China expert warns Beijing wants Americans — not the CCP — to spread its message

Congress will examine how foreign adversaries — particularly China — seek to influence American public opinion and policymaking at a hearing in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

One of the expert witnesses told Fox News Digital ahead of the hearing that Beijing's greater advantage lies in shaping debate inside the United States through American organizations rather than direct Chinese propaganda.

Matthew Johnson, a China expert and senior fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, said Beijing increasingly seeks to influence debates over national security and other strategic issues by working through American institutions and organizations, making its messages appear homegrown rather than directed by the Chinese government.

HOUSE PANEL TO PROBE FOREIGN ‘TROJAN HORSES’ AS SINGHAM SCRUTINY WIDENS "The idea is that it's not the Communist Party talking, it's actually institutions and individuals in the United States who are talking," Johnson told Fox News Digital.

"That's actually the best outcome because then it looks organic... it looks like it's somehow being produced from within our society as opposed to by external actors." Johnson said one of Beijing's current priorities is slowing U.S. advances in artificial intelligence and data-center infrastructure —an area he said Chinese leaders view as central to strategic competition with the United States.

He said China's influence strategy combines grassroots activism with efforts to shape thinking among academics, policy experts and other influential voices.

His testimony comes as Congress continues examining the funding network linked to Shanghai-based Marxist tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham , whose nonprofits have become the subject of congressional investigations and a federal criminal probe.

Fox News Digital previously reported that Singham directed at least $285 million into six pro-China, pro-communist nonprofit organizations beginning in 2017, including CodePink .

Singham and the organizations have denied taking direction from the Chinese government, and neither Singham nor the organizations have been charged with wrongdoing.

HOUSE PANEL SUBPOENAS 3 LEFT-WING GROUPS IN PROBE OF $39M TIED TO MARXIST TYCOON NEVILLE SINGHAM Johnson is scheduled to testify Tuesday before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on South and Central Asia, which will hold a hearing titled "Trojan Horses: Covert Foreign Malign Influence Operations in America." Lawmakers are expected to examine how foreign adversaries, including China, Cuba and Iran , may use nonprofits, activist networks and other organizations to shape U.S. public opinion and policy.

"My goal is to raise the curtain to expose these operations and stop them from undermining our national security, capitalism and the American Dream," committee Chairman Rep.