Monica Medina, the wife of White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, repeatedly appeared on Chinese Community Party-owned news outlet China Global Television Network (CGTN). Each time she joined the propaganda-pushing network, she talked about climate change, thanks in large part to her credibility as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and her environmental e-newsletter, Our Daily Planet.
Medina is now part of the Biden administration where she serves as Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Science Affairs, which falls under the State Department.
On June 20, 2019, Medina appeared on CGTN America to discuss the effects climate change is having on China’s coastal industries. In that segment, she praised two of the CCP’s initiatives that she’s claimed were making an impact.
“The evidence is entirely behind the notion that either country, in the U.S. or in China, to see the impacts, to see the fish stock shifting. And things like satellite imagery and all kinds of new technology to make it clearer and clearer to people [that climate change is real],” she explained. “But I think even China’s Belt and Road Initiative and its Arctic Initiative show that, are ways that we can see the development happening.”
One day later, on June 21, Medina tweeted about the segment and included a link to the video.
“Can add TV interview in Asia to my list of cool things i have done!” Medina tweeted on June 21, 2019, according to The National Pulse. “Thanks @CGTNOfficial for having me on to talk about oceans and climate change in China.”
Can add TV interview in Asia to my list of cool things i have done! Thanks @CGTNOfficial for having me on to talk about oceans and climate change in China. https://t.co/QXabzzMmOI
— Monica Medina (@MonicaMedinaDC) June 21, 2019
According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, which includes a “vast collection of development and investment initiatives” that “would stretch from East Asia to Europe, significantly expanding China’s economic and political influence.” The project is believed to be China’s latest infrastructure project aimed at obtaining an economic advantage over the United States.
In an October 2019 appearance, Medina praised teen Greta Thunberg for bringing attention to the issue of climate change.
“I do think there is something about Greta Thunberg’s leadership,” Medina said about Thunberg’s activism. “In the last year, she’s empowered a lot of young people, but predominantly women and young women, and I think it’s because they see her as having an effective voice. And, again, they’re thinking ahead. They’re more attuned to the issue of climate themselves so they are thinking about the future they want to create.”
A few days later, on June 27, 2019, Medina made yet another appearance on CGTN America. During that segment, she talked about the impact festivals and concerts have on the surrounding environment, particularly with regard to how much trash events produce. She praised the UK and a few individual states in the U.S. that have made more “climate-friendly” moves, like banning plastic straws or taxing plastic bottles.
“The generation that attends these festivals are the perfect ones to educate about this issue and help them because they want to be more sustainable in everything that they do,” Medina said. “So they’re ready and willing, to change their ways, to not bring things in and just leave them there. They just need help.”
Interestingly enough, that segment failed to mention China’s pollution affecting the oceans.
According to The Wall Street Journal, researchers in the U.S. and Australia found that “China and Indonesia are likely the top sources of plastic reaching the oceans, accounting for more than a third of the plastic bottles, bags and other detritus washed out to sea.”
Medina’s involvement in the United States government presents two major issues. First, how can we trust the Biden administration to be tough on the Chinese Communist Party, especially in light of COVID, when the wife of the president’s chief of staff was cozying up to the CCP? And how do we know that China isn’t using Medina’s connections to the president to influence foreign policy?
These things have to be considered, especially with the Biden family’s own close ties to the Chinese.
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