When presented with what could have been a test by an intelligence arm of one of America’s most challenging international trading partners, the family of former Gov. Bill Walker made an unusual decision: They brought back a pile of U.S. currency from China to Alaska.

A written receipt that is a public document shows that over $24,000 in U.S. cash was deposited in the Alaska treasury shortly after former First Lady Donna Walker returned from China, where she had been invited to speak at a women’s and children’s cultural conference, and where she had brought two of her daughters and a daughter-in-law, all at the expense of the Chinese government.

Must Read Alaska first reported on the junket in 2017. But what MRAK heard, but did not know at the time, is that the State was reimbursed for the cost of the trip with cash to the Walker entourage.

For unexplained reasons, the Chinese government decided to pay the State of Alaska back with cash to cover the cost of the trip. Given the dates in question, the cash was presumably given to Donna Walker and/or her travel companions and brought through U.S. Customs on their way home. The conference Donna Walker spoke at took place on June 21, 2017, and the receipt for cash is dated June 26, 2017.

Madame Peng visited Alaska with her husband, President Xi Jinping on April 7, 2017. In Anchorage, they met Donna, the politically ambitious wife of Gov. Walker. On May 15 the Chinese had extended the invitation to Mrs. Walker to speak at the conference they had set up.

“Meeting President Xi and Madame Peng was a high honor for Governor Walker and me,” First Lady Walker said in her statement at the time she was invited to travel to China with her daughters. “To have that wonderful visit followed up so quickly with this generous invitation is quite remarkable and we do look forward to building and strengthening our relationship with China which has long been Alaska’s largest trading partner. To have the opportunity to extend that economic relationship into social and cultural arenas is exciting and important. I am grateful to play a small role.”

It’s unclear if the conference was specifically designed for Donna Walker and whether the entire trip was a set up to help the Chinese understand more about what kinds of people they were dealing with in the Walker Administration. Another possibility was that the Chinese were testing Alaska’s governor and his influential wife. Walker was eager to work with the Chinese on a gasline.

It’s unusual for governments to pay other governments in cash unless something untoward is happening. Billions of dollars move back and forth between the U.S. and China every day, but moving cash via elected officials or their spouses is a highly unconventional way to transfer funds between governments.

In the reconciliation documentation from the State of Alaska that Must Read Alaska has, the paperwork shows “received $24,054 from China.”

The Line description says “3RD PARTY REIMBURSEMENT FOR CHINA TRIP.” That matches the deposit slips.

The trip authorizations for the Walker family show the timeframe for the trip, and the line description details expenses for each member of the entourage.

Although there is no evidence that any money was skimmed off from the cash gift, the Chinese test may be whether a foreign entity is either corrupt or naive enough to take cash that is offered. Perhaps the first family did not understand how the communist Chinese think about these sorts of interactions. Most politicians know better than to receive cash in such a scenario; cash is compromising. But the Walkers didn’t find it problematic.

China has used the coercive “soft power” approach in its in-roads into the countries of the African continent. As reported by the George W. Bush Institute, First Ladies are used by China to soften the target in unsophisticated countries:

“Development aid and trade aren’t the only ways China is gaining ground in Africa. Shifting relationship dynamics through soft power are also helping China gain influence on the continent. The term soft power was first introduced by Joseph Nye in 1990. It refers to getting others to share your objectives through the presentation of one’s own culture, political values, and policy rather than through coercion. From education exchanges to cultural centers and foreign aid to high-level envoys including first ladies, countries have used soft power tactics for broader benefit.”

“During her 1972 visit to China with President Richard Nixon, Mrs. Nixon’s warmness resonated greatly in China. Her appreciation for her visit to Peking and subsequent discussions during one of the trip’s many galas marked the start of “Panda Diplomacy” and the tenure of China’s pandas at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Decades later, her vibrant red coat still stands as an icon of the historic visit,” the institute writes.

“But nearly five decades after Mrs. Nixon’s tenure, similar soft power tactics have been embraced by China in its own vigorous engagement across the African continent. Their rapid success stands as yet another warning on the imperative for U.S. leadership and partnership abroad,” the institute writes.

“Stepping outside the limited and often hidden role occupied by her predecessors, Chinese First Lady Peng Liyuan has leveraged her podium in support of key diplomatic interests of the regime. Barely a year into her tenure as first lady, her early influence even earned her a place among TIME Magazine’s 2013 list of ‘Most Influential People.'”

“During their first international trip as President and First Lady in 2013, Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan visited Russia and three African nations. TIME described the Chinese First Lady’s  presence on the trip as a “one-woman charm offensive…humanizing the communist regime.” Garnering attention for her trendsetting and charismatic presence,  Ms. Peng has been compared to influential peers, including fellow first ladies and royalty like the Duchess of Cambridge.”

Bribery by the Chinese is documented extensively in international news reports, including this story from Axios.

By November of 2017, Gov. Bill Walker had signed major agreements of understanding with communist Chinese companies to build a gasline from the North Slope to tidewater, aligning Alaska with the Chinese government to finance, design, build, and buy contracts for the natural gas that would flow for decades.

This week, Sinopec, one of the companies that Walker signed an MOU with, was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange for not having transparent accounting practices. The United States is now in the process of unwinding some of its dealings with China, as China aligns more closely with Russia.

Bill Walker is now running for governor again, but in the years since he was removed from office by voters, he has set up a company trying to take over the Alaska gasline project. Walker and former Alaska Gasline Development Corporation President Keith Meyer held a press conference to announce their Alaska Gasline & LNG, LLC, with partners Bernie Karl of Fairbanks and and Laborers Local 341.  

The state’s Alaska Gasline Development Corporation has shown little interest in the Walker offer to take over the gasline project, saying it was looking for investors with more financial heft.

 “State of Alaska policymakers have made it clear that adequately funded third parties will need to fund Alaska LNG construction and lead the project forward. Any party with the appropriate resources and qualifications to help advance the Alaska LNG project is welcome to participate in the strategic path for Alaska LNG that the AGDC board defined this past spring,” AGDC said in 2020, in response to the Walker proposal.