Bannon and Guo are spot on! It's a world power and wealth game. Always been, always will be. China wants to win the game in this new World History chapter by being " King of the Hill ". It's always been a game between the industrialized countries with lots of brainpower. Hopefully the spirit of competition will not be interrupted by nuclear radiation and rockets. Trump & Company is onto the situation in precision focus. Xi and Trump are in bargaining mode. Trump is a savvy experienced dealmaker. Trump is the best person for the job in this matter.
5
Well, at least Bannon won't be stirring up trouble in rightwing populist circles here in Europe any more. Good riddance.
In a country the size of China, he won't be able to do much harm,or even attract much attention. He'll be a buzzing mosquito; not the plasmodium-bearing malarial type, just the ordinary, irritating but harmless summer nuisance.
6
If Mr. Bannon wants to study a corrupt political party who has no respect for democracy, he could of course go to China. But he could also go to Washington study the Trump Administration for corruption and go to Wisconsin and Michigan for no respect of democracy. The name of that party: Republican Party.
7
A sound and easy way to make the right decisions in foreign policy and in life in general is to see what Bannon favors and do the opposite. He is Leninist in his desire to explore all order and burn everything down. He's working on Europe now and seemingly China having done his worst in the UK and US.
4
I did not realize private US citizens could conduct their own foreign policy. "bringing about the demise of the Chinese Communist Party" seems like it should be the sole business of our elected government. He was the POTUS chief strategist, I wonder what state secrets he is spilling, and to who.
7
Tell Bannon that he’s studying corruption about 12,000 miles too far to the east! Come to think about it, it’s pretty rich, this Goldman Sachs guy studying corruption at all... he was wallowing in it for 30 years..
7
I hope the Chinese Communist Party along with some American billionaire put up a $100 million fund to fight political corruption in the US. We could sure use it.
If Bannon wants to go all mercenary on China, he should do it as a citizen of some other country. I really don't want the US government coming to his defense when he's indicted in Beijing for violating Chinese laws against foreign interference in Chinese politics just like our laws against foreign influence that Putin violated last election.
The popular view among Chinese is that the US Government is the enforcer that works for American capitalists/corporations seeking to monopolize global markets and dominate global commerce.
Bannon just confirmed that.
8
They could start with Google, who has reversed course in China by agreeing to provide China with a search engine that will enable the Chinese govt to monitor the searches of Chinese people - something Google specifically refused to do 10 years ago. Dispicable that a US company would provide this surveillance service to a communist dictatorship all in the name of profit. I haven’t used Google since learning about this move and neither should any other person who believes in freedom. BAN GOOGLE
6
Guo is hoping Bannon could protect him
2
The irony of Bannon now consulting on foreign politics when Paul Manafort has just been convicted of multiple crimes related to his 'political consulting' abroad is breathtaking. Like Manafort, Bannon achieved pariah status here at home, having been excommunicated from polite society by none other than Bob Mercer himself. Manafort's only option to ply his trade was to sell it to dictators and authoritarians seeking to consolidate their political power.
Like Mr. Guo, Manafort's clients in Central Asia and Former USSR shared one essential characteristic: they were filthy rich. Billionaires are not populist leaders, and Steve Bannon is fooling no one -- he needs money to promote his agenda, even if he is not 'taking' a salary.
16
What kind of a 'populist', whatever his supposed ideals, finds common cause with one creepy billionaire after another? Answer: No kind of populist at all. Bannon needs to find a more credible raison d'etre for his activism, but the truth that he sells out to the highest bidder every time doesn't satisfy his enormous ego - or his greed-head bottom line.
15
@Leigh; In Toronto there was a debate organized by the Munk Society between David Frum and Steve Bannon. The most interesting line of Bannon was the following one: "I want capitalism to strive." This is his raison d'être. After all he is a millionnaire.
1
Whatever crimes Mr. Guo is guilty of remains to be determined. The US is loose in who is selected for safe haven. Mr. Guo is welcomed. Some fleeing refugee family from dictators on the US south flank is extradited. Mr. Guo is among some dozen flamboyant billionaires in the US who rely on their fortunes for celebrity attention. (Mr. Soros is another such figure though he is a bit more choosy on his companions. And the Koch brothers are simply ignoble and act furtively in the political arena.)
It is Mr. Bannon and his native narcissism that is insidious. Whatever the domestic course of the US in the 21st century its effects stem from a folk that has been blind-sighted by high living consumer excesses. It is not the Chinese student that is a threat to the US. It is the reports from the NIH and CDC on the diverse illness of American's from habits of excessive and harmful consumption. Mental illness and obesity are rampant (just look at the figure of Mr. Bannon).
Whatever the fate for the US in the decades ahead, it is less likely from abroad than from the likes of Mr. Bannon and his billionaire associates who do little to instill a virtuous national agenda for an economy that is sustained by excess life style and xenophobia.
3
Traitors hang out together. Bannon, Trump and Guo are cut from the same cloth. Collusion is part of their trademark.
10
As a chinese born Canadian who have followed miles guo development closely from the very beginning, I am surprised to find the extremely negative connotation of this reporting. As a supporter of the leftiest party even in Canada, I am not a fan of alt right, although if you actually sit down to listen to what bannon has to say, he is tapping into the same discontent that Bernie Sanders has benefited from in 2016. I may not agree with his solutions, but I admire his idealism. That is what I think the left should also self-reflect: how to treat people of different opinions as human beings, instead of just labelling them categorically as bad. For the report, why is the reporter so scared as not daring to mention even one single high ranking ccp official that guo accused of corruption and suppression? Wan qishan, meng jianzhu, etc? From travels to China and chatting with family, we sense the grip the party has on ordinary people has really tightened over the years, and the scale of corruption at every level is rampant, while the anti-corruption effort is simply a cover for purging the enemy and consolidating power. All types of dissidents get abducted by police, detained without trial indefinitely, and often badly tortured and sometimes mysteriously killed. However, the west so economically tied with China nowadays simply look other way. History will show if guo's 'outlandish' accusations are true or not, but I admire his and bannon's moral courage to seek rule of law in China.
