‘Our investigation centers on allegations that [communist China] is attempting to establish a footprint in the Show Me State,’ Missouri AG Andrew Bailey said.
The Missouri attorney general has expanded his investigation into the Chinese Service Center in St. Louis after his office found evidence that the Chinese outpost has violated Missouri law.
“Our investigation centers on allegations that the communist government of China is attempting to establish a footprint in the Show Me State,” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey said in a July 17
statement.
Mr. Bailey issued a civil investigative demand to investigate the Chinese Service Center’s actions and failures related to soliciting and reporting charitable funds in Missouri.
His office “has reason to believe” that the Chinese center has “engaged in, is engaging in, or is about to engage in, deception, fraud, false promises, misrepresentation, unfair practices, and/or the concealment, suppression, or omission of material facts in connection with the solicitation of charitable funds,” according to a statement.
“My office takes these allegations very seriously and will continue to fight for and protect Missouri citizens and consumers,” Mr. Bailey said.
Last year, Mr. Bailey
opened an investigation into the outpost in Missouri following reports that a powerful agency of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—the United Front Work Department—runs at least seven outposts on U.S. soil, for the purpose of advancing the CCP’s interests abroad.
The Chinese Service Center in Missouri was one of the seven Overseas Chinese Service Centers (OCSC)
first identified by The Daily Caller last year. The center in St. Louis was founded in December 2017, according to China’s
foreign ministry.
As of September 2017, the CCP has established more than 60 service centers across five continents, according to a statement by the Utah
center.
“The Chinese Communist Party has been trying to expand its influence globally and we must put a stop to any efforts to gain a foothold in America,” Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.) wrote on
X, formerly known as Twitter, as she notified Mr. