Just weeks after the Republican National Committee formally rebuked China, prominent GOP activist Saul Anuzis has been kicking up a firestorm inside his party by soliciting current and former officials to travel with him to Beijing on a junket paid by the communist government there.
“I’m not getting paid, and I expect to have fun,” Mr. Anuzis, a former Michigan state party chairman, told The Washington Times.
Some of his colleagues don’t see the fun, fearing the trip sends a mixed message so soon after the RNC last month unanimously approved a resolution chastising China, formally known as the People’s Republic of China, for aggressive and anti-American behavior around the globe.
“You need to know that this trip is being paid for by the Communist Chinese Government,” prominent Kansas audiologist Helen Van Etten wrote in a letter to her fellow RNC members. “I am deeply concerned that this trip is sending the wrong political message to China, especially in light of the resolution we passed.”
Corralling GOP bigwigs for the trip was Mr. Anuzis’ idea, which he took to the Chinese.
“I was invited to a reception with Ambassador [Cui Tiankai] over a year ago at the embassy and had a discussion with some of his staff about bringing Republican Party leaders over for one of their trips,” Mr. Anuzis said. “They liked the idea and asked if I would help organize it. I said ’yes.’”
The trip debate falls against a global backdrop that has some wondering whether the U.S. is entering an era like the Cold War.
President Obama has dispatched 200 “peacekeeping” troops to help neutralize a Russian threat in Ukraine that has many former Soviet bloc countries worried about Moscow’s aggression. The U.S. says China recently harassed American planes and ships, and communist North Korea is making nuclear threats on an almost monthly basis.
Also annoying to some Republican officials was the Chinese government’s labeling of the trip as a “people to people” venture, hearkening some of the language of the communist movement.
“I understand Mr. Anuzis’ desire to organize former and current RNC members’ ’people to people’ exchange trips to China on behalf of the Chinese government,” said Oregon RNC member Solomon Yue, who escaped from Chinese communism, became a U.S. citizen and earned a master’s degree in business administration.
“However, China’s ’people to people’ exchange trips are not being conducted in America’s national interest,” Mr. Yue said. “We would rather see China become more respectful of international law and less provocative in international airspace and waters.”
Americans have long struggled with the riddle of communist China, chafing at its secretive, tightly controlled authoritarian government while finding its 1.3 billion consumers irresistible for business expansion.
But the China that Richard Nixon opened to diplomatic relations in the 1970s and the one menacing U.S. military jets and warships today are far different.
The United States owes China more than $1 trillion in debt and has been eclipsed by it as the world’s largest exporter. China’s military has become so strong as to prompt warnings from American military commanders in the Pacific. Hackers in China are constant sources of cyberattacks against U.S. government and business interests.
The RNC has been cultivating ties with the democratically governed, independent Republic of China on the island of Taiwan.
The communist government in Beijing, however, regards Taiwan and its people as part of mainland China and has promised reunification as soon as possible, regardless of the desires of the Taiwanese.
Mr. Anuzis said his trip is no big deal. He is trying to set it up for sometime next year and plans to take “five or six folks.”
“The purpose is relationship building, the normal stuff they do with people-to-people programs and exchanges,” said Mr. Anuzis, who dismissed criticism of his efforts as “silly.”
“This is a private trip and has nothing to do with the RNC,” he said. “It’s not RNC-sanctioned and has no policy implications.”
He said “tens of thousands of Americans visit China annually, many of them on various people-to-people exchanges that are funded by the Chinese government or related organizations.”
Mr. Anuzis is adamant that there are no foreign policy or other implications to his actions on behalf of the Beijing government.
“I am not organizing the trip or playing tour guide,” Mr. Anuzis said.
“I’m sure thousands of Republicans at every level attend these and other trips annually.”
• Ralph Z. Hallow can be reached at rhallow@gmail.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.