Natalie G Winters

Published on: January 14, 2024

Republican National Committee Chairmen and Treasurers have met with officials from the Chinese Communist Party and its vast network of foreign influence groups to discuss “campaign strategies” and the direction of U.S.-China relations for over a decade, War Room can reveal. Among the newly revealed participants is Treasurer Anthony Duncan, who held the influential position under the tenure of Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel while attending the Beijing-based event in 2017. Evidenced through a decades-long trove of documents, War Room can reveal the identities of several RNC Chairmen and Treasurers who participated in several versions of an annual event – the U.S.-China High-Level Political Party Leaders Dialogue – alongside members of the Chinese Communist Party. Despite this apparent national security threat, the following RNC Leaders have participated in the U.S.-China High-Level Political Party Leaders Dialogue: Former Chairman Ed Gillespie; Former RNC Chairman Jim Nicholson; Former RNC Treasurer Anthony Parker; and Former RNC Chairman Robert Duncan. Additionally, brochures obtained from the 2016 edition of the the U.S.-China High-Level Political Party Leaders Dialogue reveal that the then-RNC-Treasurer Tony Parker attended to “discuss campaign strategies and prospects for U.S.-China relations under the new Trump administration.” As the documents recount: “Following the CPC dialogue with the bipartisan U.S. delegation, the EastWest Institute also facilitated meetings for the CPC with senior Republican officials—former Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Mike Duncan, current RNC treasurer Tony Parker and United States Economic and Security Review Commissioner Dan Slane—to further discuss campaign strategies and prospects for U.S.-China relations under the new Trump administration.” Former Treasurer Anthony Parker also participated in the dialogues while he was actively serving as the treasurer of the RNC, including during the 2016 election and continued to do so when Ronna Romney McDaniel took over as Chairwoman. What’s more, the U.S.-China High-Level Political Party Leaders Dialogue is put on with the support of Chinese foreign influence groups belonging to the regime’s United Front Work Department. The United Front Work Department is a billion-dollar political warfare operation executed by the Chinese Communist Party seeking "to co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of its ruling Chinese Communist Party” and "influence foreign individuals and the policies of foreign states to serve Beijing’s interests,” according to the federal U.S.-China Security and Economic Review Commission. The U.S. State Department also compares the United Front to the China’s "magic weapon” to get willing Americans to push policies advantageous to the Chinese Communist Party. The U.S.-China High-Level Political Party Leaders Dialogue is a project of the East West Institute and China United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF) in partnership with International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. CUSEF is one of Beijing’s premier United Front Work Department influence groups, which frequently takes American elites on all-expenses-paid trips to China in exchange for favors, such as “favorable coverage” from the mainstream media. This tactic appears to have been used against RNC leadership, too, with many of these U.S.-China High-Level Political Party Leaders Dialogues taking places overseas in China. The dialogues began in 2010 but saw participation from RNC officials for the first time in 2013. “The most significant evolution of the process occurred in 2013, when we reached out to the Democratic and Republican Parties and invited sitting DNC and RNC officers to take part in the dialogue for the first time. Whereas in earlier convenings, we had featured prominent Democratic and Republican former statesmen, governors and legislators, as well as former DNC and RNC chairs, now we were also involving sitting DNC and RNC leaders and that added a new element to the talks,” explains the East West Institute in a blog post. Former RNC Chairman Mike Duncan participated in the 3rd and 4th U.S.-China High-Level Political Party Leaders Dialogue, with colleagues including Former RNC Chairman Jim Nicholson and then-Treasurer Anthony Parker joining in 2015 and 2014, as pictured below. Brochures obtained from the 2016 edition of the the U.S.-China High-Level Political Party Leaders Dialogue reveal that the then-RNC-Treasurer Tony Parker attended to “discuss campaign strategies and prospects for U.S.-China relations under the new Trump administration.” As the documents recount: “Following the CPC dialogue with the bipartisan U.S. delegation, the EastWest Institute also facilitated meetings for the CPC with senior Republican officials—former Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Mike Duncan, current RNC treasurer Tony Parker and United States Economic and Security Review Commissioner Dan Slane—to further discuss campaign strategies and prospects for U.S.-China relations under the new Trump administration.” “The propitious timing of the dialogue facilitated candid exchange and valuable insights into the outcome and future implications of the November 8, 2016 U.S. elections, prospective governing priorities of the Trump administration, and the outcomes of the Sixth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee,” added a synopsis of the event. These bombshell findings come amidst criticism of the Republican National Committee (RNC) as “controlled opposition” for its refusal to back America First candidates with tough stances against the Chinese Communist Party. Natalie Winters is the co-host of War Room and founder of the USA-made lifestyle brand, ShesSoRight.co.