Obama ambassador's institute funded by Chinese company that touts founder as 'outstanding' CCP member

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FIRST ON FOX: The institute founded by former President Obama's ambassador to China is funded by a Chinese company whose founder has deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and was recognized as the party’s "National Outstanding Communist Party Member" in 2021, Fox News Digital has learned. 

The Max S. Baucus Institute at the University of Montana School of Law, which was co-founded by former Ambassador to China Max Baucus and his wife in 2017 after their return from China following the Obama administration, released its annual report last month thanking Chinese company Wanxiang Group as one of its "major" corporate sponsors.

"In 2022, we received $1.15 million from foundations, individuals, and corporations," the report said. "We thank these generous donors for supporting our mission."

Wanxiang Group is listed as one of the major donors along with nine others, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The Baucus Institute said it had raised a total of $3 million to date with a goal of $15 million.

U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus (2L) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping (4L) as Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (3L) looks on during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People April 9, 2014 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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According to a 2021 press release by Wanxiang Group, the CCP posthumously awarded the company’s founder, Lu Guanqiu, the title of "National Outstanding Communist Party Member." He passed away in October 2017 at the age of 72.

Wanxiang Group praised Lu Guanqiu in the release as regarding "the pursuit of communism as a lifelong ideal and practice," and it said he "insisted that the development of an enterprise is inseparable from the correct leadership of the party."

A 2018 press release by Wanxiang Group quoted company President Lu Weiding as describing his father, Lu Guanqiu, as "the eternal chairman of the board of directors." Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a symposium at the time on "private" business, where he praised Lu Guanqiu as a "pioneer of reform of private enterprises," the press release said.

"That night, when reading the relevant news published by People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency, Zhejiang News etc. on the Internet, and especially seeing [General Secretary Xi Jinping's] summary and comments on the founder of Wanxiang, Lu Guanqiu, Wanxiang people were so excited that they couldn’t help sharing the good news with everyone they knew," the press release continued.

The founder's bio on the Wanxiang website says he was elected as the 13th and 14th Representatives of the Communist Part of China, and a delegate to the 9th, 10th, and 11th Chinese National People's Congress. 

US Ambassador to China Max Baucus (C) looks on as US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) introduces his delegation to Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on January 27, 2016. (Photo credit should read ANDY WONG/AFP via Getty Images)

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The Baucus Institute currently offers a China study abroad program, called the "Baucus Institute-Wanxiang Fellow Summer Study Abroad Program," which sends University of Montana students to Hangzhou. Co-hosting the program with the Baucus Institute is the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), which was founded by top CCP official Tung Chee-hwa.

Tung is vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which was described as a "central part" of China’s united front system, working to "co-opt and neutralize sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of its ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP)," according to a 2018 report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a U.S. government agency.  

Tung also founded CUSEF, which has bankrolled several American universities, think tanks and nonprofit organizations, and has received increased scrutiny over the last few years for its activity with the CCP’s "United Front" system, the sprawling CCP apparatus that conducts influence operations abroad, the Washington Free Beacon reported last year. Tung continues to be listed as chairman of the foundation on CUSEF’s website.

According to the Baucus Institute’s website, the China study abroad program is almost fully funded by CUSEF.

"Thanks to the generosity of CUSEF, nearly all expenses are covered, including lodging, travel insurance, breakfasts at hotels, and group meals," reads the program application. "However, flights to and from China and expenses such as overweight luggage and personal purchases are NOT covered."

U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus speaks before First Lady Michelle Obama delivers a speech at the Stanford Center at Peking University on March 22, 2014 in Beijing, China. Michelle Obama's one-week-long visit in China will be focused on educational and cultural exchanges.  (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images)

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A Baucus Institute newsletter published last spring highlighted a student in the "Baucus Climate Scholars" program who went on to work for Wanxiang Group, and it quoted him as saying he was "super enthusiastic" about drafting "a report regarding sustainable topics" for the company.

Baucus and his assistant could not be reached for comment.

The Max S. Baucus Institute and the University of Montana did not respond to Fox News Digital’s inquiries asking how much money Wanxiang Group has given to the institute or whether it receives any funding from the University of Montana.

The Baucus Institute became a 501(c)(3) last year, meaning it's approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a tax-exempt, charitable organization, and is a tax write-off for donors.

Baucus, who served as a senator from Montana from 1978 to 2014, has raised eyebrows for his views on China.

