COLLUSION: China’s Subnational Influence at Work in the New York State Legislature.

The New York State Legislature has a long record of promoting “friendship” with the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese government.

According to data made available by the Asian American Business Development Center (AABDC), which has been organizing trade delegations from New York to China “specifically designed for state legislators and executives of small and mid-size businesses” since the early 2000s, then-State Senator Malcolm A. Smith, in collaboration with AABDC, led the first business mission to China in 2004. In 2006, the first group of New York State Assembly members formed the New Majority Trade Mission and embarked on a similar trip. One legislator recalled, “[E]verywhere we went, gifts, tea, and the red carpet were pulled out and showered upon us.”

For the following five years, AABDC has curated at least one trip annually with support from the Chinese Consulate in New York and Foreign Ministry-affiliated Chinese People’s Institute for Foreign Affairs. The 2007 “New York State Legislators Trade Mission to China” resulted in the decision to establish the state’s first official presence in China, namely, the New York in China Center in Beijing, which opened in 2008. In 2009, the New York State Legislature and Jiangsu Provincial People’s Congress (JPPC) signed a memorandum of understanding to “establish regular communication between Offices of the President Pro Tempore of the New York State Senate, the Speaker of the New York State Assembly, and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the JPPC Standing Committee” to support exchanges and cooperation.

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