Two House Democrats with documented histories of contacts with organizations linked to Chinese influence and intelligence operations spoke out Monday against a bill that would reinstate a federal program to counter Chinese Communist Party (CCP) espionage. raised.
New York Rep. Grace Meng and California Rep. Judy Chu were among the 15 House Democrats. signed Regarding a letter objecting to a provision in the appropriations bill that would reinstate the Department of Justice's China Initiative. However, both Meng and Zhu have long-standing ties to organizations associated with the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department (UFWD).of House Select Committee on the Communist Party of China And that U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission classified UFWD as a Chinese influence and intelligence operation. (Related: Exclusive: Republican lawmakers ask Biden administration to review U.S. land purchases by Chinese Communist Party members)
“The budget is an expression of our priorities and values,” the Democratic senators' letter said. “Restarting the China Initiative would be a misallocation of resources and a setback for civil rights.”
“Republicans are essentially pushing the China Exclusion Act 2.0,” Meng said in another article. statement.
Councilor Chu, Chair The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) said CAPAC played a role in ending the China Initiative.
“In fact, the China Initiative failed so badly in gathering evidence of economic espionage that the Department of Justice was forced to switch its investigation from trade secret theft to licensing errors,” Chu said in a related statement. Ta. “That's why CAPAC successfully lobbied the Department of Justice under President Biden to eliminate this initiative, and today wrote to Congressional leadership to avoid reinstating a program based on xenophobia rather than evidence.” That's why I sent it.”
Launched in 2018, the China Initiative targeted “those who engage in trade secret theft, hacking, and economic espionage” and “covert efforts to influence American citizens and policymakers.” according to to the Department of Justice. The Biden administration ended the China Initiative in February 2022 after Asian American groups claimed it “fueled a narrative of intolerance and bigotry,” according to Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen.
tweet thread @RepJudyChunegation of
On July 17, 2011, Mr. Chu and Mr. Ng reportedly met with Mr. Luo Zhijun. #CCP Party Secretary of Jiangsu Province, San Francisco@DailyCaller @Lancegooden pic.twitter.com/Otg8o6ZqOD
— Philip Lenczycki Cai Yue (@LenczyckiPhilip) March 3, 2023
Democratic lawmakers said in the letter that in all China Initiative cases, “prosecutors pursued criminal charges” rather than utilizing civil penalties or administrative remedies, and that the Justice Department “pursued criminal charges” in all of the China Initiative cases. “We have never published any data on this,” he said.
However, the Department of Justice website states: list Examples of China Initiative successes range from theft of trade secrets to “collusion in transmitting, transmitting, or transmitting national defense information” to China.
DCNF has reported extensively on Meng and Zhu's repeated interactions with organizations associated with Chinese Communist Party influence and intelligence activities.
According to Chinese-language news reports, Meng has attended multiple events for the New York nonprofit American Changle Association, and that the group's former president, Lu Jianwang, has been involved in illegal overseas Chinese police departments within the group. He was arrested in April 2023 on suspicion of opening and operating .
According to a DCNF report, Meng attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for American Chungle's Manhattan headquarters in September 2016. Quote Reporting from the social media accounts of Chinese state news agency FJsen.com.
The DCNF revealed that Chinese media reports included a photo of Lu Jianwang attending Meng's April 2022 fundraising event.
Lu Jianwang has multiple ties to the United Front of the Communist Party of China, including attending a provincial meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in January 2022. The conference is “a place where all those involved in the United Front, both inside and outside the party, gather.'' according to In an affidavit from the Department of Justice.
November 2023 House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Report on the United Front identified American Changle is a civil society group that has been “cooperated” with the “United Front Organization of the Chinese Communist Party” to help “carry out repressive activities abroad.”
The Chinese Communist Party's “united front activities” include “legal and illegal technology transfers, surveillance of the Chinese diaspora, promotion of favorable discourse about China through ostensibly independent voices, and the disempowerment and disablement of critics of the Chinese Communist Party.” “through harassment” and harming U.S. interests. according to To the House of Representatives Special Committee of the Communist Party of China.
[Image created by the Daily Caller News Foundation with pictures from US China Press and Sina.com]
DCNF also previously revealed that Chu was a member of three non-profit organizations linked to China's United Front System.
According to Mandarin, Chu earned honorary positions at the National Chinese Youth Federation in 2012 and the China Peaceful Reunification Forum in 2019, and began serving as “co-chairman” of the International Federation of Chambers of Commerce in 2014. News reports and records from organizations. Among other connections, DCNF discovered multiple photos showing Mr. Chu receiving appointment certificates from the aforementioned organizations during various private events.
According to DCNF research, these organizations or their leaders belong to various Chinese Communist Party United Front groups.
The leadership of the National Chinese Youth Federation includes several members of the China Overseas Friendship Association, which is organized by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. identified As part of UFWD. Similarly, the DCNF identified officials of the International Federation of Chambers of Commerce affiliated with the China Overseas Friendship Association and related organizations.
Multiple experts told DCNF that the China Peaceful Reunification Forum is one of 33 anti-Taiwan independence groups in the United States. serve As a branch of the China Peaceful Unification Promotion Council.U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission a label is attached The China Peaceful Reunification Promotion Committee is “directly under'' the UFWD.
Mr. Chu subsequently denied any affiliation with the National Chinese Youth Federation or the Forum for Peaceful Reunification of China, and even dismissed photographic evidence that he had received a certificate of appointment. However, Mr Chu never denied his association with the International Federation of Chambers of Commerce.
In January 2023, Meng and Zhu were also among the 65 members. vote against the successful establishment of the House Select Committee on the Communist Party of China;
“Unfortunately, given past statements and actions by Republican members of Congress, we are concerned about the direction of this committee,” a joint statement signed by 23 Democrats said. read. “America will continue to grow economically and strategically without a “new Cold War'' and without the repression, discrimination, hatred, fear, degeneration of political institutions, and civil rights violations that such a “Cold War'' might entail. We can and must work towards the goal of competitiveness.”
Meng and Chu did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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