In May 2020, Baucus went on CNN International and compared then-President Trump's rhetoric on China to rhetoric from Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

"The administration's rhetoric is so strong against China, it's over the top. We're entering an era which is similar to Joe McCarthy back when he was red-baiting in the State Department and attacking communism, and a little bit like Hitler in the '30s," Baucus said.

"Now in the United States, if anybody says anything reasonable about China, he or she feels intimidated, worried his head is going to be chopped off. Back in the '30s in Germany, it was very similar," he continued.

"On the U.S. side, for example, I am just concerned that there may be some thinking in the U.S. that we should prevent China's rise," he told CGTN, a CCP-controlled news channel, in April 2019. "That is not good faith. That is bad faith. It will cause problems."

"I think, frankly speaking, it is wrong to talk about decoupling because that has very negative connotations," he said at the time.

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Meanwhile, Wanxiang America Corporation, a U.S. subsidiary of Wanxiang Group, based in Elgin, Illinois, has become prevalent in the American auto industry. According to China Daily, a CCP-run newspaper, it has 28 manufacturing operations in the U.S.

For example, in 2010, the state of Illinois awarded $4 million in public funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to help Wanxiang America and New Generation Power build a solar power facility in Rockford, Illinois.

In 2014, Wanxiang Group purchased the U.S. company Fisker Automotive and renamed it Karma Automotive, which manufactures luxury electric vehicles in California.

When Biden was vice president, he hosted a White House meeting with Wanxiang America President Pin Ni and Wanxiang Resources Co. President Youhong Han on July 25, 2014, according to White House visitor logs first reported last year by The Daily Mail. According to the CCP-run China Daily, Biden had "invited" the Wanxiang executives to visit several cities in the U.S. in July 2014, including Washington, Detroit, and Dover, Delaware.

Hunter Biden is also linked to former Amb. Baucus and Wanxiang Group.

Hunter had previously purchased a $140,000 Fisker electric sports cars using funds from his Rosemont Seneca firm. Less than a week after the Wanxiang executives met with Hunter’s father, Pin Ni sent Hunter an email about the car, according to a review of emails from Hunter’s infamous abandoned laptop that have been verified by Fox News Digital.

(Fox News Digital)

"My name is Pin Ni and I am the president of Wanxiang America which bought Fisker assets a few months ago. Last Friday when we visited DC, I heard that your Fisker is out of order and could not get serviced. Sorry," Pin wrote. "Yesterday the bankruptcy judge had approved Old Fisker's plan of liquidation in which we will be offering warrantee service to all Fisker owners, it would be our honor to get your Fisker fixed."

Less than a week after the Wanxiang executives met with Hunter’s father in July 2014, the company's president, Pin Ni, sent Hunter Biden an email about his Fisker car. (Fox News Digital)

Hunter then informed Pin that he ended up selling the car back to the dealer "at a big loss," to which Pin responded that he would "make sure your next Fisker will exceed the expectation," including a smiling emoticon.

(L-R) US Vice President Joe Biden, US Ambassador to China Max Baucus, US President Barack Obama, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew walk across Pennsylvania Avenue from Blair House to the White House following a dinner with China's President Xi Jinping on September 24, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital also previously reported that Hunter boasted about having a "very good relationship" with former Ambassador Baucus prior to his business associates arranging multiple meetings with him, according to emails.

Less than two months after Baucus was sworn in by then-Vice President Biden as ambassador in late February 2014, Hunter and his business associates at BHR Partners began arranging meetings with Baucus.

"On Baucus- we have a very very good relationship and I can ask anything we need- don't need his best friend if that's why you are mtg him," Hunter wrote on April 21, 2014.

On April 21, 2014, Hunter Biden sent an email to Archer insisting that he was really close with Baucus and "can ask anything we need." (Fox News Digital)

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The revelation of the Baucus Institute's ties to Wanxiang comes days after the former senator did an interview with Politico, where he reflected on his long career in the Senate and his role as the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, in addition to representing the United States in China.

During the interview, Baucus said he has "always" had an interest in China and that when he was a Senator he would always invite the new Chinese ambassador to U.S. in DC to Montana for "several days," including the current top ambassador and said he has been doing this "for years." He also said he has taken Montana delegations to China "many times" and briefly discussed the Max S. Baucus Institute.