Concerns were raised on Tuesday about a widespread effort by the Chinese Communist Party to compromise public officials and infiltrate American governments and society after a former aide to New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo was accused of working as a covert agent for China.
Political insiders and watchdog groups point to the indictments filed by a Brooklyn federal court against Linda Sun and her husband, Christopher Hu, saying they show the extent of China's spy recruitment network.
“This is a dangerous situation,” warned Ed Cox, the state Republican Party chairman and son-in-law of former President Richard Nixon.
Cox, who traveled to China with Nixon in 1979, said she was surprised to read in the indictment that Sun and her husband had allegedly received millions of dollars in exchange for pressuring the executive chamber to toe the CCP line, including undermining Taiwan.
“This is a warning that there are these kinds of Chinese operations going on in New York state,” he told the Post.
“China is not our friend. This is a national security issue,” Cox said.
The CCP is not the only foreign government trying to advance its interests in New York and the US.
Iran reportedly providing funding Groups have been accused of organizing anti-Israel protests, and a federal investigation is ongoing into whether Turkish interests Illegally benefited Mayor Eric Adams' 2021 re-election campaign.
But China’s espionage and influence operations in the U.S. are far-reaching, said Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx), who serves on the House Select Committee on the CCP.
“There is no foreign government that has infiltrated the United States more deeply and pervasively than the Chinese Communist Party. Its espionage campaign may be the most effective and aggressive in human history,” Torres told the Post.
One Queens Democrat, who asked not to be named, said the CCP has a presence in the borough — and he’s conscious of it.
“The CCP is trying to infiltrate. There are signs for the CCP at the parade. I wouldn't want to be photographed with a sign for the CCP!” the politician said.
Many Chinese-Americans immigrated to the U.S. to escape Communist persecution, and the political establishment has a sensitivity to unfairly luring an entire community.
But there is ample evidence that the CCP is deploying spies and trying to gain influence among local politicians and a segment of the growing Asian population.
Last year, two men were charged for driving a car. Secret police station The arrests were made in Manhattan on behalf of the Chinese government – part of a broader federal crackdown on Beijing's influence campaign in the United States.
“Harry” Lu Xianwang and Chen Jinping were charged with conspiring to act as agents of the Chinese government and obstruction of justice for opening a secret outpost in Manhattan’s Chinatown in early 2022.
The matter is pending.
“Little do the states know that China is doing all of this,” said Michael Lisi, founder of State Armor, an organization that advocates protecting state governments from foreign enemies, particularly the Communist Party.
He described The Sun's prosecution as a “black and white” case that is “quite naked and shameless”, while the CCP usually operates more subtly in “grey areas”.
An upstate Republican lawmaker called for the formation of a bipartisan state commission to investigate CCP activity in New York following Sun's indictment.
“The fact that the Chinese Community Party has infiltrated the highest levels of state government is unreal, completely unacceptable and deeply troubling,” said state Senator Jake Ashby, the ranking member of the committee that oversees homeland security.
But Queens state Sen. John Liu, who is a native of Taiwan and was the first citywide elected official of Asian descent when he served as comptroller, said people shouldn’t rush to judgment — and praised Sun, whom he has known for years.
“I have worked with Linda Sun for many years and I have only known her to be hardworking, professional and conscientious, and she is completely innocent until proven otherwise,” Liu said.
“The federal government has a sordid record of bringing charges against successful Chinese-Americans, only to later drop all charges, with little regard for the lives and careers that were needlessly destroyed.”
In 2021, the feds alleged with an NYPD officer Spying on Tibetans on behalf of the Chinese government. But the allegations were false Later dropped,
Yiatin Chu, a Republican candidate for the state Senate's 11th district in Queens and president of the Asian Wave Alliance, said the CCP's influence depicted in the Sun case is “appalling.”
“The CCP is definitely established in our community. We just don't know who it's with,” Chu said.
He said that prima facie, The Sun case appeared to be linked to greed.
“It's all about money. People can be bought. China tried to buy that,” said Chu, a Taiwanese native who came here as a child.
He said it was “disappointing” because the case could unfairly tarnish the image of Chinese Americans.
“It stigmatizes anyone who looks like you. The Chinese community is a conservative, law-abiding community,” Chu said.