6
Will some judge please order that man stripped of his passport as a flight risk?
6
@Eatoin Shrdlu
I think you'll find Beijing invalidated his passport. Countries usually "clip the wings" of dissidents like him in that manner. We did it to Snowden, for eg.
1
Senior fellow like Michael D. and other policymakers can spent another 70 years study China, but not one would put their life and fortune to expose the Chinese Communist Party leaders. Unlike most who choose to corporate have gone missing or end up dead, Mr. Guo survived because of his courage to fight for injustice.
5
@flash yes, while fleeing the country to seek asylum in the US. He's just one giant ball of 'courage', right?
Bannon gets that the US has been infiltrated by a fascist element, and by that I mean countless Chinese on F1, H1 and OPT visas who fawn over Xi. They displace Americans from jobs in the US, and have the freedom to work at CCP linked companies in the US, all the while ignoring the ethnic cleansing that their fascist government is perpetuating. Rarely will a Chinese manager hire a non Chinese person in Silicon Valley, for example. It’s time to stop issuing all student and work visas to Chinese nationals for the time being. Those companies and universities that claim to have a dependency on this Chinese influx will just have to hire and educate more Americans and other freedom loving people.
7
I find many of the comments concerning this article as playing directly into the hands of the Alt-Right. Steve Bannon and his ilk are absolutely correct. The Power Elite of this country has failed. The unfortunate thing is that the power of Wall Street manifested itself in the Democratic Party and employed this as a shield for their allegiances with what we term the GOP. Essentially both parties have been horns on the same goat.
Criticize Bannon all you want and criticize Trump all you want; however, a considerable amount of the rancor in this country is the result of the selling out a considerable portion of the American Citizenry by our Power Elite. It has been a mutually agreed upon disinvestment in American Civilization.
We should just accept the fact that most of the conflict and wars throughout human history have been promulgated by conflicts between the Power Elites of various factions. Most of us have been persuaded into providing the cannon fodder.
History repeats itself. In this case though, Bannon is finding valid arguments and resulting support given the failed management of American's Power Elite.
China throughout its history has been xenophobic and autocratic. It seeks to subsume other cultures and only by virtue of limited technology has its influence has been limited to the Asian region. Wall Street has no ideology apart from the numbers for the next quarter. Given this, Bannon's criticisms have validity.
12
@Rick - Agreed re your identification of our "Power Elite," but how is China xenophobic? It had every powerful nation in Europe owning a treaty port on it's coast at the turn of the 19th Century, it suffered Japanese invasion of it's North in the 1930s and refused to fight them. It has never been able to repel invaders rather it has absorbed them. It's power is it's population, size, & talent, not hegemony.
2
In September 2018, Bannon was in Rome, to push the Brussels-based foundation “The Movement,” which coordinates and advises right-wing populist parties.
In May and November 2018, Bannon visited right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, also to push “The Movement.”
In March 2018, in Paris, Bannon addressed the right-wing Front National as Marine Le Pen tried to relaunch her party. Bannon claimed, “You are part of a movement that is bigger than that in Italy, bigger than in Poland, bigger than in Hungary.”
In May 2018, Bannon was in Prague, Czech Republic, to call on Hungary and the Czech Republic to join the U.S. in “defense of Judeo-Christian culture,” cheerleading with, “Let them call you racist, xenophobes, nativists, homophobes, misogynists – wear it as a badge of honor!”
In March 2018, Bannon was in Zurich, Switzerland, to champion European right-wing populist movements.
Also in 2018, Bannon endorsed Brazil’s far-right presidential candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, whose team courted Bannon's support. Bolsonaro’s son, Eduardo, tweeted in August about meeting with Bannon in New York.
Who’s bankrolling this vile, globetrotting ideologue? The Mercers, who paid to keep the obnoxious alt-right Breitbart site afloat, and who have a hand in the destructive Brexit initiative? Future right-wing dictators?
Never trust Bannon, ever. Do not believe that he is separated from Trump. Bannon’s an ideological cancer, looking to destroy liberal democracies worldwide.
60
@Robert Jay
I can’t remember where I read it, bc who can keep up and keep track of it all, but seems like the Mercer’s cut him off...so he’s fishing about for another mark?
14
The comments demonstrate utter disdain for facts. Forget Bannon and the billionaire insiders. Deal with reality.
A tiny taste for a starting point.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu_Kailai
3
Like two gadflies on the thick hide of an elephant.
3
Let me get this straight. If you’re a billionaire, you can just fly into our country, buy a 67 million dollar apartment, and then file for asylum. If only the Houndarans knew it was so easy!
23
@Kb
Please. When was it ever different?
7
What a mess. Engagement is still the only sane path among the superpowers. However, war profiteers -the ones who genuinely sap their countries' economies - and their henchmen who eagerly profit from an escalation in tensions between the US and China while sleazily cloaking themselves in petty jingoism will be fully behind this. The lower denizens of K Street, pro conflict think tanks, always cash hungry academic centers and China "experts" looking for well funded patrons to provide a sinecure for will be lining up for a share of that $100 million. So in the end its like everything else we are seeing these days it all comes down to money. Whether its Chinese, US or European. Truth comes from whoever shouts the loudest, makes the most outrageous claims and feeds our fears - and - most importantly provides a scapecoat for our failures - someone or something to hate. Accuracy is secondary to promoting preferred narratives and volume is purchased through Mammon. For the Chinese already targets of a huge negative hearts and minds campaign that feeds so well into historical and existing discriminatory tropes and resentments things will only get uglier. People like to hate the Chinese. Last time we saw organized incitements, mass viliifcation and violent pogroms against the Chinese in the late 19th century it was yet another era the "American Dream" seemed to sputter. All this may be satisfying in an xenophobic and nativist way but ultimately it is idiotic and will not end well.
