Bush Family Scion Sponsors Event With Blacklisted Chinese Company

[Ubiquitous]

A scion of the Bush family is lending his influence and family name to
boost a Chinese government contractor blacklisted by the U.S.
government for its links to the Chinese military.

Neil Bush, the son of President George H.W. Bush, is a cosponsor of the
International Symposium on the Peaceful Use of Space Technology that
begins Nov. 18 in Beijing. Three co-chairmen of the forum are
executives with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
(CASC), a state-controlled contractor that builds China's military and
space equipment. A subsidiary of CASC reportedly developed a hypersonic
missile that the Chinese military tested in August. American officials
called the nuclear-capable missile a "national security crisis" because
of its ability to evade detection.

Bush's sponsorship of the space symposium adds a veneer of
respectability to the event amid growing concerns about China's
increasingly aggressive military and space activities. The Trump and
Biden administrations have prohibited American companies from doing
business with CASC because of its position in the Chinese military-
industrial apparatus. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which
tracks China's military activities, rates CASC a "very high risk" to
foreign nations' security because of its links to China's military and
intelligence services.

Bush has extensive business ties in China and has worked closely with
some of the country's propaganda organizations. He chairs the George
H.W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations, which is cosponsoring
the space symposium. The Bush Foundation received $5 million in funding
in 2019 from the China-United States Exchange Foundation, a leading
think tank in the Communist Party's propaganda network. Bush's business
partner, the Chinese real estate investor Wang Tianyi, is executive
chairman of the space symposium.

"Bush is basically a power broker. He's an access point for the Chinese
to leverage," said Brandon Weichert, a space security analyst and
author of the book Winning Space.

Weichert said the space symposium follows "the classic Chinese model"
of using academic and business forums to recruit experts and investors
in the West.

"One of their big missions is to get Western talent and investment to
come to China to do cutting-edge research and development," Weichert
told the Washington Free Beacon.

A spokeswoman for the Bush-China Foundation said they are not concerned
by CASC's links to the Chinese military, saying that the symposium will
focus on the development of space technology for use in the health care
industry.

"We are not concerned because it is not relevant to the content of this
particular conference, which is unrelated to China's military and is
instead focused on global space technological advancements and rules-
setting," said Leslie Reagan, the communications director for the
Bush-China Foundation.

Reagan said that Bush does not have a financial interest in the space
symposium and that neither he nor the foundation are paid to take part
in the event.

Bush is also linked to China-focused think tanks with ties to business
leaders and the Biden administration. In 2019, Bush served as an
honorary vice chairman of the annual gala for the National Committee on
U.S.-China Relations, a think tank that facilitates dialogue between
American and Chinese leaders. High-level Biden officials擁ncluding CIA
director William Burns, National Security Council official Kurt
Campbell, Ambassador Nicholas Burns, climate envoy John Kerry, and
State Department deputy secretary Wendy Sherman耀erved as vice chairs
for the gala alongside Bush.

American policymakers disagree about whether the United States should
collaborate with China on space exploration, with critics expressing
concern that China would steal technology from their American
counterparts. Some in President Joe Biden's orbit have urged
cooperation between the United States and China on space research,
including NASA administrator Bill Nelson.

"We should collaborate, no doubt about it," Bush said about the space
symposium in a recent interview with the Center for China and
Globalization, a Communist Party-linked think tank.

There is some indication that the organizers of the space symposium
concealed the CASC officials' links to the organization. An itinerary
for the symposium lists the officials' affiliations with various
international space organizations. But a review conducted by the Free
Beacon shows the officials邑u Yansheng, Yuan Jie, and Yang Baohua耀erve
as chairman, president, and vice president of CASC, respectively.

The China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics, a CASC subsidiary,
reportedly launched a hypersonic missile in August, the Financial Times
reported. Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
called the test "very concerning" and said it shows China is "expanding
rapidly in space, in cyber and then in the traditional domains of land,
sea and air." The Chinese missile, which surpasses American technology,
cannot be detected by radar. It has raised concerns in some circles
that China is developing war plans, or may use its military might to
invade Taiwan.

"We do not have at present either the capability to reliably track that
attack or to put up a reliable defense against a Chinese hypersonic
attack," Weichert, the space security expert, told the Free Beacon.

In addition to his business interests in China, Bush has been one of
Beijing's biggest defenders against allegations of human rights abuses.
Chinese state-controlled media have used some of his remarks in their
propaganda efforts, such as his criticism in 2019 of Hong Kong's pro-
democracy protests. Bush dismissed protesters' complaints about a
Communist Party-backed national security law and questioned whether the
U.S. government was propping up pro-democracy demonstrations. The
Chinese government has since used the law to arrest dissenters and shut
down news organizations that criticize it.

An organizer for the event did not respond to questions.

--
Let's go Brandon!