Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) once declared a "President An Quanzhong Day" in her congressional district to honor the China-born businessman's work for his Chinese hometown association in New York—while her campaign took thousands of dollars in donations from An.
Today An and his daughter—a green card holder and a U.S. citizen, respectively, at the time of their arrest—are among seven people facing charges of acting as foreign agents for allegedly colluding with Chinese officials to try to force a U.S. resident back to China against his will.
Another prolific donor to New York politicians was U.S. citizen Lu Jianwang, one of two men arrested for allegedly hosting a clandestine Chinese police station in Manhattan. Meng, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul all got thousands of dollars in donations from Lu and his brother.
A months-long Newsweek investigation has uncovered donations to leading New York politicians by dozens of U.S.-based community groups and their leaders with close ties to the United Front Work Department or to a wider "united front system" operated globally by the Chinese Communist Party. The department reports directly to the Central Committee of the CCP. The donations stretch back decades; recipients have included former New York senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton—and Meng's campaigns received over $270,000 from such groups and their leaders since 2006, Newsweek's review shows.
The groups offer community services and business opportunities for members. But critics say the CCP uses the sprawling system to interfere in host countries by building ties with and influencing local politicians, acting as a network to carry out "transnational repression" of the party's opponents globally, and a conduit for espionage by China's security services.
None of the associations mentioned in this report returned Newsweek's requests for comment.
In the past 10 years, the money spent by the groups and the senior figures in them—who often openly engaged in influence work on behalf of the Communist Party—exceeded at least $600,000, and was accepted by candidates representing New York in the U.S. Congress or running for political office in New York's City Hall, its boroughs, state Assembly and Senate, as well as candidates for district attorney, attorney general, judges and the governor's office.
The figure represents the tip of an iceberg that is hard to quantify since the groups also mobilize contributions from hundreds or thousands of grassroots members for the politicians they support.
The donations revealed by Newsweek are just a small fraction of the billions of dollars in total political contributions recorded in New York over the period. Nor is it clear that any law was broken in the process of making or receiving them—although federal law prohibits green card holders from making campaign contributions if they are considered to be a "foreign principal" or to be acting on behalf of a foreign government without prior registration.
But the role of CCP-friendly groups in the United States, almost all of which are registered nonprofits engaged in culture or business, is under growing scrutiny from the government and security services at a time of rising tension between Washington and Beijing over everything from spying to technology to trade, with the U.S. intelligence community having identified China as the greatest threat to national security, a view overwhelmingly shared by Americans, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center published in July.
"Here in the United States, the CCP's united front proxies hijack our democratic process—claiming to represent American voters and providing donations—to influence our politicians. Without more caution about the united front, the CCP will continue to warp politicians' understanding of China and stall our necessary responses to the CCP's malign behavior," said Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), who chairs the select committee on China in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Adams and Meng denied to Newsweek they had any personal relationship with the donors who had been charged by the U.S. Justice Department but did not say they would return or stop accepting all donations from groups linked to the united front. Others declined to comment. Clinton's campaign staff had acknowledged receiving some questionable donations as early as 2007 but did not specify these were from groups or individuals linked to the united front.
Newsweek's granular analysis covered only New York, which is home to 130 of the more than 600 united front-linked groups it had identified across the United States in a previous investigation. Newsweek found evidence that donations by similar groups had been made in many other parts of the country.
In response to questions about political funding and united front work in the United States, Liu Pengyu, China's embassy spokesperson, told Newsweek: "China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs, and we have no interest in interfering in U.S. elections."
"The united front work under the leadership of the Communist Party of China aims to promote cooperation with people outside the party, and China's actions are above board and beyond reproach," Liu said, adding: "Some people made an issue of China's united front work for the purpose of discrediting China's political system and undermining normal exchanges and cooperation between China and the U.S."
Dueling Camps
More than one united front-linked group has credited itself with helping a favored candidate into office. Henan Chinese Associates USA—named for a large province in central China—said its members helped the "daughter of Henan," meaning Meng, become New York's first American-born Chinese assemblywoman in 2008, when she won the seat previously held by her father.
