Chubb Insurance CEO targeted in new campaign over China connections

FIRST ON FOX: Consumers’ Research, a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to informing consumers and fighting woke corporations, launched a new campaign Thursday targeting insurance giant Chubb Limited and its CEO Evan Greenberg, alleging “deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).”

The campaign, which faces backlash from a Chubb official and two prominent China hawks accusing the nonprofit of distorting Greenberg’s views, is part of a seven-figure initiative called “China Chubb.” The campaign accuses the insurance company and its CEO of “coziing up to the CCP” and “using their market power and resources to impose a woke political agenda on the American people.”

The effort is part of Consumers’ Research’s Consumers First initiative, aimed at exposing companies that the group says put politics before consumers. Chubb’s operations span 54 countries, including China, the territories and all 50 states, and employ more than 40,000 people worldwide.

Consumers’ Research says the campaign will include a national campaign 30-second TV ad titled “China Chubb”, which will begin to be broadcast across the country after the launch.

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Consumer’s Research launched a scathing ad about Chubb Insurance’s connection to China. (Embassy of the People’s Republic of China)

The campaign also includes a new website, ChinaChubb.com; a mobile billboard that will circulate throughout Washington, DC, including Capitol Hill and Chubb’s Washington offices; and a targeted digital push with sponsored content across social media platforms and online media.

The ad campaign received harsh criticism from a Chubb spokesperson, who called it “completely dishonest” in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“Evan has denounced China’s authoritarian approach and predatory practices. He has repeatedly called on the United States to stand up and defend its interests,” the spokesperson said.

Robert O’Brien, former national security adviser to President Donald Trump, also pushed back on the ad in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“I’ve been working with Evan Greenberg for several years now on U.S. relations with China,” O’Brien said. “In my dealings with Evan, he championed U.S. interests in the region. Through his operations in China, his company helped reduce the U.S. trade deficit.”

However, a Fox News Digital investigation found that Greenberg has personal and professional ties to the CCP, including meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and public statements praising the CCP’s overall vision.

Earlier this year, Greenberg would have attended China’s prestigious China Development Forum alongside leaders like Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman and Mastercard’s Michael Miebach. The annual forum, which brings together delegates from around the world, also provides access to dozens of senior CCP officials, according to a delegate list released earlier this year.

During that same week, Greenberg was pictured in a press release released by the Chinese government showing him shaking hands with Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, a high-ranking position in the CCP. The press release paraphrases Greenberg as saying: “The relationship between the United States and China is the most important bilateral relationship in the world.”

In 2024, Greenberg was photographed not only shake hands with Xi in Beijing as chairman of the National Committee on US-China Relations. He also made glowing remarks about China’s “resilience and vitality.”

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Evan Greenberg shaking hands with Chinese President Xi (Embassy of the People’s Republic of China)

“China’s exceptional economic growth and transformation over the past decades attest to its strong resilience and vitality,” Greenberg said.

In November 2023, it Xi introduced at an event in San Francisco.

“Like many others in this room, I believe that a strong and prosperous China that supports and invests in the international system can be a positive force for the world,” Greenberg said at the event.

“We are gathered today to hear President Xi speak about his vision for the future of his country and the United States-China relationship. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in warmly welcoming President Xi Jinping.”

The same month, Evan Greenberg was elected to the board of directors of the National Committee on
U.S.-China relations after being “an exemplary member” of the board of directors and a leader of the National Committee and having “supported the mission of the Committee.” The National Committee for U.S.-China Relations sold $40,000 worth of tickets to Americans and U.S. businesses so they could sit at Xi Jinping’s table at the welcome banquet in San Francisco attended by several other senior CCP officials and guests. scathing letter of the House Select Committee on the CCP.

In 2022, Xi sent personal greetings at a gala honoring Greenberg. Meanwhile, Greenberg serves on the advisory board of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, an institution attached directly to China’s national security and defense apparatus. That university operates under a wing of the Chinese government known for developing defense technology, a connection that would likely raise red flags for any U.S. executive overseeing sensitive insurance data.

Greenberg is not the only high-profile U.S. business leader on the board, a group that includes Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Evan Greenberg, CEO of Chubb, with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China Wang Yi (Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Greenberg also called on the United States to “moderate its rhetoric on Taiwan” and called efforts to contain the CCP “self-isolating” and doomed to failure. In his letters to shareholders, he warns against treating U.S.-China competition as a “new Cold War” and calls some U.S. trade protections “misguided” and “reckless.”

Greenberg, however, acknowledged the complex nature of the situation in Taiwan.

“Taiwan poses the most immediate conflict risk to U.S.-China relations,” he said in 2022. “Beijing has made clear its ambition to bring Taiwan into its orbit and, increasingly, is tailoring its resources to its ambitions. Washington is improving coordination with its allies to collectively deter China from the use of force, while supporting efforts to Taiwan to improve its self-defense.”

Also in 2022, Chubb obtained approval from the Chinese government to acquire majority control of Huatai Insurance Group, a Chinese company with more than $10 billion in assets. This issue has since increased to 85.5%. Meanwhile, Greenberg’s father, Hank Greenberg, orchestrated trade deals and meetings with CCP officials, including a Xi-sanctioned event ahead of a key U.S.-China summit.

That same year, Greenberg’s father led a group of leaders meeting with Chinese officials ahead of Xi’s summit with President Biden in Bali. A think tank affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
organized the Chinese delegation.

Additionally, a company owned by Greenberg’s father, CV Starr, owns more than 90% of a Chinese insurer formerly known as Dazhong.

Greenberg has not been exclusively complimentary of China and has expressed concerns and criticism about it, saying last year“China has undermined its appeal in many parts of the region through its revanchist efforts to demand acquiescence to its territorial claims and mismanagement of its own economy.”

“Beijing’s declining domestic performance is reducing its appeal, and its bullying behavior is bringing many countries closer to the United States.”

A 2022 Chubb annual report states that the United States seeks an Indo-Pacific region that “remains free of Chinese hegemony.” The insurance company’s 2023 annual report also criticized China, saying: “China is seen as both important and a source of anxiety for many countries around the world. China is a revisionist and revanchist power pursuing a large-scale expansion of its military capabilities. »

Fox News contributor and China expert Michael Pillsbury told Fox News Digital Greenberg played a communications role with China for the benefit of the Trump administration.

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The Chinese national flag flies on Pingtan Island, the closest point in China to the main island of Taiwan in southeast China’s Fujian Province. (Adek Berry)

“In recent months, before China agreed to President Trump’s request to meet with Xi Jinping, Evan Greenberg played a behind-the-scenes role in garnering American complaints by bringing together American CEOs to meet with Xi Jinping,” Pillsbury said.

“Learning about how poorly American businesses have been treated helps President Trump, as he is determined to end the outrageous mistreatment of American businesses. Friends at the White House tell me that Evan Greenberg has compiled a list of grievances about how poorly our businesses are treated in China. One CEO even used the term ‘China is gangsterizing our businesses’.”

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Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild told Fox News that Digital Chubb executives ignored clear national security warnings about China.

“Despite growing warnings from U.S. intelligence about the risks posed by the Chinese Communist Party, Chubb has invested billions of dollars in Chinese companies, and Greenberg continues to treat Chinese President Xi Jinping as a partner and friend, even going so far as to personally meet with Xi Jinping and publicly portray him as a force for good,” Hild said.

“As the saying goes, your friends show who you really are, and Greenberg’s actions have made it clear that he is all in with the CCP. Our campaign exposes the uncomfortable truth: When American businesses cozy up to communist dictators and advocate woke policies at home, they betray not only their country, but also their customers,” he added.