8
Maybe they`ll foment a Uighur insurrection. Seems about the only thing the CCCP fears at this point...
1
This is Bannon's moment in the sun and he's gonna make some hay before he fades into obscurity. He wants to pretend to be relevant to China, which is ridiculous.
8
Or until he finds another seedy patron. Maybe MBS will fork over some change for Steve to play with.
2
This title is misleading. their common enemy is Chinese Communist Party
1
What Bannon knows about China could be written on the back of a DL sized envelope. What he understands about China could be written on a tea bag - in large letters.
There are plenty of people who oppose the Chinese Communist Party and who are good people with a lot of credibility. Guo is not one of them.
These types of people will walk the USA into a war with China that cannot be won by either side. We're talking a ww1, korean war, style level of bad.
Can someone please put Bannon and his playmates in a play pen and bring on some adults to deal with China.
17
@Dave Bannon knows and relishes power. As the chief strategist in the Trump WH he was going to exclude the military sitting in National Security Council meetings except by invitation.
Bannon is seeking to establish a center for subversion of democracy in Europe working with alt right fascist dictator aspirants to control a more divided Europe. As much as his purported hatred of the Communist Party and Islam is his hatred of the European Union, presently presenting itself as the "City on a Hill" referred to by Reagan, when the U.S. still played such a role in the world.
Guo's association with Bannon raises serious concerns about his judgement and ultimate aims. Bannon has been extremely destructive for the U.S. and is taking a toll on Europe. He may find that China is less susceptible to populist calls for regime change. China has very serious problems such as hukou system of two classes where the rural poor have structural impediments towards improving their lives. Thus far the Party has not developed a path to resolve this deepening crisis. It is clear from the rhetoric that Bannon has not even a clue as to what China is or the problems that it faces.
Former president Obama championed TPP as a counter to some of China's expansionary moves but he also fostered the U.S. China Strategic partnership to address shared problems such as climate change. Needed is the Obama style of leadership not Bannon's opportunistic fawning over billionaires such as Mercer with an agenda.
5
So disheveled Steve Bannon wants to bring down the Chinese Communist party. I hope someone is going to start a Go Fund me page to raise enough money to buy Steve a one way ticket to Bejing. He can then espouse his anti Communist Party beliefs directly to the Chinese. There likely wouldn't be a need for a return flight.
21
Michael D. Swaine is correct nothing good will come of the Guo-Bannon alliance. But Bannon is fun to watch he is such a masterful manipulator that he will very likely work the Guo funded Rule of Law Fund into an edifice roaring about. He has an eye for what stirs the mass mind and hating “Communist China,” a term that curiously disappeared in recent years, should bring him fame once again.
As a nation slides down in stature it needs an enemy to stir nationalistic feeling. Bannon knows that game. Did the Shanghai authorities run his gaming adventure out of town?
5
Steve Bannon, once a Naval officer and White House advisor,
has gotten in bed with bad bad people.
4
Thank god Bannon's race towards irrelevance is nearly complete. Totally abandoned by everyone in America who knows him the best, he has spent months chumming the waters of Europe to no avail. Now he has attached his wagon to a Chinese dissident of zero power for a wage free run at bringing down the Communist party?
If Bannon had a single redeeming value, it would almost be sad to watch. But he doesn't and it's not.
Maybe Guo will throw him a couple of nips as he circles the bowl?
21
If Mr. Kwok wants to get married he should be very wary of entering a Chinese consulate to get the relevant papers.
Meanwhile, Mr. Bannon is looking every bit the well fed Republican.
19
The nouveau rich Chinese know what capitalism and democracy look like. They prefer capitalism and the stability of communism to democracy.
8
Let’s see what we have here. First there’s a young Chinese billionaire with a success story wrapped in rags-to-riches fable, who is likely a font of knowlege about government corruption in China, perhaps because he has been such a spectacular beneficiary of it. Wanted for massive fraud at home and escaping to America with an abracadabra fortune, he claims to be innocent, honest, and concerned about exposing graft and double-dealing in China, which surely is pervasive up to the very highest levels. Then there’s a crafty political opportunist who has made a notorious career in American media out of demagoguery and conspiratorial innuendo. They join together to target China, muddling fact and fiction in tabloid sensationalism and elbowing out serious analytical and investigative journalism. Now isn’t that just pouring a lot of snake oil on the fire?
27
Is this the same Steve Bannon who spews hate for races and cultures other than ones that are white and European based?
Talk about strange bedfellows.
I would not trust either of these guys.
31
Imagine if Bernie Madoff was living in Beijing slandering Washington Consensus Capitalism. Bannon's hunger for publicity has made certain that Liu Changming's children will never again skate on Trump Ice Rink in Central Park.
3
I have lived in China for the past 18 months. First off, as someone who studied economics at university, I am totally against Trump's tariffs. Tariffs, as any student of economic history knows, are a disastrous policy prescription. My country of Canada suffered greatly under the Smoot-Hawley tariffs which greatly and unnecessarily exacerbated the Great Depression of the 1930's. Currently Canadians chafe under the "absurd" (in the words of our Minister of Foreign Affairs and Rhodes scholar Chrystia Freeland) Steel and Aluminum tariffs the Trump Administration imposed on Canada under the completely spurious and insulting grounds of "national security threat." As our PM rightly pointed out to him, Canada built an aluminum smelter for the express purpose of supplying the US military with the highest quality aluminum it could not produce in the USA. Are we not NATO partners, are we not also NORAD partners?! It was a Canadian in charge of NORAD who shut down US airspace during 9/11. Just sayin!!
So, back to China. The US manufacturing that went to China following its 1978 reforms went there for purely economic reasons - cheap labour. It's not coming back to the US, ever, no matter what policy is enacted and furthermore, China will also lose lots of this manufacturing to SE Asia and other lower cost labour countries as labour costs spike in China. It's already happening and that also won't be reversed as it is part of the economic development process....tbc...
36
I am amused by the idea that Gannon and Guo think the Chinese people care about corruption.
