Democrat and Republican lawmakers have made payments to a Chinese Communist Party-controlled U.S. newspaper which is registered as a “foreign agent” of China. The payments date back over a decade, with Sing Tao US, with a presence in New York and California, receiving over $40,000 from powerful Democrats such as Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY).
Payments were also made by Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-CA), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, appearing to be for political advertising.
Michael Sobolik, an Indo-Pacific studies fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council think tank, said U.S. lawmakers should not be paying Chinese foreign agents to advertise, telling the Washington Examiner: “It smacks of political desperation and, rightly or wrongly, gives the impression of not caring about Beijing’s malign influence.”
In 2021, Sing Tao US filed with the U.S. Department of Justice as a registered foreign agent. The newspaper’s parent company is the Sing Tao News Corporation based in Hong-Kong in the communist People’s Republic of China. Sing Tao US‘s Hong-Kong affiliate, Sing Tao Daily, has long been suspected of being a mouthpiece for the Chinese Communist Party, pushing Beijing-approved media narratives.
Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-NY) has also come under fire for her association with a Chinese operative who was recently arrested by the FBI for operating an illegal overseas police station – a strategy used by Chinese communists to intimidate and threaten anti-Communist, Chinese nationals who live abroad. Democrat Congressman Eric Swalwell allegedly had a relationship with campaign fundraiser and supporter who was later revealed to be a Chinese spy, with U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein – a former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman – employing a CCP spy on her payroll for two decades.