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Victor Gao
Victor Gao
高志凯
	Gao in 2019
Born	Gao Zhikai; 1962 (age 61–62); Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Education	Soochow University (BA); Beijing Foreign Studies University (MA); Yale University (MA, JD);
Occupations	Lawyer; legal scholar; academic;
Organization	Center for China and Globalization;
Political party	Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang

Victor Zhikai Gao (Chinese: 高志凯; pinyin: Gāo Zhìkǎi; born 1962) is a Chinese lawyer, businessman,^[1] and academic who is the vice president of the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization (CCG).

Gao is an expert on international relations at Soochow University,^[2] where he is a Chair Professor. Gao is also a member of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang.^[3] He was formerly a translator for Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.^[4]^[5]^[6]

Early life and education

Gao was raised in rural China during the 1970s.^[7] He attended high school in Southern China. When Chinese Communist Party leader Deng Xiaoping reopened universities during the Chinese economic reform, Gao convinced local authorities to allow him to take the Gaokao for college admission in 1977 before he had graduated high school.^[8]

Gao received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in English language and literature from Soochow University in 1981,^[9] then earned a Master of Arts (MA) in English language and literature from Beijing University of Foreign Studies in 1983. He pursued graduate studies in the United States at Yale University, where he graduated with a master's degree in political science in 1990 and then a Juris Doctor (JD) from Yale Law School in 1993.^[10] He was admitted to the New York State Bar Association in 1994.^[11]

Career

From 1983 to 1988, Gao was a translator for Deng Xiaoping.^[7] He was also a member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1983 to 1989 at the United Nations Secretariat in New York, and then was a policy adviser for the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in 1999–2000.^[12]

Gao has been an investment banker for Morgan Stanley.^[13] He is a Director of the China National Association of International Studies^[14] and an Executive Director of Beijing Private Equity Association.^[15] Gao is the vice president of the Center for China and Globalization.^[16]

According to Foreign Policy, "Gao was once treated as a reputable interlocutor in U.S.-China relations."^[17]

Views

Hong Kong

In 2014 Gao condemned pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong as illegal and provocative.^[18] He supports the National Security Law and the continued integration of Hong Kong into China.^[19]

AUKUS

In September 2021 Gao referred to the AUKUS pact as a "gross violation of international law," claimed that "Armed with nuclear submarines, Australia itself will be a target for possible nuclear attacks in the future," and referred to Australians as "brainless."^[20] He also warned that Australia's moves towards nuclear-powered submarines would lead to the country "being targeted with nuclear weapons," in a future nuclear war.^[21] Gao repeated his warning to Australia during an interview on 60 Minutes Australia television programme in November 2021: "I would say the AUKUS deal in itself by enabling Australia to build nuclear submarines will have one big consequence for Australia, that is, Australia will no longer enjoy the benefit and the very rare privilege of not being targeted with nuclear weapons going forward."^[22]

The interviewer challenged Gao by reminding him that Australia was planning to buy nuclear powered submarines and not nuclear armed submarines, and asked: "Why should Australia then be a target of nuclear weapons?" Dismissing the distinction, Gao insisted: "Listen to me: the tubes in the submarine can be armed with both nuclear warheads and conventional warheads. Now, in the heat of a battle or in the heat of a war, do you think Australia will allow inspections as to what kind of warhead you put into that big tube? I can bet you, in the heat of battle no one will pause – and the safe approach is to target Australia as a nuclear-armed country.^[22]

Taiwan

Gao supports "any means possible" to achieve Chinese unification.^[17]

In October 2021 Gao claimed that Taiwanese of Japanese descent supported Taiwanese independence, and that after a PRC take over they should either demonstrate support for reunification in writing or emigrate.^[23] Foreign Policy magazine considered this to be a call for ethnic cleansing.^[17]

In August 2022 Gao argued that the "Chinese military's mission is to liberate Taiwan."^[24]

COVID-19

Gao believes that any search for the origins of the COVID-19 virus in China are part of "a conspiracy" because it "existed earlier than the outbreak of Wuhan in other parts of the world, including, most logically, in the United States, centering on Fort Detrick."^[25]

Peng Shuai

In February 2022, Gao claimed on the Australian 60 Minutes Australia program that the Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai could not have been raped by a CCP official because of her physical athleticism as a professional athlete and said that "she can defend herself in front of whatever man or person in China".^[26]

Other

Gao opposes Scottish Independence and criticized the UK for allowing the 2014 Scottish independence referendum to happen at all.^[27]

In June 2021 Gao said that "The G7 and NATO have been distorted into anti-China platforms."^[28]

Gao believes that the enlargement of NATO and potential missile defense system emplacements were the cause of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to the South China Morning Post "He said the same scenario could occur between England and Scotland, if a country like Russia wanted to deploy nuclear weapons on Scottish territory."^[29] He has claimed that Ukraine joining NATO would "trigger armageddon."^[30] In February 2023, Time magazine reported that Gao had believed that the Russian invasion of Ukraine would likely end in an armistice, with Ukraine not being able to win back all of its territories, and that both sides would be "shelving the disputes for future generations to resolve".^[31]