China and the United States are not on the best of terms. We are significant trade partners, yes, but China has been flexing its muscles in the Western Pacific, making more noise about Taiwan, and getting more bellicose and pushy in general. 

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Now we see that a branch of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is recruiting American graduate students at Columbia University to attend something called a "Green Development for a Sustainable Future" symposium, for which the CCP proposes to provide an all-expense (except international airfare) paid, weeklong trip to China for these kids. 

The question is, what does China think they have to gain by doing this? Friday, on X, National Review National Security Correspondent Jummy Quinn laid out what he has uncovered:

New: China’s Communist Youth League tried to recruit graduate students from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs and, likely, other institutions, to participate in a week-long junket trip to China.

The stated theme is “Green Development for a Sustainable… pic.twitter.com/VAylnomdZC

— Jimmy Quinn (@james_t_quinn) June 7, 2024

Here are a couple of key points:

The stated theme is “Green Development for a Sustainable Future: Responsibilities and Actions of Chinese and U.S. Youths.” But the purpose of this program is almost certainly to co-opt up-and-coming American policy makers.  

The Communist Youth League, via the All-China Youth Federation (a united front agency it controls), covered all expenses, except for international airfare to reach China. 

It's important to note that everything in China is controlled by the CCP, to some extent, while this Communist Youth League can certainly be considered to be a branch of the CCP itself. This is an organization that trains China's next generation of Communists, and Mr. Quinn makes a good point in noting that they may be looking to recruit American youths to their cause - which is not America's:

I obtained promotional materials related to the trip, including a detailed itinerary. 

The program began today, with a visit to a Chinese-government State Key Laboratory in Chengdu. There will also be site visits at companies and locations of ecological significance throughout the week, including Chengdu’s Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. 

This is, of course, a naked propaganda exercise.

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What is particularly interesting about all this is the CCP's selling it as some kind of symposium on "green energy" and "sustainability." The CCP has shown little interest in either in recent years; they talk a good game, but China is one of the dirtiest countries in the world, and they are building coal-fired power plants with abandon. Their vaunted electric vehicles are exploding. In effect, when it comes to "green" energy, the CCP's mouth is writing checks its butt can't cash.

So, why invite a bunch of American kids to visit China with this pretext? 

This supposed symposium is based on a topic that will catch the attention of a lot of affluent American young skulls full of mush - of which Columbia University has a surfeit. The CCP has been doing plenty of intelligence-gathering in the United States to know this. The CCP's goal here is almost certainly recruitment. They see Columbia's student body as including more than the usual share of people who will one day hold positions of authority in the U.S., and want to establish a rapport with those people now, while they are still, well, malleable. 

Unfortunately, there's no easy legal way to prevent these kids from going on this junket. But we should be aware that this is going on, and remember that China has, is and always will do what is in China's best interest, not ours.