Consul General Hu Ding-yi, had a ribboncutting ceremony for a Boeing 747 landing with 139 Chinese passengers at San Francisco International Airport in January 1981.

nytimes.com/1981/01/08/us/…
Mayor Feinstein was the one who initiated the sister-city relationship, the first of its kind with a Chinese city, between San Francisco and Shanghai, which Zemin used to be a Mayor of himself.

articles.latimes.com/1994-10-28/new…
On June 3, 2005, Senator Feinstein was presented with the New Silk Road Award for her efforts in developing ties between California and Asia. The Award was presented by the California-Asia Business Council.

businesswire.com/news/home/2005…
Mayor Feinstein's sister-city partnership was titled the San Francisco-Shanghai Sister City Committee.

Senator Feinstein also supported China's entry in the World Trade Organisation.

businesswire.com/news/home/2005…
For reference, China joined the World Trade Organisation in November 2001 after 15 years of negotiations.

edition.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asi…
Officers of the California-Asia Business Council include Elizabeth Y. A. Ferguson, Daniel K. H. Chao, Michelle Full, Jeremy W. Potash, Mark C. Dosker, Ambassador Linda Tsao Yang, Bradley A. Aris and George E. Sycip.

calasia.herokuapp.com/about
Directors of the California-Asia Business Council include Chris Chang, Elizabeth Y. A. Ferguson, G. Paul Matthews, George E. Sycip, Gordon Hein, Joe Ryan, Lillian K. Nakagawa, Mark C. Doskey, Michael Keyoung, Nancy Mangold, Patricia Yeh, Peter Osmond and Sandra R. McCandless.
This is the official website for the San Francisco-Shanghai Sister City Committee, celebrating their 30th anniversary.

sfshanghai.com/index.html
The San Francisco-Shanghai Sister City Committee had people such as Gordon Lau, Dianne Feinstein, Quentin Kopp and Dan White (who assassinated George Moscone and Harvey Milk) on the board.

Lau was on the board from 1977 to 1979. He passed in 1998.

sfgate.com/news/article/S…
Deputy Mayor of San Francisco Peter Henschel (now deceased, having passed in September 2002) helped Mayor Dianne Feinstein set up the sister-city relationship with Shanghai.

sfgate.com/bayarea/articl…
Taiwanese-Americans wrote a letter to Senator Feinstein in April 1997 against her stances on both Chinese trade and her being against the sovereignty of Taiwan.

taiwandc.org/nws-9706.htm
Unfortunately I cannot find the corresponding article, but apparently Senator Feinstein argued against protectionist tariffs on Chinese goods, an effort pushed by Senators Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham in June 2005.

danwei.org/breaking_news/…
The managing director of Newbridge Capital back in 1997 was Peter Kwok, who served as a consultant to a subsidiary of the China Ocean Shipping Corporation known as Cosco Hong Kong Holdings, Ltd..

sfgate.com/news/article/F…
Peter Kwok currently seems to have an addiction to buying Bordeaux vineyard estates, having purchased 7 by March 2016. He began purchasing these in 1997.

Kwok's business partners in the 2016 purchase were Jean-Christophe Meyrou and Philippe Lambrecht.

decanter.com/wine-news/asia…
Here is a good timeline of events between San Francisco and Shanghai from 1980 to 2005.

fogcityjournal.com/news_in_brief/…
Between November 25 to December 4, 2005, a delegation travelled to China in celebration of the Sister-City Committee, with Senator Feinstein, Mayor Gavin Newsom, Dr. Glenn Rice, Richard Stanley, Thomas S. Wu and others being participants.

fogcityjournal.com/news_in_brief/…
In June 1996, Senator Feinstein and Rep. Nancy Pelosi argued over how to handle China's relations with the US, with China's most favoured nation being extended by Pres. Clinton earlier.

California was responsible for 11% of US goods exported to China.

sfgate.com/news/article/F…
That'll do for now.
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