Just several weeks after meeting in Beijing with Chinese anti-corruption tsar Wang Qishan, Steve Bannon is apparently hanging out with a man who has been hurling damning accusations at Wang.
Exiled billionaire Guo Wengui has been intermittently posting unsubstantiated allegations of corruption against Wang, one of Xi Jinping’s most powerful allies, timed ahead of the party congress to be held later this month. While China seemed to back down from their pressure on Guo in May — allowing his family members to leave China and sparking speculation that Guo may have had some real evidence — the campaign against Guo has only accelerated since then.
The drama resurfaced last week when a talk featuring Guo was abruptly canceled by New York-based think tank the Hudson Institute, amid accusations that China had initiated a cyberattack on the group’s website.
Guo has managed to keep the spotlight on his bid to be granted asylum in the US this week, tweeting images of himself and Steve Bannon looking thick as thieves. Guo did not say what they discussed but did say Bannon consented to the photos being shared online.
After Bannon’s recent trip to China and meeting with Wang Qishan, Bloomberg published an interview in which Bannon identified China as the primary economic threat to the US.