The Chinese people got a 12,000 mile high speed rail system for a $365 billion government investment after the 2008 Great Recession. The project was fraught with kickbacks and the railways chief was arrested but the populace can zip safely from Guangzhou to Beijing in a few hours.
In the US, transit projects cost around $1 billion a mile, compared to $30 million a mile in China, including corruption.
(BTW, the Chinese HSR system has a very good safety record)
And rail is far more climate friendly than air travel, which is how most of us get around the US.
11
@Look Ahead
Quite right replacing domestic air travel an environmental no-no.
On corruption wise economists label it the grease that keeps the economy functioning, everyone benefits when the deals are settled.
3
So Chinese billionaires seeking asylum are allowed sanctuary in the U.S. and get to create pauedo GOP think tanks, unlike those seeking the same who are anything but and from places like Honduras and Mexico.
Still no bottom on this adminstration and its parasitic malignant sleaze.
16
@MAWNot everyone is created equal. Those with more money are more equal than the ones without. Everywhere. EU countries sell their citizenship for an "investment", so does the U.S.
2
@realist
Indeed. Trump makes $$ selling, sometimes leasing, condos and apartments to rich Russians who are pregnant, they come here, have their baby who’s immediately an American citizen and..... well you know how it goes.
1
There are several comments here that point out what a crook Guo appears to be, then go on to say he therefore shouldn't be trusted, etc.
He looks like practically every other corrupt Chinese businessman who did the bidding of high placed communist officials in Beijing, ie, dirty. But that doesn't mean he's not telling the truth about them.
He's like a defector, used by the CIA, or an informant, used by the FBI. He seems to be a crook, but he's spilling his guts about the mob he ran from. He's worth listening to.
11
Russia rejected Communism for good reason, but now they've got an authoritarian kleptocracy run by a former officer in the KGB. It's all well and good to criticize the terrible human rights record of China. But how can we know that whatever replaced it would be better?
4
@Patricia
True. Just look at how well the Arab Spring turned out.
3
Replacing the CCP is comic book thought process, not because every government has a mythical better but the record of this one is labeled as an economic miracle and will be hard to match, but because it will only go down from internal strife and that is not yet evident.
American policy makers have not done well with regime change, but some love the concept to dream about. Bannon’s goals are otherwise.
3
Corruption exists everywhere and America is not immune. That is not to excuse it, but recognize it. Political funding (for example) in America is as corrupt as anything I have seen anywhere in the world, with the result that a plutocracy is created at the expense of everyone else. We need to fight corruption everywhere, starting at home would be a great beginning. Perhaps Mr Bannon and his cronies might take that battle up...
14
Transparency International publishes a list of the most corrupt countries (available to anyone online) every year.
Please review that reference before you equate the United States with China and other corrupt countries.
Bannon looking very healthy and fit in that photo. His mind is just as unfit as the dilapidated body in which it is housed . . . The faster he slides into the dustbin of history, the better . . .
36
"Together, the unusual pair have a common, if lofty, objective: bringing down the Chinese Communist Party. "
And if you happen to make a bunch of money while you're at it, well, that's the breaks.
I wouldn't trust either of these two.
19
Everybody knows China is corrupt, but Guo Wengui is part of the problem, not part of the solution (by the way, talk about thugs seeking asylum!).
Everybody knows the American political system is dysfunctional, and Bannon is very much part of the problem, not part of the solution.
16
I continue to be grateful that at least someone is keeping one eye on Bannon.
The reason I worry about Bannon is because of the access Trump gave him. The president admitted (in February 2017) that the only reason Bannon had been given a regular seat at national security briefings he had no true business attending, was because Trump signed an Executive Order (in January 2017) granting him such access. Inexplicably, Trump did not see fit to correct this mistake until APRIL of 2017. Even then, he only pulled Bannon's security clearances as part of a temper tantrum before firing him.
Okay, but now what? What U.S. secrets and policy objectives does he know? Who is he communicating with? For what purposes? Hard to say. I just know that:
(1) Bannon has a penchant for destabilization;
(2) he is in possession of unknown classified information by pure accident;
(3) he seems to be going where the "action" is in Europe; and
(4) the last thing I read about him prior to this article was that he was building support for some far-right, populist group calling itself "The Movement."
Look, I'm not suggesting that Bannon's alt-right mentality might just make him inclined to destabilize democratic governments in allied countries as part of the creative-destruction of administrative government he advocates.
...
... Ok, I'll admit I AM suggesting precisely that. The guy loves setting fires and he's our responsibility. If someone would kindly prove me wrong, I'd sleep better.
12
@Matt
Everybody around Donald Trump lies - as does Trump himself - and we've seen that many people supposedly cast out by Trump are still in touch with Trump and instrumental to his ideas, policies and plans - like Corey Lewandowski and Roger Stone.
I'm not sure Bannon is really out of touch with Trump.
Bannon may be pursuing all this trouble in other countries because Trump decided that's the best use he could make of Steven Bannon.
4
@fast/furious
Agree entirely. I did not mention that Bannon "might" still be in contact with Trump because it seemed almost a given.
Also, as a slight correction, my sentence on Trump signing the Executive Order giving Bannon clearance in 2017 left out an important word. Trump gave Bannon his clearance by ACCIDENT, having (again, by his own admission) not read or understood the order he was signing at the time. How Trump could admit giving out an accidental national security clearance in February and not revoke it until April is just one more mystery.
1
"Several Western businessmen, apparently eager to cozy up to Beijing, lobbied President Trump to accede to China’s demands, according to people familiar with the talks."
By far the most compelling sentence in the whole article. The REAL culprit in this whole "China as a rising power" debacle is our very own US "job creator" CEOs.
I would like and very much expect the vaunted New York Times to follow up on this and let us readers know just who these "several Western businessmen" are!
Thank you.
6
@trblmkr
Steve Wynn et al.