Republican Lester Chang thanked overseas Chinese supporters—his "secret weapon"—after his state Assembly victory last November unseated the Democratic Party's 36-year incumbent Peter Abbate Jr. And the Alliance of Asian American Friends, a coalition of dozens of Chinese hometown and business organizations, held community rallies for Adams and celebrated his mayoral victory in November 2021.
There are about 700,000 persons of Chinese origin in New York—many from China itself—making it unsurprising that they play a role in local politics. But the donations are part of a bigger battle playing out in New York, and elsewhere in the United States, between democracy-minded Chinese Americans and pro-CCP Chinese, said Fengsuo Zhou, the executive director of the New York-based Human Rights in China.
"We are dueling," Zhou said, adding that democrats were disproportionately outnumbered by groups with links to China's political system.
By accepting the donations and regularly appearing at the events of organizations linked to Beijing's overseas influence work, New York politicians "put an umbrella up" over the groups, thus granting them and their leaders political influence and strengthening their position in the overseas Chinese community, Zhou said.
And while the highly organized community groups led by An and Lu were genuinely popular among some people for the services and networking on offer, they were also vulnerable to infiltration, Zhou said. "And that means the CCP can control them from China so effectively. It's their infrastructure that makes it possible."
Those involved in the groups know that the organizations are connected to the Chinese party-state, said Yaqiu Wang, research director for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan at the Freedom House think tank.
"People join for fellowship, out of a misplaced sense of patriotism," Wang said. "People also join because it gets them a chance to be received by high-level Chinese officials when they return to China to visit, even including President Xi Jinping. They want this kind of prestige, and the prestige also carries real-world benefits—it's good for doing business in China or with the Chinese diaspora."
Pervasive Support
Newsweek's analysis of campaign finance data in New York looked only at contributions from the groups and their principals who are linked with the united front system in China, meaning donations from other members and associates of the U.S.-based organizations would undoubtedly take the total significantly higher than the $609,117 identified since 2013, or $1,019,342 since 1990.
Contributions go back decades. Since 1990, a year after the Chinese military bloodily suppressed democracy demonstrations centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square, more than 150 representatives of at least 80 associations linked to the united front have donated to 39 Republican and 133 Democratic candidates in New York and other states.
Among the biggest beneficiaries was Clinton, both for her Senate and presidential bids. Newsweek's review found over $55,000 in donations from association leaders alone, though the groups boasted about much bigger donations at the time—up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Clinton's office did not respond to a request for comment.
The donations to the campaigns of Congresswoman Meng, who has represented New York's 6th congressional district in Queens since 2013 and was a New York state assemblywoman before that, came from groups connected to Fujian and Shandong—Lu and An's respective home provinces—and her mother's native Henan province. Over $240,000 went to her federal campaigns and nearly $30,000 to her other candidacies.
After a Brooklyn court unsealed the Justice Department's complaint against Lu, a spokesperson for Meng's campaign said it had donated in kind a $600 contribution from Lu in May last year to an unnamed nonprofit.
"Her campaign prides itself on following FEC guidance," Meng's campaign told Newsweek, adding that she had no personal relationship with Lu and had previously been unaware of allegations against him.
But at least 21 other principals of pro-CCP groups donated to Meng's campaign on the same day as he had, according to the Federal Election Commission's database. In what looked like coordinated efforts, the same pattern of mass donations by group leaders happened in January 2020, with 18 principals of the groups donating, and in January 2018, when 24 principals made donations.
Meng's office did not specify what it would do with a decade of contributions from the Lus totaling about $15,000, or the more than $20,000 from the Ans since 2014.
Among other recipients of such united front-linked funding were Hochul, who was given at least $25,000, and Adams, who received nearly $40,000 since 2015, starting when he was Brooklyn borough president. Adams' successful mayoral campaign in 2021 received $2,500 from Lu's brother, a sum that was later returned following the Justice Department's allegations, his office said.
"The Adams campaign returned the contribution after serious, credible allegations were made against the contributor, who misled many other New Yorkers and elected officials about the nature of their organization and their work in the city," said Adams' campaign spokesperson Evan Thies.
