Red Chinese Celebrate At New York Stock Exchange
By Cliff Kincaid
January 8, 2008
Henry Kissinger made headlines on January 5 by proclaiming Barack Obama to be the architect of a "New World Order." He told CNBC that "His task will be to develop an overall strategy for America in this period when, really, a new world order can be created. It's a great opportunity, it isn't just a crisis." (web site) But even more important than this eye-opening statement was where Kissinger made it - the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Kissinger, a former Secretary of State, was alongside Stephen Orlins, president of the U.S. National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, and two Chinese officials, as Orlins rang the market bell and declared (web site) that the 45 Chinese companies with a market capitalization of $802 billion that are listed on the NYSE were "emblematic of the economic integration of the two countries."
The opening bell event, which is seen by 100 million viewers on CNBC and other media outlets around the world, illustrates a point in Bill Gertz's new book, The Failure Factory, which declares that "Beijing's influence on the U.S. Government is so pervasive that most Americans remain entirely ignorant of the danger." Gertz, a defense and national security reporter for the Washington Times, describes Kissinger as a lobbyist who exerts "enormous influence on U.S. leaders" and a source of multiple "misguided policies" that benefit China and other U.S. adversaries.
In a chapter titled, "The Sellout of Former Officials," Kissinger is given a special section because of his influence with Chinese officials that benefits U.S. corporations.
But Gertz is not alone in raising concern about the U.S.-China relationship. The 2008 annual report (web site) of the U.S.-China Security and Economic Review Commission found that, "Since China joined the WTO [World Trade Organization] in 2001, the United States has accumulated a $1.16-trillion goods deficit with China and, as a result of the persistent trade imbalance, by August 2008 China had accumulated nearly $2 trillion in foreign currency reserves. China's trade relationship with the United States continues to be severely unbalanced."
The commission also found that "The significant expansion of the Chinese government's involvement in the international economy in general and in the U.S. economy in particular has concerned many economists and government officials due to uncertainty about the Chinese government's and the Chinese Communist Party's motivations, strategies, and possible impacts on market stability and national security."
Corporate members of the U.S. National Committee on U.S.-China Relations are not named on the group's website. But they are said to "find that association with the National Committee is often helpful in their own dealings with Chinese authorities and it provides avenues to articulate policy concerns."
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