Chinese Agent Case in NY Highlights CCP Infiltration

Former New York Governor Kathy Hochul aide Linda Sun leaves Brooklyn Federal Court after her arraignment in New York on Sept. 3, 2024. Corey Sipkin/AP Photo

This text appeared in the ‘Top Story’ email newsletter sent on Sept. 7, 2024.

The arrest of Linda Sun, a former top-level aide to New York governors Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo, as an alleged spy for Beijing has been a wakeup call to the depth and scale of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) infiltration into American governmental bodies, according to top intelligence experts.

The Department of Justice on Sept. 3 unsealed an indictment that revealed Sun had forged Hochul’s signature and edited Cuomo’s statements to advance CCP interests on American soil and allow CCP officials to enter the United States illegally and meet with government officials. Sun’s tenure in the New York government goes back to 2009, and she spent more than 10 years (2012 to 2023) working for the governor’s office. The former deputy chief of staff was put in charge of liaising with the Asian community.

Linda Sun, a former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and her husband, Chris Hu, exit the federal court in Brooklyn after Sun was charged with acting on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, in New York City on Sept. 3, 2024. Kent J. Edwards/Reuters

Sun was charged with visa fraud, alien smuggling, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, and her husband and alleged co-conspirator Chris Hu was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, bank fraud, and misuse of means of identification. Both were charged with acting as foreign agents illegally.

Dennis Wilder, senior fellow at Georgetown University’s U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues, said state governments have been “rather naive” about foreign agents.

Hochul said at a press conference after the charges that Sun had been hired long before her time and had not been subject to the “lengthy, intensive” background checks her office now uses to vet potential hires. The governor’s office fired Sun in March 2023 for misconduct and contacted law enforcement, and Hochul said at a recent press conference she was unable to share additional details due to the ongoing case but implied the office’s reporting contributed to the charges.

Wilder noted that local-level governments don’t necessarily have the resources to do the sort of vetting the federal government can, and emerging cases of this nature show the need for them to seek assistance.

Nicholas Eftimiades, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, said this showed the need for a “whole-of-nation” solution to the CCP’s own whole-of-nation approach toward foreign influence campaigns.

“As of 2019, China has put an emphasis on covertly influencing people at the state level and local levels,” Eftimiades said, referring to a Chinese report published that year that ranked U.S. governors by their friendliness to Beijing.

The report, produced by a Chinese think tank and the state-affiliated Tsinghua University, categorized U.S. governors as “friendly,” “ambiguous,” or “hardline,” after analyzing their work history, public statements, and trade activities with China.

Eftimiades said the CCP has been trying to influence American views and policies both “covertly and openly,” through programs from sister-city partnerships to foreign agents.

In March, Indiana enacted a ban on sister-city agreements with foreign adversaries. Four months later, in July, the sixth U.S.-China Sister Cities Summit was held in Tacoma, Washington, where Chinese ambassador Xie Feng was welcomed and gave a speech calling for an expansion of the program.

Wilder predicted that Sun’s case will be the first of many.

“I think now that this case has come to light, we’re going to see more of them because state governments are now more aware. But it could be the tip of the iceberg,” he said. He noted there was a difference between a classic spy and an agent of influence.

“There are a lot of agents of influence around and we don’t know who they are,” Wilder said.

A big part of the CCP’s overseas influence operations is carried out by its “united front” network, a complex network of agencies and organizations that are coordinated by a party agency called the United Front Work Department.

Citing a Newsweek investigation in 2020 that found 600 United Front organizations in the United States, Eftimiades said that if each of the organizations had recruited several people, the CCP could have “at least 20,000 to 30,000 actively working—knowingly or not—on behalf of China.”

As for classic spies, Wilder pointed to the size of China’s top intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), which has an estimated 100,000 employees, around five times the size of the CIA.

Through the MSS, the CCP seeks to involve civilians willingly or unwillingly, in its foreign influence operations.

In recent weeks, the Department of Justice has announced charges against two Chinese nationals for allegedly acting as spies for the MSS. The duo, Wang Shujun, and Tang Yuanjun, are both naturalized U.S. citizens.

Details in these kinds of indictments reveal that networks of MSS officials and representatives around the globe coordinate to recruit not only Chinese nationals but also non-Chinese American citizens to do the CCP’s bidding. Sometimes the processes involve bribes, and other times coercion; if one has family residing in mainland China, the MSS personnel make clear that terrible things could happen to them.

Wilder said the Chinese consulates across America also function as “cover” for MSS agents, providing them positions within the embassy.

In July 2020, the United States ordered the Chinese consulate in Houston to shut down in a rare move. Senate Intelligence Committee acting Chairman Marco Rubio said at the time the move was “long overdue” because the consulate was a “massive spy center.”