Hochul's office didn't respond to emailed requests for comment.
State Sen. John Liu was another beneficiary. His résumé in local politics includes runs for the City Council, comptroller, and mayor. Leading figures in the city's Chinese cultural and trade organizations gave over $27,000 toward Liu's campaigns since 2013, public records showed. His office wouldn't comment on questions related to donations while the Justice Department's case against Lu remained open, a spokesperson said.
Reached by email, the FEC referred Newsweek to existing guidance pointing to a broad prohibition against foreign nationals and foreign principals donating to elections in the United States.
Links Home
An Quanzhong did not hide his links to the Communist Party. The businessman with an engaging smile rose from a hardscrabble childhood in China, where he worked in a coal mine, to become a multimillionaire through property and other investments and led the New York Shandong Association.
In China, he took positions in political bodies that are part of the United Front Work Department and that "advise" China's decision makers, including in his home city of Zaozhuang, and in another CCP organization that works to build ties with and influence overseas Chinese.
The charges brought against An and his daughter Angela by prosecutors in New York's Eastern District allege they were part of a plot by China-based state agents to surveil, harass and repatriate a U.S. resident under "Operation Fox Hunt," a Chinese state campaign to force back to China persons accused of crimes regardless of the authorities in their overseas homes. They have pleaded not guilty.
Monitoring the Chinese diaspora in the West is among the official functions of the united front system, and when necessary, it uses "cooperative contacts" to neutralize unfavorable political ideas overseas, and activism or reporting that undermine its official narratives, the Justice Department said.
An was also alleged to have "acted at the direction and under the control of various officials" with the provincial arm of the Chinese government's discipline commission, a charge that could further categorize him as an "agent of a foreign principal" under U.S. law, which could have precluded him from making political donations.
Among the charges facing the Ans was also a money-laundering scheme that prosecutors said unlawfully funneled millions of dollars into their personal accounts from third parties in China. The fraudulent activity began in 2016, the Justice Department said. It overlapped a period when the Ans made over $40,000 in donations to political campaigns in the city, according to Newsweek's analysis of campaign finance data.
Attorneys for the Ans didn't return Newsweek's emails seeking comment. The Justice Department didn't return an emailed request for comment.
Unofficial 'Police Stations'
Also drawing sharp attention to the activities of the united front groups and their leaders was the arrest in April of Lu and his associate Chen Jinping, also a U.S. citizen. The principals of the America Changle Association, a registered nonprofit named after a district in their hometown in the coastal Fujian province, were charged with conspiring to act as agents of the Chinese government over the alleged "police station" in Manhattan, and with obstruction of justice for allegedly attempting to erase evidence of such a relationship. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Lu's brother, the current president of the Changle association, has said the activities of the now shuttered police station were harmless. China's Foreign Ministry and its embassy have said the same. Neither Lu's attorney nor the association returned emailed requests for comment.
Arrests have not been confined to New York. In May, federal agents arrested U.S. citizen Liang Litang of Massachusetts also for allegedly acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government. Newsweek could not reach Liang, his legal team, or his association for comment. Liang pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Mutual Benefit
Whether or not New York's politicians have benefited from or been influenced by donations from groups that prosecutors say are vulnerable to Beijing's co-optation or recruitment, the groups have undoubtedly reaped benefits from the relationships too.
Nearly every month this year, Meng, Adams, Hochul or their representatives have attended celebrations hosted by front-linked Chinese civic organizations, often alongside diplomats from the local Chinese consulate. Their attendance continued after the FBI's raid on Changle's offices became public knowledge in January.
In February, about 300 pro-democracy overseas Chinese protested outside Changle. Zhou, the democracy activist, was among them. Yet the following month, Adams attended a party hosted by the Fukien American Association—affiliated with Changle's leaders. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was among other elected officials invited to the celebration. His office didn't return an emailed request for comment.
"It was exactly what they needed in terms of political influence—politicians to protect them at this moment," Zhou said.
