While housing Biden’s classified docs, Penn hosted groups with members now under scrutiny for China ties: Report

Daily Caller News Foundation

President Joe Biden left unguarded classified documents within his University of Pennsylvania center while it held events with organizations whose leadership includes individuals who’ve come under scrutiny for their China ties, the Washington Free Beacon reported Tuesday.

The Penn Biden Center held a two-day “Congressional bootcamp” between June 27 and 28, 2022, in partnership with The Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations where Kaiser Kuo, editor-at-large of The China Project, is a senior adviser, according to the Washington Free Beacon, as well as with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) where Maurice Greenberg, CEO of Starr Insurance Companies, sits on the board of trustees. While the event’s full roster of attendees remains unclear, Kuo and Greenberg have both recently come under scrutiny for their ties with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Shannon Van Sant, a former business editor at SupChina — which rebranded as The China Project in July 2022 — delivered a sworn declaration to Congress and the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Oct. 21, alleging her former employer fired her in June 2020 for being out of “alignment” with the organization’s alleged pro-CCP bias. Among other things, Van Sant’s declaration alleged that Kuo told staff that “the U.S. government was responsible” for the “unrest” in Hong Kong, in reference to the city’s 2020 protests, and had thus forced China to “impose national security legislation to protect the city.”

Van Sant’s declaration also alleged that The China Project cooperated with CCP organizations, such as the China Association for Science and Technology, to “protect” Chinese scientists whom the U.S. government had charged with espionage.

Furthermore, while Kuo was editor-at-large of The China Project, approximately 20 organizations that may be headed by members of the CCP or members of alleged Chinese influence operations sponsored or partnered with The China Project, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation determined in December 2022.

The Biden Center’s two-day event reportedly included sessions discussing subjects such as “elite politics,” “climate” and “energy policies,” according to CSIS’ records.

Biden recently claimed that the classified documents in question had been housed within the Penn Biden Center after he’d served as vice president for former President Barack Obama and briefly worked as a Penn professor, according to remarks made on Jan. 10.

As with Kuo, Greenberg’s dealings with alleged Chinese intelligence front groups also recently made headlines after The Wall Street Journal reported that prior to Biden’s meeting with General Secretary Xi Jinping in Indonesia on Nov. 14, Greenberg held backchannel discussions concerning U.S.-China relations with the Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs (CPIFA), an alleged front group serving the United Front Work Department (UFWD), according to Chinese intelligence analysts at the Hoover Institution.

The UFWD is a “Chinese intelligence service” whose “primary missions” include “liaison with foreign political parties,” “influence operations” and “intelligence collection,” the U.S.-China Economic Security and Review Commission has stated.

The DCNF recently revealed that CPIFA’s board includes individuals with ties to the China Reform Forum, which Chinese intelligence analyst Alex Joske has identified as a Chinese intelligence front group.

The White House, Penn, The China Project, CSIS, Kuo and Greenberg didn’t respond immediately to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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