The Committee of 100 is a nonprofit group that describes itself as “a leadership organization of prominent Chinese Americans in business, government, academia, and the arts.” ¹ According to a 2019 column written by Mark Simon, a former senior director at Hong Kong-based newspaper Apple Daily, “The Committee of 100 is a pro-Beijing group, concerned almost exclusively with the interests aligned with those of the Chinese Communist Party. ²

History

In October 2022, the Committee issued a statement labeling a series of ads used by Republican Congresswoman Michelle Steel, who was running for California’s 45th District seat during the 2022 midterm election, as “racist attacks and advertisements” ³ against Democratic challenger Jay Chen. ⁴ The ads denounced Chen’s previous support for the Confucius Classroom Program, a program previously criticized as supposedly being run and funded by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Chinese Ministry of Education to apply educators and curriculum to K-12 schools across the United States to “teach their students Chinese language and culture.” ^{5 6} The program is also linked to the Confucius Institute program, a similar group that has been accused of applying “Beijing-backed…curriculum” ⁷ to U.S universities and colleges, and was even labeled a “foreign mission of the PRC” ⁸ by the U.S Department of State in 2020, further noting it as “an entity advancing Beijing’s global propaganda and malign influence campaign on U.S. campuses and K-12 classrooms.” ⁹

1. “Mission and History.” Committee of 100, Accessed December 8, 2022. https://www.committee100.org/mission-history/
2. Simon, Mark. “How the ‘Committee of 100’ is doing Beijing’s bidding in the US.” Hong Kong Free Press, May 1, 2019. https://hongkongfp.com/2019/05/01/committee-100-beijings-bidding-us/
3. “Committee of 100 Statement on the Negative Rhetoric in the Race to Represent U.S. House of Representatives California District 45.” Committee of 100, October 25, 2022. https://www.committee100.org/press_release/committee-of-100-statement-on-the-negative-rhetoric-in-the-race-to-represent-u-s-house-of-representatives-california-district-45/
4. Anderson, Colin. “Meet the California Dem Who Invited the CCP Into His Local Classrooms.” The Washington Free Beacon, February 17, 2022. https://freebeacon.com/democrats/meet-the-ca-dem-who-invited-the-ccp-into-his-local-classrooms/
5. Anderson, Colin. “Meet the California Dem Who Invited the CCP Into His Local Classrooms.” The Washington Free Beacon, February 17, 2022. https://freebeacon.com/democrats/meet-the-ca-dem-who-invited-the-ccp-into-his-local-classrooms/
6. Anderson, Colin. “Meet the California Dem Who Invited the CCP Into His Local Classrooms.” The Washington Free Beacon, February 17, 2022. https://freebeacon.com/democrats/meet-the-ca-dem-who-invited-the-ccp-into-his-local-classrooms/
7. Anderson, Colin. “Meet the Beijing-Aligned Group That Branded a Republican’s Tough-on-China Rhetoric ‘Racist’.” The Washington Free Beacon, December 5, 2022. https://freebeacon.com/national-security/meet-the-beijing-aligned-group-that-branded-a-republicans-tough-on-china-rhetoric-racist/
8. Press Statement: Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State. “Designation of the Confucius Institute U.S. Center as a Foreign Mission of the PRC.” U.S Department of State, August 13, 2020. https://2017-2021.state.gov/designation-of-the-confucius-institute-u-s-center-as-a-foreign-mission-of-the-prc/index.html
9. Press Statement: Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State. “Designation of the Confucius Institute U.S. Center as a Foreign Mission of the PRC.” U.S Department of State, August 13, 2020. https://2017-2021.state.gov/designation-of-the-confucius-institute-u-s-center-as-a-foreign-mission-of-the-prc/index.html