A media-celebrated Foreign Affairs column this week by former Defense Secretary James Mattis blasting President Trump‘s “America First” theme did not disclose that Mr. Mattis holds a senior position at The Cohen Group, which dedicates itself to making business deals in communist China.

Mr. Trump‘s get-tough approach toward China — tariffs and prohibitions on Beijing‘s cyber products —is generally counter to The Cohen Group‘s objective of bringing China and U.S. companies together in multi-million dollar deals.

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The Cohen Group, founded by former Defense Secretary William Cohen and staffed by a number of former high-ranking government and military leaders, has two of its four overseas offices in China.

Mr. Mattis’s Nov. 23 Foreign Affairs.com column was co-authored with three other national security experts but it was his name that gave it weight in the news media. The article’s thoughts resemble the Obama administration‘s China approach. It could be a window into how presumptive President-elect Joseph R. Biden pulls back from Mr. Trump‘s hardline.

Mr. Mattis is identified in his column as a former defense secretary and fellow at the Hoover Institution, but not as a senior counselor at The Cohen Group global consulting firm in Washington.

In the article Mr. Mattis rejects Secretary of State Michael Pompeo‘s campaign of rallying Asian countries against China‘s drive for dominance. Mr. Mattis does not mention China‘s declared economic war against U.S. ally Australia in retaliation for Canberra calling for an international investigation into the origins of the coronavirus in China.

China has yet to explain and document exactly how the pandemic began in the city of Wuhan, from where the germ spread throughout the world, killing hundreds of thousands.

Mr. Mattis wrote, in a broad indictment of Mr. Trump‘s foreign policy:

“Crucially, the United States should not press countries to choose outright between the two powers. A ‘with us or against us’ approach plays to China‘s advantage, because the economic prosperity of U.S. allies and partners hinges on strong trade and investment relationships with Beijing. Rather than treating countries as pawns in a great-power competition, a better approach would emphasize common codes of behavior and encourage states to publicly promulgate a vision for their country’s sovereign future and the types of partnerships they need to pursue it. . .

Mr. Mattis urged Mr. Biden to remove “America First” from all foreign policies.

The Cohn Group announced Mr. Mattis’ hiring in September 2019 as a “senior counselor,” calling him a “national treasure.” His photo is prominently featured on its home page

“China is a market of enormous opportunity and complexity,” The consultancy states. “The Cohen Group’s (TCG) China Practice has a solid record of success with professionals in offices in Beijing, Tianjin and Washington, DC. . . .

(Excerpt from The Washington Times. Photo credit: Canva)