Nick Shirley revealed the scope and threatening rot that fraud poses to taxpayers in Minnesota and California, but what about when states work with China to impose regulations and raise the cost of living for Americans?

In 2013, California signed an agreement with China to jointly lower carbon emissions by restricting the energy consumption of buildings and vehicles. The move was not merely symbolic. From 2015 onward, Sacramento worked with China to coordinate the formation of energy and climate policy. California voters never agreed to this, nor did they agree to let the University of California (UC) work with a Chinese university tied to the Chinese Communist Party to develop new ways to oversee their lives.

In 2015, the UC system and China’s Tsinghua University signed an agreement to establish a joint research center called the California China Climate Institute (CCCI). This center is designed to enhance climate change policy and integrate new technologies into infrastructure. The Constitution forbids states from entering into treaties, yet California passed Assembly Bill 39 to formalize cooperation between the UC system and Tsinghua University. In 2017, California signed agreements with China’s provinces of Sichuan and Jiangsu to establish “representative offices” aimed at transferring technology from California to China and working to reorient the economy towards zero emissions. 

As the National Association of Scholars documents in its report Behind the Climate Curtain: China’s Hidden Role in California’s Energy Mandates and University Partnerships, these relationships are institutional partnerships embedded into California law and regulatory development.

The California-China Clean Technology Partnership Fund was established to facilitate the joint development of information technology. UC Davis’s own China-U.S. ZEV Policy Lab created a “working group” to “expand cooperation with Chinese zero-emission vehicle and battery technology companies.” Then-California Governor Jerry Brown and the head of California’s top climate regulator, Mary D. Nichols, met with Chinese electric vehicle (EV) companies BYD, the Beijing Auto Group, Great Wall, and Chinese battery manufacturers. Los Angeles Chief Sustainability Officer Matt Peterson also attended the meeting, stressing the need for local governments to work toward a “zero-emission future.” The Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) helped establish the China Trade and Investment Network, a public-private partnership intended to strengthen ties between China and the Golden State.

This cooperation was more than mere lip service because it was codified into law. AB 39 explicitly states that the CCCI:

would require the institute to foster collaboration to inform and shape climate policy and advance the goals of the Paris Agreement, advance joint policy research on major climate issues, support high-level dialogue on specific climate issues, and provide training to specified entities to advance climate and environmental policies.

The law goes deeper by embedding Chinese personnel into California’s regulatory machinery. AB39 explicitly declares that it seeks to provide:

training to Californian and Chinese researchers, scientists, technical experts, policymakers, and other leaders to advance critical climate and environmental policies, including, but not necessarily limited to, air quality, carbon pricing, carbon emissions, clean energy, and innovation.

California’s Chinese partner in Tsinghua University is no normal school, but is overseen by China’s State Administration for Science, Technology, Industry, and National Defense and deemed to be a very high national security risk. Tsinghua has developed technology used in human rights violations in Xinjiang Province, and has been tied to cyberattacks against U.S. companies, the State of Alaska, and countries such as Brazil, Kenya, and Mongolia. Despite Tsinghua’s risk profile and track record, AB39 by law makes Tsinghua University and its Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development Sacramento’s explicit policy partner.

This partnership is deeper than black letter law, and can be seen in personnel decisions. In 2019, the CCCI stated its effort to create “close relationships between Chinese nationals and the California Air Resources Board in formulating air quality standards.” CARB went ahead and hired Chinese nationals to work in policy positions aimed at formalizing regulatory standards. 

One of the main research goals of CCCI was to examine how to harmonize carbon markets and create a “universal carbon price.” This effort aims to create demand for EVs and green energy products, which China produces more of than any other country. Sacramento’s 2018 Executive Order B-55-18, which mandates “carbon neutrality by 2045,” essentially requires California to adopt Chinese technologies and products on a massive scale. Through “cap-and-trade” and Sacramento’s sale of “allowances,” California’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund amassed $31.4 billion by 2025 to fund climate change projects that rely largely on Chinese technologies.

Just as businesses and consumers rushed to meet California’s climate mandates, energy costs for Californians skyrocketed. Residential electricity rates for Pacific Gas and Electric rose by 104 percent between 2015 and 2025. Rates for customers of Southern California Edison rose by 83 percent over the same period. Average electricity costs for homeowners across all income levels increased faster than inflation by $21 per month, while the state’s average electricity price rose from 30 percent above the national average to more than 80 percent above it. Economics alone cannot explain this, but Sacramento’s predatory climate policies and love affair with Beijing can.

Fraud is terrible, but worse than fraud is the construction of a system by lawmakers that hurts the citizens and consumers that lawmakers are meant to represent. Beneath the buzzing catchphrase of “affordability” this year, look behind the curtain of what your lawmakers are doing, because there is a good chance that they are meeting with Beijing behind your back.