The Wall Street Journal ran a long story in June or July about Wynn hand delivering a letter from Beijing to Trump demanding that Trump hand over Guo. They sent state security agents to NYC to snatch him, the FBI intervened and wanted to arrest the thugs, the State Department stopped that effort, etc.
Find it, it's a long, good story.
8
@West Coaster
Thank you. I'll look it up. Figures it's the craven Wynn.
5
@West Coaster
They missed on Guo but have rounded up a number in Vancouver, and convinced others to return by pressure on relatives. Xi seems to take his 'anti-corruption' campaign seriously. if those jumping the country learn that may not get them free seems reasonable. Most nations try to get their crooks back by appels as China has done but if that does not work the PSB travels.
We, as a nation of consumers, led by the blindly zealous ambition of American commerce created modern China. Our demand for ever lower priced goods pushed factories to their shores. Our pursuit of broader investments and higher returns caused us to create monstrosities like derivatives and empowered the rise of equity firms which seek to place money even where it is not wanted or needed. Our shortened attention spans that combined with instant communication enabled the viral nature of pop culture. As China moved people from small towns and sustenance agriculture, they competed with us for jobs, energy and political power. Now it’s not only caught up with us but is passing us.
9
In their most recent country reports, Amnesty International agrees with much of what Bannon says. However, It severely criticized the United States. Just because China's treatment of dissidents is worse than ours doesn't get us off the hook regarding civil rights.
America should focus and correct our own human-rights misdeeds before using China, Russia and Iran as strawmen. That starts with our criminal justice system at every level, particularly using convicted felons who trade deserved long sentences for their guided testimony (Plea Bargaining). At the very least, trial judges should be allowed to review the plea bargains, something that is presently disallowed.
2
You are using this article as a platform to gripe about already known and flawed prosecutorial justice system in America. Stay on point - the law enforcement and penal system in China is 1000 worse, where minorities and dissidents are executed and their organs harvested to profit officials. People are abducted and are lucky if they reappear, such as publishers and book shop owners in Hong Kong, business executives and acclaimed actors such as Fan Bing Bing. The PLA and the CCP are lawless -- threatening and blackmailing expats and stealing IP/trade secrets in America, partly through Confucius Institute fronts in our universities. Trade grievances are justified and need to be exposed, transparency and accountability need to be vigorously pursued from public and private sources. I could write a long list of wrongs by the CCP and its SOEs (state owned businesses) in licit (contaminated products, medicine and food in global supply chains) and illicit international commerce (fentanyl, designer drugs, ivory). I hope future investigative reports are widely received and the CCP is exposed as a really bad global actor.
10
It's unfortunate that the only ones willing to take on China are figures like Bannon. I would much rather have anyone else. But when every politician in the world has been happy to put off the China question year after year, you have to take what you can get. Leaders in the EU will talk big and make demands, only to let China walk all over them and continue it's human rights violations and IP theft without consequence.
China is not interested in being a democracy, it's time for the world to start putting forward solutions and ideas, not kick the can down the road and hope it figures itself out. Bannon's plan's may be small fry in the long run, but America seems to be the only country that has pushed back against China in a tangible way. I think this is the right decision. China does not respect the EU for it's leniency on enforcing the rules against them. They see it as proof that the EU is weak and without leverage. If more leaders took an active role in making China play by the rules, maybe we wouldn't have to resort to Bannon and estranged billionaires to do our fighting for us.
18
@Kuro
Well said.
3
@Kuro
How do we fend off China and Russia at the same time?
Russia has already made their intentions known by their moves in Crimea, which shows the threat they are to Europe, and through their role in the US presidential elections.
Trump may make some noise every now and then against Russia, but when put on the spot, will show his support for Putin as he did in Helsinki.
With China, it appears that economic pressure will do the trick. So this is the double bind Trump has put the US into: political pressure from Russia and economic pressure from China. Talk about a rock and a hard place!
1
Bannon is hated by liberals, but he's right about Beijing. They're the biggest threat on the planet today. Yes, Trump haters, even bigger than Trump, so save your breath.
They're building and militarizing fake islands in their neighbors' Exclusive Economic Zones in the South China Sea.
They've been in Tibet for decades.
They regulated threaten to invade Taiwan.
They've broken their treaty with the British on how they would handle Hong Kong after its handover.
They are running concentration camps in Xinjiang.
And on and on.
So hate Bannon if you want, but don't ignore his message about the communists in Beijing. They're a much larger problem than radical Islam, Russia, North Korea, or anything else.
32
@West Coaster
Pity they are not liked at home, think Bannon and Guo can turn the tide?
Bashing the Chinese is an old game that troubles the natives very little. But it has a growing market in the USA. To what effect? Not a pleasant thought.
3
Agreed. Even guys we are skeptical about can get it right once in awhile.
2
Finally an effort by Mr Bannon that I agree with! I wish them - and anyone else who seeks to harm the standing of the Communist Party - success.
7
Bannon should have picked up a respectable clean, straight and respectable telling-truth Chinese to make his opinion classy and convincing. But not so. Guo is accessible to a desperate guy who is trying to show this off to impress Master Trump. Good try for nothing but providing good material for gossips and rumors.
3
Having seen first hand how China perpetuates unfair trade practices and IP theft against the USA while Steve Bannon has done his level best in shredding our democracy - this is clearly a case where the enemy of my enemy is still my enemy.
I wish them both success in inflicting the maximum amount of damage upon each other!!
11
Why give these two conspiracy theorists the time and exposure in print? They are better off to remain on the fringes where they belong, in obscurity.
9
I am pretty sure a lot of Americans would support him in sticking it to the Chinese Government- Wait! I am made a mistake - not Americans! Chinese!
3
Mr. Bannon is a such a brilliant strategist that he lost his job at the White House, and then lost his patrons at a conservative think-tank. So he turns to Mr. Guo for funding.
Mr. Guo is fighting the right cause against corruption in China.
But he acquired his riches through the same corruption process, which is amply documented. He is now on the wanted list of Interpol.
The irony is too rich for laughter.
