(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) A Democratic lawmaker has been accused of having long-standing ties to an organization with known connections to Chinese intelligence operatives, the Daily Caller reported.
According to the report, Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., served as the deputy chair for Henan Association Of Eastern America, a New York-based organization, for over a decade, from 2008 to 2012, when she launched her congressional campaign.
Among other committees, Meng serves on the House Homeland Security Committee, where she may be privy to sensitive national security details.
Now it appears that HAEA has connections with Linda Sun, Meng’s former chief of staff—who was indicted earlier this month for acting as an unregistered foreign agent on behalf of China while money laundering.
Sun also has ties to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and may have exerted influence on their relationships with China—notably during the COVID crisis, when Cuomo frequently undermined the messaging coming from the Trump administration.
Sun, the indictment suggests, reportedly met with several top officials during the operation, including officials from the HAEA, which very well may have included Meng, though Meng was not named in the official statement.
The indictment does, however, allude to Sun’s unnamed co-conspirators, one of which “served as the president of an association of persons from Henan Province, PRC located in the New York metropolitan area.”
Despite her stepping aside to enter the political arena, Meng’s connections to the organization appear to continue to this day. HAEA’s website still has Meng listed as an “honorary” chair, and includes a photo of Meng as well.
The group purports to support Chinese participation in politics and culture, in particular to promote trade between the two nations.
According to Dr. Lawrence Sellin, a national security expert, the Chinese Communist Party uses organizations like HAEA to infiltrate American political and business interests, particuarly in New York City, so such a connection would not be particularly surprising.
“Over the last forty years, a network of pro-CCP Chinese-American organizations operating in coordination with the Chinese Consulate has been established, which now has enormous influence on New York’s business and political climate, basically providing an outpost and pro-CCP personnel for directly executing China’s foreign policy from within the United States,” he said.
The scandal is just the latest incident of Democrats being compromised by Chinese spies. Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., notoriously had a sexual relationship with alleged Chinese honeytrap Christine Fang. And the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., had a limo driver who was discovered to be working for the CCP.
Current vice presidential nomiee Tim Walz has aroused suspicious over whether he might also be compromised due to his longstanding sinophilia, which included giving out copies of Mao Zedong’s little red book to students while working as a high school history teacher.
Meng, considered a political up-and-comer, spoke on the third night of the recent Democratic National Convention, as did Walz.
