China’s Ongoing Democrat Infiltration

• Federal agents revealed that a longtime New York official was a Chinese government asset

• The employee reached a high level of influence in the New York state government

• This is the latest of a long list of scandals involving Democrats and Chinese operatives

The story

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced an indictment this week against Linda Sun, a former aide to New York’s Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, charging her with secretly using her roles in government to act as an agent of China. The indictment cites years of investigation and private communications.

Sun worked for the state of New York for over a decade, doing the bidding of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities she was in contact with, the DOJ found. She is charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, laundering millions of dollars for the CCP, and other crimes, while her husband also faces charges related to allegedly laundering gifts from China.

Sun tried to arrange meetings between New York and Chinese officials and move state policy in China’s favor. These efforts included helping the Chinese illegally enter the US through fraudulent invitation letters sent on behalf of the governor’s office. Much of her focus was on New York’s relations with Taiwan, which China seeks to dominate despite US opposition.

Democrats’ devotion to race-based diversity programs played a role in Sun’s influence. A US citizen born in China, her career journey included two “diversity officer” roles under former NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). She once spoke on a panel about the importance of “diversity,” “inclusion,” and “equity” for Asian Americans while serving as Hochul’s deputy chief of staff.

The story has raised concerns about the many ways China attacks America’s national security — and how Chinese espionage has infiltrated not just New York's state government but has potentially reached the highest levels of the American government.

The politics

The Chinese benefited greatly from their New York political scheme: Sun blocked Taiwanese figures from meeting American officials, stopped Cuomo and Hochul from talking about Taiwan publicly, and gave CCP officials whatever connections they wanted.

Sun’s case shows that “there is no foreign government that has penetrated the United States more deeply and broadly than the Chinese Communist Party,” according to New York Rep. Ritchie Torres (D), who sits on a China-focused House committee. “It may have [the] most effective and aggressive espionage operation in human history,” he told the New York Post.

New York Republicans got more personal, with Rep. Elise Stefanik and State Sen. Dan Stec demanding an investigation into Hochul’s administration. Stefanik accused Democrats in New York of “facilitating the influence campaign of Communist China.”

Hohcul conveyed that she was in no way complicit with Sun’s plot. She told the media that her office fired Sun last year “the second we discovered some levels of misconduct” and quickly “alerted the authorities.” She said she was “furious” and called Sun’s actions “a betrayal of trust.”

One overlooked detail, however, is that such scandals with Chinese operatives overwhelmingly involve Democrat politicians instead of Republicans.

The recent infiltrations

Summer 2018: Reports confirmed that a Chinese spy worked for the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) for almost 20 years.

December 2020: The public learned that another Chinese spy got close to several California Democrats, including Rep. Eric Swalwell, who may have had a sexual relationship with her.

March 2022: The DOJ charged a donor for Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) with harassing pro-democracy activists in the US on behalf of China. The alleged Chinese spy met with Suozzi several times and gave maximum donations to his congressional campaign.

2023: Reports showed that a man arrested for running a secret CCP police station in Manhattan had mingled with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D), and advisers to Adams, who took a trip to China with the suspect.

November 2023: The House of Representatives released bank records showing that the Biden family took money from a company linked to Chinese intelligence in 2017 and funneled it through several bank accounts to now-President Joe Biden.

Why it matters

Republicans have also been caught interacting with Chinese nationals who had questionable ties, but the frequency of these interactions is minuscule compared to Democrats.

Moreover, this ideological slant was not a coincidence in Linda Sun’s case. Part of why she remained in the New York bureaucracy for so long was that she occupied DEI roles, and in general, she pandered to left-wing diversity politics in an environment where it would earn appreciation.

The CCP clearly sees opportunities to affect change in the American government through the Democratic Party. While some Democratic politicians occasionally adopt a tough stance on China, such as by continuing Trump-era tariffs, both state and federal Democrats generally maintain cozier ties with China.