Foreign governments have always had the privilege of hiring the cream of Washington, D.C.’s establishment to lobby for them. Friendly and not-so-friendly countries spend millions for prestigious law firms to make their case in the White House, on Capital Hill, and in countless regulatory agencies.
Some members of Congress think that China falls into the not-so-friendly category, and lobbying by that country is drawing scrutiny. Early in the decade, Congress created the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission, whose mandate is “monitor, investigate [and] report on the national security implications” of the economic relationship between the U.S. and China. The membership is about evenly divided between former government officials and those from the private sector.
