What has become an annual parade in mid-town Manhattan for Asian Americans was set up with the blessing of Mayor Eric Adams by the CEO of a company that is a registered foreign agent of China, according to documents obtained exclusively by Newsweek.
The findings raise new questions over Chinese influence operations in the United States, and particularly in New York, where Adams and some other top politicians have previously received campaign donations from members of groups linked to China's ruling Communist Party. Newsweek has reported on the extensive network of such groups in the U.S.
The annual Asian-American parade began in 2022 and will next take place on Manhattan's Sixth Avenue on May 19 as part of the city's "Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month".
The parade says it welcomes all Asian-Americans, but documents obtained by Newsweek show that organisers exclude groups they deem to be politically and religiously controversial — and critics of China's rulers believe that means them.
Tibetans, Taiwanese, Hong Kongers and others at odds with the Beijing leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) questioned how representative the parade was of the Asian-American community. They had not been invited to take part, were not successful in applying, or didn't want to join as they felt unsafe, they said.
Among them was Frances Hui, founder of a community group called We The Hongkongers. She said that two weeks after applying all she had received was requests for more information, to which she had responded.
"It is obvious to me that they are trying to stall our application until they can find a way to reject us from participating," said Hui.
Hundreds of pages of emails obtained by Newsweek under a freedom of information request show the parade was set up in 2022 by Robin Mui, CEO of the Chinese-language media Sing Tao US, which was ordered by the Department of Justice to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act in 2021. Working with Mui was Better Chinatown USA, a community organisation led by Steven Tin, the organizer of Lunar New Year events in Manhattan's Chinatown.
The parade was organized in conjunction with Adams, his Asian Affairs advisor Winnie Greco, an AAPI advisory team in the mayor's office, and other city officials.
Mui confirmed to Newsweek he had founded and still holds the licence for the parade and that he had been pushing for it for years under previous administrations before it was approved by the Adams administration.
"I was telling them, all those ethnics got their own parade every year how come the Asians never got one?" he said by telephone. "It is not just for Chinese, this is a mainstream parade for Asians."
Adams attended the first two parades, marching at the front behind a red banner next to the Consul General of China, Huang Ping. Also taking part in 2023 were six other New York city, state or federal politicians including Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), and diplomats from six other Asian nations, according to a report on the website of the Chinese consulate-general.
Adams' office did not respond to a question from Newsweek whether it knew that the event was founded by the CEO of a company registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Being a registered foreign agent does not bar a company or individual from political activities though they must report their campaign donations.
"As the mayor of the city with the second-largest Asian American and Pacific Islander population in the country, Mayor Adams celebrates AAPI New Yorkers who contribute to the rich culture that make our city the greatest in the world," a spokesperson for Adams' office said by email. "We celebrate all cultures that embody the diverse communities that make up New York City's rich melting pot."
A FARA registration
Mui said it was unfair that parent company Sing Tao News Corporation, a Hong Kong-based media, had been forced to register as a foreign agent.
"I was working for the paper for the past 43 years without any problems with the U.S. government," Mui said. Then in 2021 a new investor bought into the company. "He was born in China, and he is in the realty business, and the government says he is from Communist China. That's why we had to register. We don't have a choice," Mui said.
Mui identified the new owner as Kwok Ying Shing, the chairman of Shenzhen-based Kaisa Group who is also co-chairman of Sing Tao News Corp. In 2021 Kwok and his daughter, Hiu Ting Kwok, bought over 28 percent of the shares. A co-chief executive officer of the parent group, she is also the director of Sing Tao US's operations and is listed with Mui on the FARA filing. A year later the Kwoks sold half of their shares to a Hong Kong businessman, Karson Choi, Mui said.
At least five of the company's seven board members belong to political institutions or social organisations that are part of the "united front" political influence system of the Chinese Communist Party. They include national and province-level branches of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference system (CPPCC), according to the company's website, an official state website and Chinese-language state media reports.
Choi, the co-chairman, is a member of China's national CPPCC.The board's co-chief executive officer, the journalist Cai Jin, is a member of the Jiangsu Provincial People's Consultative Conference and the Taizhou City People's Consultative Conference.
Kwok Ying Shing is a founding chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Chiu Chow Community Organizations, a united front group.
Mui said he hoped the AAPI parade would grow increasingly mainstream and that in a couple of years it would be held on Fifth Avenue.
The Chinese consulate in New York did not reply to emails seeking comment.
Consul general Huang Ping "called on everyone to continue to show solidarity, unite against hatred and racial discrimination, jointly promote respect, friendship, inclusiveness and love, and stand together to embrace a better future! He then announced the commencement of the parade," the consulate said in a report of the 2023 parade on its website.
All are welcome, except some
"ALL are welcome to join us to celebrate AAPI Cultural Heritage Month!!" reads a registration form issued by the community group Better Chinatown USA of the upcoming, third "AAPI Cultural Heritage Parade".
But a document from the group that was among the nearly 400 pages of emails and documents reviewed by Newsweek stated: "For security and safety reasons, we invite and welcome non-controversial political or religious organizations to join us."
Correspondence shows that for the inaugural parade organisers invited diplomats from Asian nations including Korea, Japan, Bangladesh and the Philippines to join.
But one key group was not invited: diplomats from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, the de facto embassy of self-ruling Taiwan, which China claims as part of its own territory.
"We have never received an invitation from the organizers," the press division of TECO said in an emailed statement to Newsweek.
The Asian American and Pacific Islander movement was being manipulated by China's rulers, said a pro-democracy Tibetan.
"The CCP deliberately seeks out influential roles within AAPI spaces, then claims that voices critical of the Chinese government are anti-Chinese, or even anti-Asian," Pema Doma, executive director of Students for a Free Tibet, said in an interview.
She said she would not be participating.
"I would go so far as to say, I would not even feel physically safe in doing so, especially after the violent attacks I have personally witnessed on US soil against Tibetans and Hong Kongers by pro-CCP agitators."
Said Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Hui, "It's a propaganda stunt that the Chinese government has its hands on to dominate a community we all belong to, making it more convenient for them to advance their political agenda abroad."
Beijing imposed state security laws on Hong Kong in 2020 that prompted tens of thousands, including Hui, to flee the city.
Mui referred questions about how the organisers decided which groups could take part to Tin, who did not return calls or emails seeking comment.
"This is a parade celebrating cultural diversity, but groups that speak out against Beijing's policies are excluded," said Shannon van Sant, a Washington, D.C.-based independent researcher who formerly worked for Chinese state media.
"This aligns with efforts by the CCP, its supporters and enablers to dominate and shape discourse in communities in the U.S. — to suppress voices that are critical of the CCP, and elevate, unify and strengthen relationships with everyone else."
John Feng contributed reporting. Cheryl Yu, an independent researcher, contributed research.
Updated on 05/14/2024 at 11:31 a.m. ET with additional details of company owner's party links