38
I am tired of living in opposite land, Our president is not making America great but dismantling our institutions at a break neck pace - which is allowing our competitors to take our place. This is the plan - he does not work for us as he is beholden to foreign leaders and apparently so is our do-nothing congress. Why do they do nothing?
23
These guys are even more naive than Trump. China has been here for generations and will be here for more. Two guys with all the money in the world won't be a pebble on the ocean if they try to change China on their own.
10
@Tom
The way Beijing is attacking Guo so desperately suggests the opposite, in fact.
He has made a number of specific corruption allegations against Xi's #2, Wang Qishan, and Beijing has gone after him like no other. Wang is Xi's "corruption czar" and Guo's allegations threaten to discredit Xi's propaganda that he's really cleaning up corruption, not rooting out his political enemies, as many believe.
I'd not rule out the impact these two can have if they deliver a serious product.
3
@West Coaster
Wang Qishan is China’s chief corruption Cop and has rounded up thousands, flees and tigers, you think Guo’s criticism carries any weight?
1
I am sure our government has good reason why we don't grant US citizenship to any billionaire including Mr. Guo. But Mr. Guo is rich and smart enough to buy Mr. Bannon's interest to do whatever to raise his profile and status in order to obtain US citizenship, thus avoid his problems with the Chinese government. Of course, Mr. Bannon will get what he wants in return for the service. There is no dumb people but only the rich and the ambitious.
Bannon is a desperate man trying to stay relevant somewhere on planet earth. The preppy revolutionary 'populist' always gravitates to billionaires. Mercer here in the US was his last sugar daddy. It didn't work out in Hungary with Orban - not enough money there for Steve? So now he's on to a new source of funding Mr. Wengui.
Seriously, for the attention grabber Mr. Blow It All Up what he is really after is somebody to fund his lifestyle and hotel bills for the next few months until they too get tired of his rhetoric.
He over played his hand with Trump. That was his last chance at real power. Why doesn't he go somewhere quiet and write a book? He keeps pushing himself onto the world stage and the NY Times keeps taking the bait.
28
Who is to say this China wealthy insurgent is a counterspy? It would a good way to know the inside scoop between soulmates bannon and Trump.
3
Bannon's alt-right circus act takes on China.
After seeing Bannon's smashing success taking out establishment GOP senators like he threatened to, China must be shaking in fear. Or more likely, shaking in laughter.
19
Guo is a criminal regardless who his enemy is. He deserves an FBI investigation rather than overwhelming media exposure. Sick world we are living in.
9
@Mike Mou
Sure he's a criminal, but his crimes pale in comparison with those of Xi and the gang of thugs who run the Chinese Communist Party.
1
It’s clear that China is USA adversary for the next century at least. On the other hand it’s seems to be also clear that Mr Trump is not the wisest guy to be in charge of this situation. And that’s the root of the problem. We have a mid class guy with cowboy ínfulas and cheap real estate moral in charge of the most difficult international scenario. Obviously as a mediocre entrepreneurship his collaborators are of his same IQ status. The Russian affair is a good proof of his incompetence and I really hope, and pray, that the Republican Party will soon assume it’s responsibility aiming to initiate a jury to this crazy horse style president.
God bless America.
3
"Chinese investigators said he has ties to Ma Jian, a former spy chief now imprisoned in China on charges of bribery and abuse of power."
Statement includes no independent verification because no such source of independent verification reliably exists in China.
Free societies matter.
4
I am not a fan of Mr. Bannon, but he is probably in the right here. What an interesting duo and story.
11
I have always felt that the real antidote for rising fascist tendencies in the West is even faster rising China, with all its deficiencies; and Bannon's apprehension with China only strengthens that feeling.
It's too late for white supremacy to get anywhere consequential because China won't let it happen, and the white supremacists know it full well.
By the way, what is happening to Bannon's belly? Just saying :)
10
@Daniel Solomon
China has its own stories of corruption and its own jaw dropping human rights violations. Both fascism in the west and Chinese misdeeds need to be exposed and decried. Its not enough to wish they'll balance each other out -- criminals will figure out a way to work with each other if all they want is power and money. Witness Trump and MBS.
13
It should be noted that all billionaires in China are corrupt. Without bribing the party officials and playing other dirty political games, this Guo person could never have amassed his fortune. He ran to the US because he bribed a previous party chief that the new party chief has locked up (yes, locking up political rivals is standard practice in China). I googled this Chinese billionaire and learned that he is a member of Trump's Mar-a-Largo club. Trump, Bannon, and their whole dishonest gang are drawn to someone like Guo - dirty rich, ruthless, and amoral - birds of the same feather!
80
For sure Bannon and Wengui are way out of their league. They don't realize they are dealing with President Xi of China. Yes, President Xi who has absolute power for life!
3
Once again NYT journalists, with the consent of their editors, are doing free PR for an unelected, unimportant gadfly. Mr. Bannon's only claim to fame is his relationship with President Trump and it's obvious that role didn't work out well for him. Bannon continues to work the coattails of his prior boss but to what advantage? From my point of view he knows how to do only one thing, get American journalists to write about him, make him look bigger than life (not the belly, the concepts). There's not a single societal accomplishment cited in this article which is no surprise as he's nothing except getting free PR since departing the administration. If Bannon had to pay for the PR that NYT delivers he's be bankrupt within six months. Let's have important news, not puffery of an individual without results. I challenge the journalists who did this article to print a tangible contribution to society by Mr. Bannon, be it good or bad.
49
@Robert R
What an incredibly ignorant comment. It's almost like you learned nothing from the 2016 election, in which Bannon played a crucial role in helping to get Trump elected. Bannon came to Trump when he was down 12+ points nationwide after his attacks on Gold Star families and John McCain. Bannon refocused Trump's campaign onto a populist message and the economy. He tapped into a movement in America, an entire demographic of flyover state America that was being ignored. Maybe it's time to consider if your "point of view" is in fact quite limited and biased? You don't have to like what he says, but you shouldn't be calling for journalists to ignore it.
