Stonebridge in the Spotlight

Harper’s Magazine Washington editor Ken Silverstein lays bare the way American big business drives a pro-engagement China policy here (subscription). Both Democratic and Republican political appointee diplomats and analysts tend to go through the revolving door to consulting work which depends on good connections with Chinese officials; hence they have a strong incentive not to rock the boat while they are in office.
Of particular note is the raft of Obama advisors who work for Stonebridge International, co-founded by Sandy Berger. The advisory firm helps American companies expand into China, and has employed Democratic China hands Jeffrey Bader, Kenneth Lieberthal, Henry Levine and Amy Celico. Meanwhile, John McCain is close to Brent Scowcroft, whose Scowcroft Group plays the same game.
However, as one Washingtonian China critic pointed out to us, the Silverstein article gets the big picture correct, but it misses one interesting aspect of the 2008 campaign: Both Obama and McCain have top foreign policy advisors who are decidedly not on the China gravy train: Greg Craig and Randy Scheunemann.
Update: As if on cue, on Wednesday Jeffrey Bader and Richard Bush published an op-ed advising both candidates not to criticize China during the campaign. American presidents must go along quietly in order to win China’s trust, you see.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 at 5:25 pm and is filed under China, Travellers' Tales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.