Posted on 03/27/2023 8:59:23 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
When I opened up my newsfeed this morning, I almost immediately spotted a headline from the AP that made me wonder if I was still asleep and experiencing some sort of dystopian dream from an alternate reality. The title was, “China finds an unlikely friend in Utah.” Huh? At first, I assumed that this was yet another story of the Chinese buying up land in rural portions of the United States, such as they’ve done in North Dakota and Oklahoma. But while there may be some of that happening, what China really seems to be buying in Utah is influence. And they’ve been surprisingly successful at it. Possibly even stranger is the report that the Mormon Church is somehow involved in all of this.
China’s global campaign to win friends and influence policy has blossomed in a surprising place: Utah, a deeply religious and conservative state with few obvious ties to the world’s most powerful communist country.
An investigation by the Associated Press has found that China and its U.S.-based advocates spent years building relationships with the state’s officials and lawmakers. Those efforts have paid dividends at home and abroad, the AP found: Lawmakers delayed legislation Beijing didn’t like, nixed resolutions that conveyed displeasure with its actions and expressed support in ways that enhanced the Chinese government’s image.
It’s not as if China is trying to keep this secret. A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington responded to a reporter’s question by saying that China “values its relationship with Utah.” He went on to say that anyone who questioned or “smeared” Beijing’s relationship with Utah is “driven by ulterior political purposes.”
According to the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, China has been doing this for quite a while. They have been cultivating relationships with state and local officials in the United States in an effort to groom them. If they rise up further in the ranks, they will then be ready to “take a call and advocate on behalf of Beijing’s agenda.”
Beijing gained a lot of traction in Utah over the past couple of decades. They were able to open “Confucius Institutes” at some of Utah’s top state colleges. When an effort to close them down began, “Chinese-friendly” state lawmakers worked to stall the legislation, though they were eventually closed. In 2020, a class of Utah fourth-grade students send cards to Xi Jinping wishing him a happy Chinese new year. Xi responded with a message sent directly back to the students, thanking them and encouraging them to become “young ‘ambassadors’ for Sino-American friendship.”
How the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ties into the picture is less clear. One person convicted of spying for the Chinese a few years ago told undercover investigators that he had been baptized in the church as an adult and had been traveling there often to meet with local officials. Others suggested that plying the church with donations was a good strategy because so many state and local leaders are members of the church.
All of this information brings the picture of what’s been going on between China and Biden Incorporated into sharper focus. How long did China spend “grooming” Hunter Biden and his business partners with millions of dollars for “positions” Hunter had absolutely no qualifications to hold? And now they have “the Big Guy” in the Oval Office.
We’ve been spending a lot of time fixating on China’s expanding military capabilities and the possibility that they might cross the Strait of Taiwan. Perhaps we should have been watching what was going on in our own backyard more closely.
Mormons are greedy authoritarians. Their only beef with communism is that it’s not run by the Mormon Church.
Maybe they just want China to allow their Missionaries to freely proselytize in China without being harrassed.
Isn’t the NSA’s computerized data center in Utah?
Selling out America to gain traction in China is exactly what Big Tech and Big Manufacturing have done.
How’s that working out?
Part of the process of the world uniting behind Satan.
Ditto that.
DONE with morons. I mean mormons. Or do I? I tiptoed around their stupid beliefs for years. I’m sick of this. This is treason. And before we break out the definitions (I know words mean things) Washington, Jefferson and Franklin would agree. What does moron convert Glenn Beck think when he sees things like this in his leadership?
They’re a crazy cult with their own agenda. Who knows what they’ll do?
MONEY.
The fact that Mutt Romney and Harry Reid are/were such prominent Mormons should tell you all you need to know about Mormon ethics.
Mike Lee, Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney, Evan “Egg” McMuffin.... Mormons have two weaknesses, money and souls. Patriotism for America is down the list.
Probably a hold over from the days when the US saw them as a threat and more or less brought them into the union at gunpoint. Their original concept was to create their own nation out there.
Huntsman SPEAKS Chinese....
I kind of remember him being in the news quite a few years ago and a subject of FR talk. I don’t recall who was Pres. then. He seemed alright to me but he was just an ambassador then IIRC.
Haven’t heard about him since.
Yep - money. (And it says that in the article).
Money to Hunter - money to Mormons, as long as it gets them into the ring of influence. I wonder if anyone will ever investigate China’s influence on Gov. Inslee (WA) as he continues his radical plans for “clean” energy, gun bans, etc. Lots of Chinese moving into Western Washington.
They’re buying U.S. land, and financing it with U.S. debt. This cannot end well for us.
China is the largest holder of our government paper, and they’re cashing it in, by buying tangible goods in the U.S. We’ll be holding the bag, when the music stops.
Japan actually hold more debt than China. China is #2.
I think you have it just about right.
On the other hand, the State Legislature is as corrupt a Republican dominated Legislature as most in the USA. They are full of Republican’s many of whom are Church members, that vote like democrats.
Perhaps with apologies to democrat Legislatures that actually vote like Democrats.
Do not forget the name “Bluffdale”. It points directly to the Utah Legislature. If I am not mistaken the Legislature was part of the approval process for getting it done. The water needed to cool the massive computers needed to process everything we say and do is huge. There were many that took issue with that idea and even a few against it altogether.
That said, I haven’t found an article to support my contention that the Legislature was involved, but in light of what’s going on they certainly should have been.
Here are two articles on the subject:
https://fru.truthout.org/articles/utah-tries-where-congress-fails-to-keep-nsa-within-constitution/
https://www.wired.com/2014/06/bluffdale/
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