Editing American International Group (AIG) (section)

==The China Lobby Connection==
The China Lobby, a powerful group of American politicians, businessmen, and military figures advocating support for Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government against Mao Zedong’s Communists, intersected with AIG through Starr’s operations in China. Starr’s insurance ventures in Shanghai aligned with U.S. interests in supporting the Nationalists, and his relationships with Chiang and the KMT were documented in Operation Gladio. Starr provided funds to the KMT, which controlled opium production in Laos and Thailand, a trade the CIA later leveraged to finance covert operations.

AIG’s early operations in China positioned it as a conduit for U.S. influence in the region, aligning with the China Lobby’s goal of countering communism. Starr’s financial support for the KMT and his OSS activities illustrates there was a relationship. The Lobby’s influence waned after the Communist victory in 1949, but AIG’s continued presence in Asia, particularly in Hong Kong and Taiwan, maintained its strategic relevance to U.S. intelligence.