White House Put Blinders On As China Infiltrated Our Government; Why is Beijing Interested in a Mid-Level Government Aide in New York State; NY’s Chinese Consul General Ousted After Aide Charged With Acting as Beijing Agent: Hochul

White House put blinders on as China infiltrated our government:

For years I have warned that the Chinese Communist Party has been working to infiltrate America’s society and government at every level.

The safety and sovereignty of our nation depends on our ability to counter this threat.

That is the exact message I brought to the National Governors Association as secretary of state in 2020 — an association chaired by then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

It appears that neither Cuomo nor his successor, Gov. Hochul, took my warnings seriously.

This week, Linda Sun, an aide who had served in the offices of both governors, was charged with acting as an agent of the Chinese Communist Party.

In the unsealed indictment, it was revealed that Sun and her husband had received millions in laundered cash from the Chinese Communist Party and, in return, “worked to further the interests of the Chinese government and the CCP.”

Among her many treasonous activities, Sun had worked to block Taiwanese officials from being able to contact the governor’s office since 2016, ensured content in speeches and press releases accorded with CCP-approved language, granted CCP officials access to high-level state government discussions such as COVID response efforts and even personally participated — in the capacity of a senior New York state official — in the CCP-organized protest against the democratically-elected president of Taiwan, who was visiting New York City.

While these details may come as a shock to some, this is exactly how the CCP operates. Beijing seeks to influence every level of our society, from the federal government to universities, to state senates and even PTA meetings. —>READ MORE HERE

Why is Beijing interested in a mid-level government aide in New York state?

The decision by New York prosecutors to charge a former aide to the New York governor this week with acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government has raised concerns about China’s efforts to influence U.S. politics.

Linda Sun held numerous roles in New York state government, including deputy chief of staff for Gov. Kathy Hochul. She is accused of pushing Chinese interests at state functions, including allegedly blocking representatives from Taiwan from meeting the governor, in exchange for financial benefits worth millions of dollars.

Sun’s arrest on Tuesday is the latest, and perhaps most high profile, in a series of cases the U.S. Department of Justice has prosecuted in recent years to root out Beijing’s agents on U.S. soil.

While previous cases involved charges against suspected Chinese spies for reporting on and surveilling dissidents critical of the Communist Party, Tuesday’s case appeared to show how China is trying to directly influence U.S. politics in line with its interests, even at the local level.

China sees it as important to cultivate state-level relationships with U.S. officials, and has always done so.

Although the bilateral relationship between the U.S. and China has become increasingly tense, the two countries had cultivated extensive regional-level ties in the 2010s, with U.S. governors frequently visiting China to boost trade and cultural ties.

That’s taken a sharp 180-degree turn in recent years, as the U.S. government’s relationship with China grows more confrontational and being tough on China has become a bipartisan point of consensus. The White House and Congress are leveling high tariffs on Chinese products and limiting export of high-tech products to China.

Some states are even passing bills to actively ban China’s presence. Georgia, Florida, and Alabama are just some of the states that banned Chinese “agents” from buying real estate. —>READ MORE HERE

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