Amid strained US ties, China finds unlikely friend in Utah (2/3)
ALAN SUDERMAN and SAM METZ
Mon, March 27, 2023 at 12:08 a.m. PDT
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‘UTAH IS NOT LIKE WASHINGTON D.C.’
The AP found groups of up to 25 Utah lawmakers routinely took trips to China every other year since 2007. Lawmakers have partially used campaign donations to pay for the trade missions and cultural exchanges, while relying on China and host organizations to pay for other expenses.
On the trips, they’ve forged relationships with government officials and were quoted in Chinese state-owned media in ways that support Beijing’s agenda.
In an interview last month with the AP, Hughes said the trips to China made him “bullish” about the country and prospects of improving trade. However, he said he now believes the visits were pretexts for Chinese officials to influence him and other lawmakers.
“It’s a trip not worth taking,” Hughes said.
Utah doesn’t require public officials to report in detail their foreign travel or personal finances, so it’s difficult to determine lawmaker’s financial ties to China. Some of Utah’s most pro-China legislators, however, have China-related personal business connections.
Sen. Curt Bramble told Courthouse News Service last year that his role as a part-time legislator and as a business consultant sometimes overlap and that he “had clients in China — a dozen at times — some of them on legislative tours, some on consulting.”
In an interview with AP, Bramble said none of his clients are based in China; they only do business there. He declined to name them.
Bramble, a Republican who represents a conservative district, also rejected fears of undue Chinese influence in Utah.
“China’s not going anywhere. China’s going to be a world force. They’re going to be a player for the foreseeable future and trying to understand what that implies for the United States or for the state of Utah and get a concept of that seems to be a valuable endeavor,” he said.
TIES FORGED BY TWO UTAH RESIDENTS
Many of the Utah-China ties have been forged by two state residents with links to the Chinese government or to organizations that experts say are alleged front groups for China, including its civilian spy agency, the AP found.
The two men advocated for and against resolutions, set up meetings between Utah lawmakers and Chinese officials, accompanied legislators on trips to China and provided advice on the best way to cultivate favor with Beijing, according to emails and interviews.
In reviewing the AP’s findings, legal experts said the men’s connections with Chinese officials suggest that they should register with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, known as FARA. The law generally requires anyone who works on behalf of a foreign entity to influence lawmakers or public perception, but its scope is the subject of significant debate and enforcement has been uneven.
“If I were representing either of these individuals, I would have significant concerns about FARA exposure,” said Joshua Ian Rosenstein, an attorney who handles such matters.
One of the men, Taowen Le, has championed China to religious and political leaders in Utah for decades. Le, a Chinese citizen, moved to Utah in the 1980s and has been a professor of information technology at Weber State University since 1998. Le converted in 1990 to the Mormon faith.
From 2003 through 2017, Le had another job -- as a paid representative of China’s Liaoning provincial government. Provincial governments are largely controlled by Beijing and Liaoning has had a longstanding “sister” relationship with Utah.
Le’s advocacy continued after he said he left Liaoning’s payroll, emails and interviews show. He has frequently forwarded messages from Chinese government officials to Utah lawmakers and helped the Chinese Embassy set up meetings with state officials.
After embassy officials tried unsuccessfully last year to get staff for Utah Gov. Spencer Cox to schedule a get-together with China’s ambassador to the U.S., Le sent the governor a personal plea to take the meeting.
“I still remember and cherish what you told me at the New Year Party held at your home,” Le wrote in a letter adorned with pictures of him and Cox posing together. “You told me that you trusted me to be a good messenger and friendship builder between Utah and China.”
State Senate President Stuart Adams turned to Le when Utah was scrambling to obtain large quantities of drugs that Adams thought could be used as potential treatment against the coronavirus in early 2020, emails and interviews show.
Le, who belongs to the same congregation as Adams, said in an email to another lawmaker that he was able to get the Chinese Embassy to assign two staffers to work “tirelessly” on the request until it was fulfilled.
RELIGIOUS SALES PITCH
A hallmark of Le’s approach is to utilize his religion in his pitches to lawmakers. He quoted scripture from the Bible and the Book of Mormon in his emails, text messages and letters, and sprinkled in positive comments that Russell Nelson, the church’s president-prophet, has made about China.
Chinese officials have tried to cultivate friendly ties with the church. When visiting Utah, China's diplomats and officials often meet top church members as well as lawmakers, emails and other records show.
Expanding to China has been a top goal for the church, which plays a heavy role in Utah politics and the state's overall identity. Many of the state’s residents lived abroad as missionaries, and several of Utah’s public schools have robust K-12 Chinese immersion programs.
While the church has historically been an outspoken advocate for religious freedom, Le sought to stop Utah lawmakers from supporting religious figures or groups discriminated against by the Chinese government.
When a Utah lawmaker sponsored a resolution in 2021 condemning China’s well-documented and brutal crackdown of its minority Muslim Uighurs, Le chastised the legislator in text messages and compared unflattering media coverage of the Chinese government to that of the church’s founder, Joseph Smith Jr.
“Pray to God and seek guidance from the Holy Spirit as you ponder about these issues instead of solely relying on those biased media reports,” Le said.
The resolution failed that year and a similar one introduced in January did not receive a hearing.
