Analysis by Joe Schaeffer, 247 Real News
Do American consumers know what is going in on the boardrooms of mega corporations they patronize?
In December 2020 The Epoch Times disturbingly reported that "Hundreds of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members are embedded within the Chinese divisions of major U.S. corporations, from IBM to PepsiCo to 3M, a leaked CCP-member database revealed.... Dow Chemical Company, one of the world’s three largest chemical producers, lists 337 CCP members in four Party committees.
"Other notable U.S. firms on the list include Westin Hotel & Resorts owned by Marriott International (23 members); analytics firm Nielsen Holdings (94); leading food company Mars Food (14); and insurance provider MetLife (31)." Readers may have missed it but in late March U.S.-based multinational insurance giant MetLife released its 2030 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Commitments.
The numbers were quite impressive:
MetLife will originate $1 billion in investments that advance firms owned by women, minorities and disabled persons. MetLife made a down payment on this commitment with nearly $100 million deployed in 2021.
A press release by the company stated:The financial components of these commitments total more than $2.5 billion by 2030.
“Every MetLife employee plays an important role in achieving our DEI objectives,” said MetLife Global Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer Dr. Cindy Pace. “By embedding these commitments directly into the work our teams do each day, we’re able to tap into fresh ideas and expertise that will have a meaningful impact on the diverse customers and communities we serve.”
CEO Michel Khalaf is prominently quoted:MetLife’s purpose calls on us to build a more inclusive and equitable world for all our stakeholders. The breadth of these commitments demonstrates that we are significantly advancing our DEI efforts on every front. Setting clear expectations for our progress will hold us accountable and sustain our momentum.
During the summer of George Floyd, MetLife was quick to jump on the Black Lives Matter bandwagon, announcing an added $5 million commitment to "advance racial equity":MetLife Foundation today announced that it is committing an additional $5 million over the next three years to advance racial equity in the United States. The Foundation will use these funds to promote Black educational and career opportunities, Black business ownership, and racial-justice initiatives.
The homosexual and transgender agenda is also provided for as part of the DEI umbrella. MetLife boasts of its membership in the Human Rights Campaign’s Business Coalition for the Equality Act, radical legislation that among other things would codify men competing in women’s sports into protected civil rights law. But nowhere will you find any concerted effort on the part of MetLife to pressure one of its prime business partners to stop committing brutal human rights abuses against the racial minorities under its thumb. MetLife will not jeopardize its China ties to help the Uighurs.Once again, corporate wokeness in America amounts to little more than window dressing for a multinational firm as it works closely with the communist tyrants in China. The Epoch Times report states that CCP embeds is all part of a deliberate operation by the Chinese government:
Creating more Party units within companies in China has been one of the top priorities for the CCP’s Organization Department, a core Party organ that oversees staffing of government officials nationwide, according to Qi Yu, a former deputy head of the department.
Qi, who currently serves as the Party committee secretary at the Chinese foreign ministry, said at an October 2017 news conference in Beijing that the regime requires corporate Party organizations to “organically integrate Party activities with the firm’s production in order to support companies’ healthy development,” according to People’s Daily.
Most Party organization activities center around patriotic education to ensure employees toe the Party line.
MetLife is heavily invested in China. It even runs a joint-venture company with a Chinese firm in Shanghai as part of its deep business involvement in the Asian superpower nation. And its CEO Khalaf sits on the boards of two of the leading corporate advocates for China in the U.S. today: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's China Center Advisory Board and the U.S.-China Business Council. From a 2020 U.S. Chamber announcement:As part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s commitment to help our members realize commercial opportunities in the world’s second largest economy and navigate ongoing challenges in U.S.-China relations, the Chamber today announced Michel Khalaf, president and CEO of MetLife, as the new Chairman of its China Center Advisory Board. Khalaf’s term will run through the end of 2022.
Quote from Khalaf:“The U.S.-China relationship is more important than ever,” Khalaf said. “Despite current challenges, business engagement helps advance a mutually beneficial framework for long-term economic growth in both countries. The China Center plays a key role in driving constructive dialogue, and I am honored to help lead its efforts.”
The US-China Business Council is a notorious apologist for the Chinese regime. Among its recent endeavors is a strident effort to end all U.S. tariffs against China. Reuters article posted on its website:China's commerce ministry hopes the United States will remove tariffs on Chinese goods and stop cracking down on Chinese firms as soon as possible, ministry spokesperson Shu Jueting told regular news conference on Thursday.
A stable and healthy bilateral trade relations will help stabilize global supply chains and the global economic recovery, Shu said after a U.S.-China Business Council report said China is still an important export destination for the United States.
From a March 24 Council statement decrying some tariffs against China that still remain under the Biden administration:“We know that the tariffs are a tax on US businesses and consumers, that they haven’t influenced China’s behavior — which was the purported justification — they likely contribute to domestic inflation, and they negatively affect US companies of all sizes, especially many smaller businesses that struggle to survive after more than two years of a pandemic,” said Craig Allen, president of USCBC. “The tariffs should be eliminated. They serve no useful purpose or policy goal.”
This statement was released within days of Khalaf's MetLife roll-out of its woke diversity 2030 report.Silence on the suffering of the Uighurs and employees made to obey communist party commands. It’s a part of the MetLife corporate culture that somehow doesn’t make its way into the multi-billion-dollar diversity, equity and inclusion commitments.
Free Press International