Articles like this are important news. China is the biggest issue facing America today, and to not report on something like this simply because you do not like Bannon is the opposite of journalism. Bannon is a figure who tapped into the populist movement trend long before anyone else. Take a look around the world. Populism is growing and has been for a while. Ignoring the China question hasn't worked. Steve Bannon represents the feelings of many Americans in fly over states who feel forgotten.
San Fran is a good example of why Bannon is still relevant. A city with billion dollar tech giants that has a homelessness and drug crisis so bad that the air quality is one of the worst in the world due to fecal matter. Does that seem like a "societal accomplishment"? People will flock to populism as wealth inequality grows.
10
@Kuro Except that Bannon's NBF would seem to be Exhibit A in Wealth Inequality. I don't trust either of them and doubt their collaboration will amount to much, except money in Bannon's checking account. Indeed, I suspect Bannon's outrage at China is just theater.
2
Has Mr. Bannon registered as a foreign agent with the People's Republic of China? This could get very interesting.
Cheers.
19
@William
Why would he do that? Did you read the article? He's trying to take them down.
Cheers.
2
Apparently Bannon now fancies himself as a script writer for Marvel.
After the evil twins Breitbart and Fox try to destroy the Western world with mind control weapons, Breitbart teams up once again with Captain Bone Spurs America and yet another wealthy billionaire to take on the evil genius Xi Jinping whose heinous crimes include running a mercilessly logical and effective competitive strategy to replace Pax Americana with One Belt and One Road and then making Bone Spurs blink during the Great Trade War of 2018.
You couldn’t make this stuff up so stay tuned for the next exciting instalment of Politix in America.
39
Glad to see the US is still welcoming Chinese (and other third-world) mafiosi into the country with open arms - as long as they have stolen large enough sums of money, and are transfering their ill-gotten gains into the US economy and real-estate...
34
Yeah, Steve Bannon's the guy to take down the Chinese government.
Sure.
I'm totally seeing that happen.
38
This is a big story and China IS our biggest threat. Islam, not very much. Pump this guy for info, set up the Fund, attract other dissidents from China. If we can attract more dissidents to our side we’ll have a better idea whether this guy is legit or a mole for the Communist Party.
4
It will be fun to watch Steve Bannon, who did a lot to wreck the American political system, take on China. I have a feeling that he will not succeed as well there as he did here. Of course, totalitarian governments have a huge advantage over democracies in fending off anarchists and the chaos they seek. But as long as he is focused on China, maybe he will leave us alone. He has done enough damage here.
13
I am guessing that Mr. Guo made his money in the same system he is now trying to topple. A system that despite its faults has lifted a billion people out of poverty. He is kicking down the same ladder he climbed up on. I think he doesn’t have enough real problems to worry about.
4
There can be no doubt that China aims to replace the US as the global powerhouse.
But the people who are defending America's interests seem to be crooked Manhattan landlords lining their own pockets.
China is represented by REAL grownups who do their homework and they've outfoxed Trump at every step of the tariff war.
America is playing checkers, China 3D chess.
With Putin, the Trump problem gets even worse. Putin is a seasoned, experienced KGB mastermind who changed the outcome of the 2016 election. But defending America is the same inept person confronting China who may be deeply in debt to Russian Oligarchs.
Putin will throw Trump under the proverbial bus as fast as Trump tossed Cohen, Manafort, Flynn and others under the bus. Right now, Trump is probably serving Putin's needs, but when Trump's usefulness is exhausted, Putin will toss Trump with a simple release of damaging information.
Trump is outfoxed whichever way he turns but the BIG, BIG loser is America.
The sad saga continues. Millions of people will die from Climate Change, property damage is already extraordinary, but America is wasting two years of "opportunity" because of one man clearly incapable of dealing with this complex problem.
Does any of this make sense?
11
@Henry J
"China is represented by REAL grownups"
Are you serious? China is represented by people who all gained power through corruption and bribery. China is represented by a dictator who just declared himself leader for life. These "grown ups" allow for human rights violations to occur everyday in their country and refuse to make changes despite pressure from the entire world. These are the guys you think are so smart? A bunch of authoritarians who put the economy over human rights? You can hate Trump as much as you want, but get a grip. China has "outfoxed" the entire world. Europe especially. Are you saying EU leaders are dumb like Trump?
If your idea of "3D chess" is to steal IP and pay no repercussions because everyone wants access to your markets, then sure. But that's why there is a growing desire to confront China head on. To not allow them to play outside of the rules of society. America is not "one man". We can still be tough on China despite having a not ideal leader in office.
3
@Kuro
They are real grown ups in the sense that they have a long-term plan and know what they are doing, not because they are benign. They have focus.
Trump, on the other hand, is completely out of his league. Immature, impatient, impulsive, uninformed, disorganized. He cannot think beyond himself.
Only someone with strong will and organization such as Putin can control him.
@cl CL is correct.
How does Steve Bannon support himself? I know he worked at Goldman for a while and must have made a boatload of money, no doubt. But if his deep pocket backers in the US abandoned him how does he make ends meet? And look at the people with which he surrounds himself: accused financial criminals. Bannon is one classy guy, no doubt!
5
@Miguel Cernichiari
For years, Steve Bannon has received millions of dollars in residuals because he owns a piece of "Seinfeld." He agreed to take a piece of the sitcom in it's first season - before it became a hit and cultural milestone - as payment for a debt. A bad guy with good luck.
1
The two of them versus China, anyone care to bet how that is going to work out?
4
This guy has the demeanor of a James Bond villain, looking to takeover the world. Very scary agenda from a very scary dude. Why isn't he walking into consulates and never reaching the back door? Is no one checking, or even interested, to see what his real, underlying agenda is? Looks like a persistent creator of mayhem.
2
Because he is uber rich (by stealing money out of China). But there is only so much you can buy with money, especially for a man like him. Let’s see where he will end up.