(to be continued)
Translation
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“猶他州不像華盛頓特區”
美聯社發現，自 2007 年以來，多達 25 名猶他州立法者每隔一年定期前往中國。立法者使用競選捐款去支付部分貿易代表團及文化交流的費用，同時依靠中國和東道國組織支付其他費用。
在這些旅行中，他們與政府官員建立了關係，並被中國國有媒體引用他們以展示北京的議題受到支持。
當時的猶他州眾議院議長 Greg Hughes 是前總統特朗普的直言支持者，他在 2018 年對中國官方媒體表示“猶他州不像華盛頓特區”，當時前總統在貿易問題上加大了對北京的壓力。 “猶他州是中國的朋友，是有悠長歷史的老朋友。”
在上個月接受美聯社採訪時，Hughes表示，中國之行讓他 “看好” 中國和改善貿易的前景。 不過他說他現在認為這些訪問是中國官員影響他和其他立法者的藉口。
Hughes說: “這是一次不值得去的行程” 。
猶他州不要求公職人員詳細報告他們的國外旅行或個人財務狀況，因此很難確定立法者與中國的財務關係。 然而，猶他州一些最親華的立法者與中國有商業關係。
參議員 Curt Bramble 去年告訴 Courthouse News Service，他作為兼職立法者和商業顧問的角色有時會重疊，而且他有 “在中國有客戶 - 有時有十幾個 - 他們的一些人關於立法上的觀光，一些人尋求諮詢服務 ” 。
在接受美聯社採訪時，Bramble 說他的客戶都不是在中國； 他們只在那裡做生意。 他拒絕透露他們的名字。
代表保守派選區的共和黨人Bramble, 也不認同對中國在猶他州施加不當影響的擔憂。
他說:“中國不會朝向其他方向。 中國將成為世界強國。 他們將在可預見的未來成為一名參與者，去試圖了解這對美國或猶他州意味著什麼，並得到一個概念似乎是一項有價值的嘗試” 。
由兩個猶他州居民建立的關係
美聯社發現，許多猶他州與中國的關係是由兩個州居民建立的。他們與中國政府,或據專家稱是中國幌子的組織有聯繫，包括其民間間諜機構。
根據電子郵件和採訪，這兩個人提倡支持或反對決議，安排猶他州立法者與中國官員會面，陪同立法者訪問中國，並就贏得北京好感的最佳方式提供建議。
在審查美聯社的調查結果時，法律專家表示，這些人與中國官員的關係表明，他們應該根據《外國代理人登記法》(FARA) 向司法部登記。 法律通常涵蓋任何為外國工作去影響立法者或公眾的看法的人，但其範圍是重大爭論的主題，而且法律執行情況參差不齊。
處理此類事務的律師Joshua Ian Rosenstein 說: “如果我代表這些人中的任何一個，我會非常擔心曝光於 FARA” 。
數十年來，其中一位名叫Taowen Le的人一直向猶他州的宗教和政治領袖宣傳中國。 Le 是中國公民，於 1980 年代移居猶他州，自 1998 年起擔任韋伯州立大學信息技術教授。Le 於 1990 年皈依摩門教。
從 2003 年到 2017 年，Le有另一份工作- 作為中國遼寧省政府的帶薪代表。 省級政府主要由北京控制，遼寧與猶他州有著長期的 “姐妹” 關係。
Le在他不再收取遼寧的工資後, 仍在繼續宣傳、電子郵件和訪談節目證明這點。 他經常將中國政府官員的信息轉發給猶他州立法者，並幫助中國大使館安排與州官員的會面。
大使館官員去年曾試圖讓猶他州州長Spencer Cox 的工作人員安排與中國駐美國大使的會面，但沒有成功，Le向州長發出了請求親自參加會面。
Le 在一封提供著他和Cox合影相的信中寫道: “我仍然記得並珍惜你在家中舉行的新年晚會上告訴我的話”; “你告訴我，你相信我會成為猶他州和中國之間的優秀使者和友誼建設者。”
電子郵件和採訪顯示，在 2020 年初, 當猶他州參議院議長Stuart Adams正忙於想獲得大量他認為可用作潛在治療冠狀病毒的藥物時，Adams求助於Le。
與Adams屬於同一教會的Le在給另一位立法者的電子郵件中說，他能夠讓中國大使館指派兩名工作人員“孜孜不倦”地完成要求，直到完成。
宗教推銷腔
Le的一個特式是, 在向立法者推銷時, 利用他的宗教信仰。 他在電子郵件、短信和信件中引用聖經和摩爾門經中的經文，並散佈教會主席兼先知Russell Nelson對中國的正面評價。
電子郵件和其他記錄顯示, 中國官員試圖與教會培養友好關係。中國外交官和官員訪問猶他州時，經常會見頂級教會成員以及立法者。
向中國擴張一直是該教會的首要目標，這在該教會在猶他州政治, 和該州的整體形像中扮演著重要角色。 該州的許多居民居住在國外作為傳教士，猶他州的幾所公立學校擁有強大的 K-12 中文浸入式課程。
雖然教會歷來一直是宗教自由的直言不諱的倡導者，但Le試圖阻止猶他州立法者, 去支持受到中國政府歧視的宗教人物或團體。
當一位猶他州立法者在 2021 年發起一項決議案，譴責中國對其少數民族維吾爾族穆斯林進行有據可查的殘酷鎮壓時，Le在短信中批評了這位立法者，並將媒體對中國政府的不友好報導與教會創始人Joseph Smith Jr.的報導相提並論。
Le 說, “在思考這些問題時，向上帝祈禱並尋求聖靈的引導，而不是僅僅依靠那些有偏見的媒體報導” 。
當年該決議當年未獲通過，而1
月份提出的類似決議也沒有獲得聽證。
（待續）
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