(RepublicanDaily.org) – An Associated Press investigation revealed that the Chinese Communist Party state had used the American church of Mormon to influence United States politics, Newsweek reported.The Chinese state has found an “unlikely friend” in Utah, The Washington Post reported. The Chinese state has allegedly “fostered ties’ in Utah, working through the Mormon church. Major media outlets cited the Associated Press’ findings, which traces findings such as printed letters dating February 2020 to the unearthed influence campaign.
The findings of the investigation reportedly originated with an Associated Press report released on March 27. The report found that “China and its U.S.-based advocates” had been formulating ties with Utah’s officials, and their connections to the religion, which was founded in Utah and is practiced by a majority of its residents.
China and the church of Mormon have had ties reaching back years. Open Edition Journals published in 2014, stated that, unlike other religious movements that have elected to go underground in the Chinese regime, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as Mormonism is formally called, has chosen instead to comply with the regime law and had, at the time of the review, negotiated with the state to establish official authorization to conduct religious activities. The presence of Mormon studies and other activities has been in China since approximately the 1990s, a study by the Shanghai Institute of Socialism wrote in 2021. In the 2010s, the Mormon church sought to “regulate” their Chinese churches, and cooperate with the regime, The Seattle Times wrote.
U.S. foreign relations with China have become increasingly more intense with the Chinese regime, as Congress’ concerns over the Chinese regime’s political influence have increased. Earlier in March, Congress held a hearing to interrogate social media giant TIkTok’s CEO about the use of American data on the Chinese-state-owned platform. The CEO’s grilling, which was broadcast by C-SPan, had followed a tense early 2023 where the United States detected and shot down a Chinese state-linked surveillance balloon that had deployed from Hainan Island, PRC, and was spotted floating over United States airspace.
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