Dot-Connecting Between Angela Chao and Mitch McConnell

CommentaryOn Feb. 12, 50-year-old Angela Chao was found dead in her Tesla that was submerged in a pond on private property in Blanco County, Texas, according to the incident report from fire department EMS personnel. Chao was the sixth and youngest daughter of Chinese-American shipping magnate Dr. James Si-Cheng Chao, who founded the New York-headquartered Foremost Group in 1964. Angela had been CEO of the company since 2018 and was a founding member of The Asian American Foundation.On Feb. 28, 82-year-old Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced his intention to step down from his leadership position in November.Angela Chao was the sister-in-law of Mitch McConnell, and speculation has been rife about these two seemingly unrelated events. Is there any connection other than familial? Let us examine the topic.Angela ChaoAngela Chao lived in Austin, Texas, and “served on the boards of American and Chinese groups, including the American Bureau of Shipping Council, the Bank of China, and a holding company for China State Shipbuilding,” MSN reported. Her connections to China loom large, particularly in her capacity as the former chair of the US Risk and Management Committee of Bank of China USA, a director of the holding company for state-run China State Shipbuilding, and as a former vice chair of the Council of China’s Foreign Trade. China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) builds ships for the People’s Liberation Army-Navy while the Council of China’s Foreign Trade is a promotional group created by Beijing to facilitate Chinese trade worldwide. Why did the CCP place such trust in Angela Chao?Her father maintained connections to Chinese communists at the highest levels. As noted here, he “cultivated a close relationship with Jiang Zemin, a former schoolmate from Shanghai” who later became the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and the 5th communist president of China from 1993–2003. The rise of the Foremost Group mirrored the rise of Jiang in the CCP hierarchy. There are no such things as coincidences.Lastly, according to China Insights, the Chao family “is known in overseas Chinese circles as ‘The First Chinese American Family,’” with James Chao known as the “Chinese Ship King.” That moniker was well-earned.Mitch McConnellMcConnell will step down in November as the longest-serving party leader ever in the U.S. Senate. He was first elected to the Senate in 1985 and rose to Republican minority leader in 2007 and later majority leader in 2015 before reverting to minority leader in 2021. He married his second wife Elaine Chao in February 1993. Together, they became an important political power couple in Washington, D.C., with Ms. Chao having served as U.S. Secretary of Labor from 2001–2009 and Secretary of Transportation from 2017–2021.Related StoriesIn his 2018 book “Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends,” investigative journalist Peter Schweizer noted that McConnell had hardline positions on communist China before his marriage to Chao. That seemed to change just a year after their marriage and in 1994 he was invited by China State Shipbuilding Corporation (!) to meet then-Party leader Jiang Zemin and Vice Premiere Li Lanqing as arranged by Chao’s father James. As reported by the New York Post, Schweizer maintained in his book that McConnell “would increasingly avoid public criticism of China” as additional meetings and visits were conducted over the years. Perhaps that shift was facilitated by a multi-million dollar “gift” from James Chao to Mitch and Elaine in 2008 that increased McConnell’s net worth nearly 10-fold.Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) participates in a mock swearing-in as his wife Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao holds a Bible, in the Old Senate Chamber at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 3, 2021. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool via AP)Other McConnell gifts to China over the years included the following, as documented by Schweizer:He defended communist China in its actions against Hong Kong and Taiwan.He claimed that “the United States needed to be ‘ambiguous’ as to whether we would come to the defense of Taiwan if attacked by China.”When needed to continue China’s most-favored-nation status with the United States, he cosponsored S.2277, which removed the requirement that China had to demonstrate progress on human rights after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.Chao, for her part while Secretary of Labor, opposed a petition filed against China on the subject of worker’s rights based on the U.S. Trade Act of 1974 while also criticizing a bipartisan congressional report citing Chinese espionage against the United States.A moderate Republican, McConnell clashed with populist President Donald Trump on various policy issues, including China tariffs and closing the border, to the point of threatening the president with impeachment if he pardoned Julian Assange in the final hours of his presidency, as reported by Tucker Carl