How China reached out to Clinton’s campaign team
Some observers predict Kurt Campbell, architect of America’s pivot to Asia, will be next secretary of state
When China’s ambassador in Washington, Cui Tiankai, tried to reach out to Hillary Clinton’s campaign team in January, former assistant secretary of state Kurt Campbell acted as a go-between.
Campbell was invited to Cui’s residence in northwest Washington for a coffee on January 5, according to a hacked Clinton campaign email released by WikiLeaks.
“He [Cui] wants to have an informal, private, off-the-record get-together with a few of us to discuss the next year and the current state of US-China affairs,” Campbell, a long-time Clinton aide, wrote in a January 7 email to other senior members of the Democrat presidential nominee’s team.
With Clinton, we at least have the ability to guess what her policies will be
“He asked me to host a social meal at my house in the next month. He was fairly insistent and indicated that he wanted to pass along some perspectives. I’m happy to make some chilli and cornbread by the fire but let’s first decide whether this makes sense.”
The email, sent to some members of the Clinton campaign’s inner circle, including campaign chairman John Podesta, not only revealed how Beijing is communicating with the candidates through the usual diplomatic backchannels, but also allowed the public a rare glimpse into the famously guarded inner workings of Clinton’s team of advisers.
The four other recipients of the email were senior Clinton foreign policy advisers Jake Sullivan and Laura Rosenberger, speech-writer Dan Schwerin and Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, a State Department policy planner during Clinton’s time as secretary of state, who helps Rosenberger coordinate with the multitude of other Clinton advisers.
Diplomatic sources in Beijing and Washington have confirmed that Beijing, aware of the high stakes for bilateral ties, has been following the election campaign closely and trying to maintain regular contact with both candidates, Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump, through their campaign teams and other channels.