Lu also attended the March event with Adams, Schumer, and other New York elected officials. In fact, he was inaugurated as one of the group's new leaders that day.
And on July 1, representatives of Meng and Adams were present—with Lu's brother—as the Fukien group marked the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China. The event was highly politicized, given the ongoing crackdown by Beijing-backed authorities in Hong Kong that has seen scores of people convicted on controversial national security charges, and has sent hundreds of thousands more into exile in the West including to New York.
Meng's delegate even awarded the group's former chairman Zheng Siqi a congressional citation and announced that "Zheng Siqi Day" had been established in the congresswoman's district—the same honor she had bestowed on An in 2015 for his work representing Shandong.
Meng's office didn't respond to further questions about the events, while Adams' office dismissed any suggestion that the mayor's attendances could have been inappropriate.
"The mayor is invited to and attends dozens of events each week. His attendance is either to show support for a local community or boost the city and does not constitute any kind of endorsement," Adams' spokesperson told Newsweek.
None of the officials contacted for this report directly addressed Newsweek's questions about whether they intended to review their attendance at future events.
"New York politicians need to educate themselves about the United Front Work Department and CCP politics, so they don't engage in photo ops and other seemingly innocuous activities proposed by some members of their constituents," Wang, the Freedom House researcher, said.
Craig Singleton, a senior analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, said: "Nonprofit and murky corporate donations, as well as the use of third-party intermediaries, play an important role in the party-state's strategy to achieve its desired political and economic objectives in the United States."
"In the absence of stronger transparency laws, the onus largely rests on campaigns and individual candidates to properly screen their donors," he told Newsweek.
In a move that China committee leader Gallagher and the group's ranking member, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), said would increase transparency over donations and close a disclosure loophole, the committee introduced bipartisan legislation in July to require lobbyists to register as foreign agents even after their work on behalf of a foreign government or organization has ended.
Mobilizing Against Taiwan
Whether or not figures from the groups linked to the united front are found to have carried out criminal acts in the United States to further China's interests, their activities and often intense support for Beijing are clear—notably over its stand that the self-governing island of Taiwan is an integral part of China.
In March, over 100 Chinese cultural, business and media groups took out a full-page advertisement in the World Journal, the largest Chinese-language newspaper in America, for a joint statement that opposed Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen's stopovers in New York and Los Angeles as she traveled to visit Taipei's diplomatic partners in Central America.
Several hundred group members, identified by red-and-gold banners bearing their association's name, noisily waved posters with political slogans and Chinese flags as they congregated on the street opposite Tsai's hotel, where her own supporters were separated from their Chinese counterparts by metal barriers and uniformed officers of the New York Police Department.
It was Lu's role in a similar demonstration in 2015 that helped New York prosecutors establish what they called a "longstanding relationship of trust" with the Chinese government, as Lu said handpicked protesters were driven from location to location in busses and paid in cash by the Chinese consulate, according to the indictment.
Shoring Up the Party in China
United front groups are also directed to influence local politics in Western countries to reduce the risk of foreign destabilization of Communist Party rule in China, said Martin Purbrick, a Jamestown Foundation think tank analyst and former political intelligence officer in the Special Branch of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force.
"This is simply espionage, but on a grand scale, through CCP united front," he told Newsweek.
Some believe such efforts could be counterproductive for Beijing.
"The risk, of course, is that if these activities are exposed it can backfire and feed the very suspicion of China's intentions that Beijing wants to avoid," said Alexander Dukalskis, author of the book Making the World Safe for Dictatorship and an associate professor at University College Dublin.
Chinese groups in the United States have long emphasized that they are not seeking to undermine the host country and have gone to even greater lengths to underline that at a time of growing scrutiny.
In July, some 80 Chinese community groups in New York drew over 2,000 participants to an event to mark U.S. independence—a first for many.
"We love this land and this country," said Melissa Yung, the director of one regional youth association with links to the united front. "Long live the United States of America! That is our shared desire. And long live the friendship between the U.S. and China!"
Cheryl Yu, a senior researcher at the Common Sense Society, contributed to this report.
