Biden Administration Teamed Up with Pro-Beijing Executive for Anti-Asian-Bias Conference

T he Department of Homeland Security teamed up with the Asian American Foundation (TAAF), an organization co-founded by Joseph Tsai, the Alibaba executive and Brooklyn Nets owner who has defended the Chinese Communist Party’s assault on democracy in Hong Kong, to produce a virtual conference last month on anti-Asian hate crimes.

The detail is significant, considering that speakers at the October 26 panel discussion on “How Misinformation Fueled the Rise in Anti-AAPI Targeted Violence” blamed a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes on U.S. actions in response to Chinese-government misconduct. One of those panelists was a fellow from the Quincy Institute, a controversial think tank that urged the Biden administration to prioritize cooperation with Beijing on climate change and global public health this year as part of a coalition involving at least one outwardly pro–Chinese Communist Party activist group.

Later, after National Review asked the State Department about the panelist’s claim that Foggy Bottom was phasing out the term “malign influence” to refer to China’s actions, a YouTube video of the event was taken down. It’s unclear whether those involved in the panel played any role in that decision. (Read more on that here.)

Tsai is one of the biggest backers — if not the single biggest — of TAAF, which launched in May. As part of that splashy launch, TAAF announced a list of prominent supporters across the worlds of business, public policy, and media. During an appearance on CNBC to discuss the $250 million initiative, Tsai said the nonprofit group is a response to the increase in anti-Asian hate crimes that has taken place throughout the COVID pandemic. The organization has issued grants to a number of groups involved in advocating for Asian Americans, such as Stop AAPI Hate, an activist coalition that blames a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes on U.S. policy decisions taken to counter Beijing but that opposes increased policing.

During Tsai’s CNBC interview, he also reprised the line that made him a target of controversy two years ago, defending Beijing’s imposition of the authoritarian national-security law in Hong Kong — which eliminated Hong Kong’s autonomy and led to the arrests of many of its leading pro-democracy figures — as “stabilizing” the city.

Tsai, of course, has a business empire on the line. He made those comments to CNBC to the backdrop of the Chinese Communist Party’s growing willingness to limit the influence of major Chinese firms, including his own, and intrigue surrounding Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s low public profile over the past several months.

Meanwhile, TAAF has worked with the Quincy Institute, whose director for East Asia, Michael Swaine, has dismissed well-founded accusations about China’s genocide of Uyghurs. As she introduced the five panelists participating in the DHS-TAAF event, Kathy Ko Chin, a senior adviser to TAAF, said, “We’ve worked with Jessica Lee, who is at the Quincy Institute and really helping us set the context for the anti-Asian hate, how the anti-Asian hate is fueled by perpetual-foreigner myth, not only that, but also model-minority myth but also the both domestic- and especially foreign-policy positions and tensions that are existing.”

Later on in the discussion, Lee described her work to draw what she claims are connections between anti-Asian hate crimes and “over-the-top language about China’s threat to the United States,” suggesting that the State Department, in response to these concerns, had stopped using “sweeping terms like ‘malign influence.’”

The panel hasn’t received much attention but did garner criticism from human-rights advocates. Samuel Chu, an activist and the founder of the Hong Kong Democracy Council, lamented DHS’s decision to partner with Tsai’s organization and to invite someone affiliated with the Quincy Institute to speak, given that both espouse “disqualifying” positions on the Chinese government’s human-rights abuses.

Chu suggested that DHS didn’t “do their homework” in setting up this event. “There are plenty of AAPI activists, and there are plenty of folks like me who are pursued and targeted by the Communist Party who are devoted and passionate supporters of [fighting] anti-Asian racism in the U.S.,” he said in a phone interview last month. “I think on this particular issue, I think it’s clear that both Joe Tsai and the Quincy Institute have made clear their perspective and political interests around ignoring and denying what’s happening as far as atrocities and human-rights violations.”

A spokesperson for the Quincy Institute pointed out that the think tank has published articles and reports in which its experts refer to the repression of Uyghurs as “atrocities” and call for offering Uyghurs priority refugee-processing status. Still, as shown by the outright denial of those atrocities by Joshua Landis, a Quincy non-resident fellow, and Swaine’s skepticism of the genocide label, Quincy’s stance on human-rights issues raises eyebrows.

DHS ignored National Review’s request for comment about its partnership with TAAF, which also did not reply to an email asking if it stands by Tsai’s comments on Hong Kong.

At the heart of this issue is whether the Biden administration, which has promised a forthright approach to dealing with the Chinese Communist Party, is letting outside groups shape some of its messaging on China. For months, left-wing advocacy organizations have complained that U.S. efforts to counter malign Chinese actions inflame racial hatred against Asian Americans — and they’ve done so without substantiating any link between foreign policy and an apparent uptick in hate crimes.

During the conference, even Lee said, “It’s unclear to most Americans whether there is a link in, say, anti-Asian hate and a political rally where China-bashing is used as a political tool to gin up support for whoever is speaking. A study that shows there is some sort of a connection in these types of activities would help us understand the situation better as well as hold elected officials accountable.”

Despite the lack of evidence supporting their policy prescriptions, advocacy groups are seizing on well-founded worries about an elevated level of anti-Asian hate crimes to promote a conciliatory approach to engaging Beijing. Certain officials within the Biden administration seem to think it’s appropriate to promote their perspectives.