REVEALED: Top American generals formed a secret backchannel with a CCP military intelligence front that instructed…

REVEALED: Top American generals formed a secret backchannel with a CCP military intelligence front that instructed them: “We wish you would advocate positions” favorable to China. Some ended up on China’s payroll. 🧵

The American military participants included: Peter Pace, former Joint Chiefs chairman Bill Owens, former Joint Chiefs vice chairman John Abizaid, former CENTCOM commander George Casey, former Army chief Ray Odierno, former Army chief Jonathan Greenert, former Navy chief

Also: Ronald Fogleman, former Air Force chief Norton Schwartz, former Air Force chief Dennis Reimer, former Army chief Joseph Prueher, former Pacific Command chief Timothy Keating, former Pacific Command chief John Keane, former Army vice chief

Also involved: Walter Sharp, former U.S. Forces Korea commander Charles Jacoby, former NORTHCOM commander Charles Wilhelm, former SOUTHCOM commander Robert Van Antwerp, former Army Corps of Engineers chief Stephen Lanza, former I Corps commander Karl Eikenberry, retired Army lieutenant general

The backchannel began in China in 2008 under the name “Sanya Initiative.” It was funded by CUSEF and conducted with CAIFC, a group congressional investigators identified as a front for the PLA department responsible for political warfare.

U.S. investigators said CAIFC carried out “intelligence collection” and “propaganda and perception management campaigns.” CUSEF has paid journalist for “favorable coverage.”

Bill Owens became the operation’s leading American figure. One year later, the former Joint Chiefs vice chairman was consulting for Huawei and pushing CCP propaganda in U.S. media.

Owens publicly advanced positions favorable to Beijing. He defended Huawei, demanded America treat China as a “friend” and questioned U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. “I object to the way Huawei was treated,” he said. “It’s unfair.”

The secret backchannel did not remain confined to retired generals. Within a year, its delegates were sitting face-to-face with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The meetings were not confined to ceremonial diplomacy. The delegations discussed nuclear proliferation, terrorism and military exchanges. By 2012, the operation had reached the U.S. Naval Academy and included sitting members of Congress.

CUSEF said Sanya was designed to build “stronger personal relations” between the participants. By 2013, it was openly calling the operation an “established military-to-military exchange.”

The closed-door meetings continued through 2019. CUSEF’s own records say the Americans and Chinese discussed “high-risk issues” involving Taiwan and the South China Sea, along with cybersecurity, missile defense and military strategy.

Congress was warned about the operation’s real objective as early as 2011. “The Chinese side says we wish you would advocate these positions,” a witness testified. American editorials later appeared with a “stark similarity” to the arguments Beijing wanted promoted.

The operation never ended. CUSEF’s 2023 and 2024 reports show the same closed-door channel continuing under a new label: the “U.S.-China Military-to-Military Dialogue.” The name changed. The influence network survived.

I uncovered the names, the meetings, and the Americans who later worked for Chinese interests. READ: open.substack.com/pub/nataliegwi…