Rep. Grace Meng has represented one of New York's Chinatowns for more than a decade. A long-time member of the Henan Association of Eastern America, Meng was unaware that the association was part of a Chinese influence operation that included placing a mole in Gov. Kathy Hochul's office.
Groups like the Henan Association are called "hometown groups" because many of the members of the various groups hail from the same hometown. They are known across the U.S. for sponsoring Lunar New Year parades and other cultural events. And they are key to Beijing's influence operations in the United States.
Chinese President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012 promising to reinvigorate the Communist Party in China. Part of that process of bringing life back to the party involved a Communist Party instrument known as the United Front Work Department. Xi has called it “an important magic weapon for uniting all Chinese people at home and abroad to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
Outwardly, the United Front's mandate was to propagandize and promote Chinese culture. But under XI, the United Front worked closely with hometown associations to help harass and spy on Chinese activists in the U.S. “The Chinese Communist Party is carrying out a global campaign to silence its critics,” according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. The commission has documented how Beijing’s “transnational repression tool kit” stifles free expression on campus and controls communication via WeChat.
Hometown associations, fraternal clans and other kinship organizations have connected ethnic Chinese in the U.S. since the 1850s, initially to combat discrimination like an American law that for 61 years blocked most Chinese immigration into the country, according to research by Renqiu Yu, a historian at State University of New York’s Purchase College.
Today, Chinese hometown organizations across the U.S. are almost as ubiquitous as Chinese takeout restaurants; the Journal examined records of more than 100 Chinese associations in New York City alone, including some that oppose Beijing and many others that appear apolitical. Known as tong xiang hui in Chinese, many simply offer rooms for elderly folks to chat in their native dialects while shuffling mahjong tiles.
The Department of Justice has already indicted the governor's aide, Linda Sun, who was deputy chief of staff for Governor Hochul and 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," according to PBS.
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At least 10 other indictments connected to the United Front influence operation in New York City have been handed down in the last two years.
In New York, the former head of a business association for people from Shandong province recently pleaded guilty to federal charges of acting as a foreign agent after being charged with pressuring a U.S. resident to surrender to Shandong prosecutors. The Justice Department alleged the tactics, part of a Chinese government campaign to repatriate Chinese expats sought in investigations, included threatening the target’s family with “endless misery” if he resisted.
Separately, one-time congressional candidate Yan Xiong told The Wall Street Journal that hometown groups torpedoed his election hopes over his 1989 participation in the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement. Repeatedly, as he sought to speak to gatherings hosted by hometown associations, Xiong says he was refused a platform.
“The consulate gives its powers to them, and their leaders influence the people,” Xiong says.
The Chinese in New York City and other big cities have power because they can turn out the vote. The are 10,000 members of the Henan association, and the organization's get-out-the-vote efforts are hugely successful. That's why politicians end up marching in the New Year parade and other cultural festivities.
However, the difference between the Chinese cultural events and other ethnic groups is that many of the hometown associations promote the Communist Chinese worldview.
“What we’re seeing a lot, but especially in New York City, is there are lots of Chinese associations that have been infiltrated by the Chinese government,” said a U.S. law-enforcement official.
Beijing has enormous leverage since most Chinese have family back in China. The all-powerful Communist government can make or break careers, deny travel, or make mischief in other ways that pressure American Chinese to toe the line or suffer the consequences.
