The George H.W. Bush Foundation for U.S.-China Relations agreed to accept $5 million from a group with ties to the Chinese Communist Party and China's international propaganda efforts, according to a report Saturday.
The group, which was founded by Neil Bush, a brother to former President George W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, goes by the name Bush China Foundation for short. Its goal, according to its website, is to build "a constructive relationship" between the U.S. and China.
But a written agreement published by Axios reveals that the Bush China Foundation agreed in 2019 to accept $5 million over five years from the China-United States Exchange Foundation, an organization that's been criticized as a key part of China's international propaganda efforts.
"We are proud of our partnership with CUSEF and deeply appreciative of CUSEF’s generous support," Leslie Reagan, a spokesperson for the Bush China Foundation, said, according to Axios. "(T)he Bush China Foundation has staked out a very strong independent posture on virtually all of the major issues in the U.S.-China relationship; in the process, we have frequently leveled sharp criticism of Chinese policies and actions when we believe that has been merited."
The written agreement published by Axios notably stipulates that the grant does not obligate the Bush China Foundation to take any positions on any issues and that all Bush China Foundation decisions will be made "at its sole discretion."
CUSEF presents itself as an independent nonprofit. But according to the right-leaning, hawkish Jamestown Foundation, it functions essentially as a front group for the Chinese Communist Party.
CUSEF's chairman is also the vice-chairman of another group that is "a patriotic united front organization of the Chinese people, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party."
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