Members of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration held discussions on trade cooperation with Chinese officials on Monday ahead of the anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s Tiananmen Square massacre, according to documents obtained by National Review.
The meeting was reportedly held days before the 36th anniversary of Tiananmen Square during the China-California Business Forum, an annual summit hosted by the Chinese consulate general offering local and state politicians an opportunity to network with their Chinese equivalents, according to National Review. The schedule available to the public describes a smaller session as a “private bilateral meeting,” and the outlet reported that a copy of the meeting guidelines titled the get-together as a “Bilateral Meeting of China Provinces and U.S. California Joint Working Group on Trade and Investment Cooperation.”
“Governor Newsom has earned the pole position as Xi Jinping’s leading man in the United States,” founder and CEO of State Armor Michael Lucci told National Review. “California’s leadership undermines America’s broader national security by prioritizing engagement with Chinese entities that are back-stopped by China’s military, intelligence, and influence networks over building resilient supply chains with American treaty allies.”
“It’s unfathomable how California imagines it upholds liberal values by engaging a regime involved in genocide, environmental degradation, party state, ethnocentrism, and general belligerence around the globe,” Lucci added.
The California Joint Working Group on Trade and Investment Cooperation was established in 2012 under former Democratic California Gov. Jerry Brown to expand economic collaboration with China, according to National Review.
Meeting materials reportedly state that only invited members of the working group and “select representatives” are attending the smaller session, though the specific participants were not listed, according to National Review.
California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin attended the forum and delivered remarks for the event’s opening ceremony, according to National Review. The California State Transportation Agency confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation that Omishakin only attended the main event.
Other attendees of the forum included Christine Peterson, who works on international trade issues for Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, according to National Review and Xinhua, an official news agency for the Chinese government. Chinese Consul General in Los Angeles Guo Shaochun described the forum as “an important platform for policy dialogue, business networking, economic and trade cooperation, as well as people-to-people exchanges between China and California,” according to Xinhua.
Senior state government officials have attended the event in previous years, such as Newsom’s top deputy, California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who met with the vice governor of Jiangsu province at the 2023 forum, according to National Review.
The event was sponsored by Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD, EY, the China General Chamber of Commerce USA and several Chinese airlines and banks, as well as government entities like the China National Tourist Office and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, according to National Review.
Newsom has deepened California’s ties to China, visiting the country in October 2023 to focus on “climate action and partnership between two of the world’s largest economies” and welcoming Chinese leader Xi Jinping to San Francisco for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit the following month.
“The State of California has signed multiple Memorandums of Understanding with Chinese national and provincial governments, which advance shared work on climate policy,” a spokesperson for the California State Transportation Agency wrote to the DCNF. “Given the size of our respective economies, efforts to reduce carbon emissions in California and China would have notable impact, so it is appropriate that California and China collaborate to advance climate goals.”
Newsom’s office, Bass’s office and the Chinese Embassy did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
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