The top Democratic member of the House of Representatives’ committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), denied on Monday that Democratic Party officials are being specifically targeted by Chinese influence operations in the United States.
Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois is a four-term congressman and the ranking member of the House’s Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party. On Monday, at an event hosted by Semafor about strategic competition with China, Krishnamoorthi denied that his party was the target of foreign influence operations by the CCP’s United Front Work Department, even amid multiple reports of Democratic politicians being affected by them.
“I think, actually, that United Front goes after everybody. They’re not, um, necessarily targeting any one individual party,” said Krishnamoorthi while answering a question from The Daily Caller News Foundation. “The place where you see United Front activities…kind of very viscerally, is at the most local level where they’re nonpartisan. What I’m talking about [are] city council[s], mayors, in most places.”
“[Y]ou’re seeing the United Front activities in terms of…let’s, you know, kind of cozy up to this other individual who they see as rising within the politics of the state or the local area. Overall, United Front is this very shadowy set of actors and I think everybody just needs to be vigilant about it,” Krishnamoorthi noted, after denying that his party was the specific target of any influence operation.
The DCNF has reported on several Democratic members of Congress, Biden administration appointees and high-profile local officials being associated with CCP United Front-linked persons and organizations. These officials include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Mayor Eric Adams of New York City, Democratic Reps Judy Chu of California and Grace Meng of New York, the designate special presidential envoy for climate John Podesta and CIA Director William Burns, who is a member of President Joe Biden’s cabinet.
One Democratic congressman, Eric Swalwell of California, was accused in 2020 of having allegedly had sexual relations with a Chinese intelligence operative, reportedly named Christine Fang, during his tenure. For this reason, in 2023, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy denied Swalwell a seat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which he had held in previous congresses.
Many of these individuals have rebuffed the accusations. Krishnamoorthi, separately, warned against suspicion of Chinese-American organizations for possible United Front affiliation, lest it lead to racially-biased profiling.
“United Front should not be confused with Chinese American organizations or not-for-profits, many of whom, you know, most of whom the vast majority do wonderful work, certainly in Illinois and elsewhere, and we can’t go down the road of saying everybody who’s Chinese American is United Front or anything like that,” Krishnamoorthi noted.
