(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) Federal Election Commission records indicated that a Democrat running for Congress in California’s Silicon Valley paid a Chinese foreign agent for advertising.
Evan Low, a California assemblyman who is running for Congress in the state’s 16th Congressional District, paid approximately $5,000 to Sing Tao Newspapers for print advertisements in February 2024, an FEC filing revealed.
In 2021, the Department of Justice ordered Sing Tao U.S., a Chinese-owned newspaper that distributes papers in California, to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).
In China, Sing Tao’s coverage has been characterized as pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with the paper publishing an editorial, in which it argued that police should curb the demonstrations during the 2014 anti-government protests in Hong Kong by using a “gunpowder keg,” the Daily Caller reported.
Radio Free Asia, a U.S.-government-funded news outlet, also reported that sources familiar with Chinese media have linked Sing Tao to the CCP. It was also found by Radio Free Asia that two of the company’s directors had served on the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which serves as an advisory body to China’s National People’s Congress.
Additionally, at least five of Sing Tao’s seven board members belong to organizations that are part of the CCP’s “united front” political influence network, the Caller reported.
The newspaper previously disputed its status as a foreign agent, with Robin Mui, Sing Tao U.S. CEO, saying the news corporation had to register due to an investor’s involvement in the Chinese realty business.
“Sing Tao is a major news outlet for Chinese speakers in the Bay Area,” a spokesperson for the Low campaign said in a statement to the Caller.
The Chinese consulate also said that, in 2017, Low met with the consul general of the Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco while serving as an assemblyman. During the meeting, they discussed strengthening communication between the Chinese government at the California State Assembly and promoting cooperation between California and China.
