CGTN Posts Video Targetting NED as ‘Second CIA’ in Hong Kong ‘Democracy’ Violence

Aug. 27, 2019 (EIRNS)—In a hard-hitting video posted Aug. 22 on the CGTN website, entitled “Who’s Behind the Hong Kong Protests?” the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is targeted as a part of what is popularly characterized as “the Asian Division of the CIA.” The 9-minute video (available on CGTN’s YouTube channel) details Hong Kong’s proposed extradition law which became the pretext for the protests. It then exposes that there are literally thousands of British and U.S. intelligence agents freely operating in Hong Kong, which CGTN says has earned the city “the nickname of the ‘Asian Division of the CIA.’ ” These agents operate with impunity, because China has no authority over them under the terms of “One Country, Two Systems.” “The Chinese authorities are not able to bring these agents to justice if they commit offenses as long as they remain in Hong Kong even though it’s part of China,” the narrator says.

The proposed law was withdrawn, but, says CGTN, “If the law changed, Hong Kong would no longer be a haven for criminals. You might say this is pure speculation, but let’s take a look at this NGO, National Endowment for Democracy. The NED is a self-proclaimed organization for supporting freedom around the world. But the truth couldn’t be further from that. In fact, it’s a ‘second CIA,’ according to one of its founders, Allen Weinstein.” The broadcast then quotes Weinstein telling the Washington Post to that effect, that the NED does now what “ ‘was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.’ ”

CGTN develops some of the concrete connections of the NED, its meetings with the various figures of the Hong Kong “democracy movement,” Martin Lee, Nathan Law, Lee Cheuk-yan, et al., followed shortly thereafter by meetings between Lee and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington. It also details the U.S. Consulate’s Julie Eadeh rendezvous with leading figures in the movement. The video exposes the connection between Apple Daily’s Jimmy Lai, who met with Vice President Mike Pence, and Mark Simon, a close collaborator of Lai who is called a “man of mystery with ties to the CIA.” While Simon denies being CIA, Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post wrote that Simon’s father had worked for the CIA for 35 years, and that Simon himself had interned with CIA and “U.S. intelligence.” CGTN also demonstrates that leading figures had already met with NED and U.S. officials during the “2014 Occupy Movement,” when they came to Washington to discuss the establishment of a “democracy movement” in Hong Kong. The video exposé also quotes former Pentagon analyst and China-basher Michael Pillsbury, who says that the NED has funded millions of dollars of programs, and admits that this partially justifies Chinese claims of “Western involvement.”