NEW YORK—The recently arrested fundraiser for City Comptroller John Liu serves in an executive position for two Chinatown organizations linked to Fujian Province, China, that have close ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). One of the organizations is also linked to organized crime.
The arrest on Nov. 16 of Pan Xinwu for illegally raising funds for New York City Comptroller John Liu’s election bid calls attention to Liu’s own financial dependence on the Fujianese groups since at least 2007, when they raised tens of thousands of dollars for his comptroller bid.
The group doing most of the heavy lifting during 2007 and 2008 was the Fukien Benevolent Association of America, commonly known simply as the Fukien American Association (FAA). Pan Xinwu is the executive vice chairman of that group, according to Chinese media reports.
On July 10, 2007, the FAA raised $36,000 for Liu, according to the pro-communist newspaper China Press. The following year on July 20 the same group raised at least $70,000, according to World Journal, another Chinese newspaper.
The day after the arrest, China Press explained that Pan Xinwu has helped raise money for John Liu in the Chinese community for “a long time,” and also has forged connections between the Liu campaign and the Chinese community.
He’s done the same for other campaigns, too, the piece says.
According to Chinese media, Pan is also the executive vice chairman of the United Fujianese American Association (UFAA), which has taken a low profile since earlier this year.
Both groups are strongly pro-Beijing.
The FAA was founded in 1942, before communist domination of the mainland. It later fell under Beijing’s sway. The group now notes on its website that the association “firm and unyielding, openly stands on the front line of the battle, and has become a crack force in Chinatown opposing independence and pushing unification.”
The last part refers to combating attempts by Taiwan to become an independent state, and instead promoting its assimilation into communist China.
The website notes that the association does battle with “anti-China forces,” protects the reputation of the homeland, and has received high acclaim from the Chinese regime.
The other group, the UFAA, was founded in New York state in 1990. Its website is no longer online, but there is a record of the site stored on Oct. 17, 2010, in the Internet Archive.