1
He is as sincere as you can be about wanting to topple the corrupt elite in China. My father-in-law (Taiwanese) has been hooked to his YouTube show for a couple of years now.
Bannon should watch his belly. Not only unbecoming, but big risk factor for metabolic syndrome. Consider laying off the drinks.
8
His liver is begging for mercy as well...
2
At least SOMEBODY is trying to do this.
Better than no one.
5
"....he billionaire’s $67.5 million apartment in the Sherry-Netherland Hotel, overlooking New York’s Central Park. The two shared a stage two weeks ago in Manhattan, at a news conference they organized to announce plans to set up a $100 million fund to investigate corruption and aid people they deem victims of Chinese government persecution."
One might think a fund to investigate corruption and help persecuted should be two or even three times the value of one's house....closer say to the cost of your airplane....
1
Strange definition of "populist" Bannon has. What has he done that has helped the common man? He doesn't even talk the talk, much less walk the walk.
3
@WmC Bannon's worldview reminds me of Hitler's seldom-discussed vision of the future in which happy white serfs would plough the fields and work the mines. Bannon wants to close down the ports and recraft an America with happy white Christians making everything within our borders. Of course there will be oligarchs like the Mercers -- they're politically necessary.
7
It definitely appears that Mr. Brannon is supporting the domestic beer market.
38
Why don’t you argue for world war three? Bannon is very dangerous and has absolutely no business interfering in the politics of other countries. I could make a very strong case for the evils of capitalism in the United States, how there is a huge gap between rich and poor, how racism is literally killing African Americans but I’m not going to plan remaking our democracy through whatever means. After all while I may not like trump and everything he stands for along with his followers in the Congress I still believe in right and wrong, I still believe in democracy and in our very imperfect country.
14
It is amazing that a man who has not been elected to any office have such influence in trying to direct foriegn policy. And now that he has diminished influence in the US, he suddenly sets his sights on trying to overthrow another country where he is not a citizen. Rather than having high ideals, he seems to be more to be an anarchist looking for the opportunity for someone to support him.
I am not saying that the Chinese have clean hands, but I do not want someone with no responsible authority, to be using a billionaire's capital in trying to foment a revolution, no matter what country it is.
If we need to deal with the issues with China, I want someone who represents the United Stated, not some self-appointed opportunistic self-appoint expert.
97
only so far his influence has been comically tiny. he tried to start a populist wave for the European elections in 2019, but a) he hadn't done the research and it turns out in most countries it's illegal to get party funding from other countries and b) most of the populists didn't want his support anyway. I am pretty apprehensive about the European elections, a Eurosceptic populist wave might well happen, but clueless people like Bannon are not going to make a huge impact. from what I understand, China is even more complicated than the EU, so good luck.
6
@antje
Bannon was instrumental in getting Trump elected. Nothing comical about his influence.
Just pray lightning doesn't strike twice near Bannon.
4
@antje-"...In most countries it's illegal to get party funding from other countries." True in the U.S. too but sadly Bannon has helped corrupt us -- the Russians funneled money to the Trump campaign through the NRA and Bannon's Cambridge Analytica funder, Robert Mercer, funded Trump as well as Brexit and alt-right propaganda channels. He's a dangerous troublemaker
5
Look at the nasty, fat gut on Steve Bannon.
This poor excuse for a human being thinks WE THE PEOPLE are going to let he and his insatiably greedy, predatory capitalist, morally/ethically bankrupt, socially unconscious Robber Baron brethren decide how OUR lives and world go?
Boy, have WE got news for him.
Not now. Not ever.
92
@njglea did you read the article or just look at the pictures?
9
@njglea
Remember how well calling Trump names went over in 2016? Are you sure you want to dismiss figures by calling them fat or stupid or racist, AGAIN?
We just lost a presidential election because people like you pushed rural Americans towards Trump. You think you speak for the entire country in your upper class Seattle lifestyle? You think you understand what someone in Ohio living in poverty, amidst the opioid epidemic wants? Here's a hint, it's not a wealthy liberal who lives on the coast to speak for him.
So go ahead and scream insults into the void if that makes you feel better. But it is sad to see liberal America hasn't learned from 2016 yet. As a Democrat, I see my party losing touch with the base that was it's lifeblood. Working class Americans. I see smug people like yourself who live in a political bubble and have never engaged with anyone who thinks differently from themselves.
Not saying you have to like or even tolerate Bannon, but we as a country need to start looking outside our bubbles if we ever want to get away from polarized name calling as our main way of discussing politics. This type of behavior only drives people further to the extremes.
11
Kuro - It wasn't njglea, wealth, or the coast that brought us Trump. Have you watched Fox News? Have you listened to Hannity, Carlson, Colter, Limbaugh, Lahren? People have been well primed to usher in our new reality and their smugness is downright dangerous.
You invoke the opioid epidemic in Ohio as this 'someone' with wants. Be more specific and realistic. Some of those people want drugs, a great many more want treatment, which in this country requires health insurance at the least, and treatment options at its best.
Now, think again about right wing media and what they've done. They create anger, fear, irrational demonization. Is that what you want to mirror?
14
Do we have a private citizen conducting foreign policy? If the DOJ wasn't crippled, it might look to see if the Logan Act applies.
91
If a naval war in The South China Sea between the US and China were engineered, it could prove very profitable to some deeply imbedded in our military-industrial-complex. Of course, given the proximity of Chinese missile bases, it also might be a war that we lose. Aircraft carriers could make inviting targets.
It also could grow out of hand and lead to Chinese-backed invasion and elimination of South Korea -- perhaps even to nuclear exchange that hit large populated areas in the US.
To put things into perspective, how might we react if a large, Cninese fleet appeared and threatened us in The Gulf of Mexico?
6
As the closest ally of CCP, the Czech president has noted, you cannot win wars on two fronts. This is an old Chinese saying. Would it be possible for Chinese who are taught the idea to be engaged with US in South China Sea, at the same time invading SK?