Thread by @JewhadiTM

Today: Mattis failed to disclose his role with global consultant tied to China in bombshell column m.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/nov/…

https://twitter.com/jewhaditm/status/1331683350759792642

A media-celebrated @ForeignAffairs column this week by former Defense Sec James Mattis blasting President Trump’s “America First” theme did not disclose that Mr. Mattis holds a senior position at The Cohen Group, which dedicates itself to making business deals in communist China.

Mr. Trump’s get-tough approach toward China — tariffs and prohibitions on Beijing’s cyber products —is generally counter to The Cohen Group’s objective of bringing China and U.S. companies together in multi-million dollar deals.

The Cohen Group, founded by former Defense Secretary William Cohen and staffed by a number of former high-ranking government and military leaders, has two of its four overseas offices in China.

Mr. Mattis’s Nov. 23 Foreign Affairs article’s thoughts resemble the Obama administration’s China approach. It could be a window into how alleged President-elect Biden pulls back from President Trump’s hardline.

Mr. Mattis is identified in his column as a former defense secretary and fellow at the Hoover Institution, but not as a senior counselor at The Cohen Group global consulting firm in Washington.

In the article Mr. Mattis rejects @SecPompeo’s campaign of rallying Asian countries against China’s drive for dominance.

Mr. Mattis does not mention China’s declared economic war against U.S. ally Australia in retaliation for Canberra calling for an international investigation into the origins of the coronavirus in China.

China has yet to explain and document exactly how the pandemic began in the city of Wuhan, from where the germ spread throughout the world, killing hundreds of thousands.

Mr. Mattis wrote, in a broad indictment of Mr. Trump’s foreign policy.

The Cohn Group announced Mr. Mattis’ hiring in September 2019 as a “senior counselor,” calling him a “national treasure.”

“China is a market of enormous opportunity and complexity,” The consultancy states. “The Cohen Group’s (TCG) China Practice has a solid record of success with professionals in offices in Beijing, Tianjin and Washington, DC.”

The FBI has opened numerous counter-intelligence probes into Chinese nationals. It estimates that China has broken into computer networks and stolen the personal information of half the American population.

The Trump administration shut down a Chinese consulate in Houston, Texas, calling it nothing more than an intelligence collection hub. Mr. Trump has blocked U.S. businesses from doing deals with Chinese companies supporting the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

It has called China’s telecommunications giant Huawei a spying tool. He has required China’s propaganda arms in the U.S. to register as foreign agents rather than continue operations as journalists.

Mr. Pompeo and congressional Republicans have accused China of covering up the coronavirus outbreak by telling the world initially that it was not contagious as Chinese travelers arrived in the U.S. and Europe where the virus went on to infect millions.

As vice president Mr. Biden was the Obama administration’s point man on China while his son, Hunter Biden, engaged in networking with Chinese billionaires. He eventually worked out multimillion-dollar deals for himself and uncle James Biden.

A Senate Republican report documented the flow of cash based on Treasury Department suspicious activity reports (SARS) filed by lending institutions because they suspected illegality such as money laundering.

In 2011, Mr. Biden delivered a speech in China as Hunter was making business contacts there, promising to integrate China into American life.

“In order to cement this robust partnership, we have to go beyond close ties between Washington and Beijing, which we’re working on every day, go beyond it to include all levels of government, go beyond it to include classrooms, and laboratories, authentic fields and boardrooms.”

.@JoeBiden returned to China in 2013 with Hunter onboard Air Force 2.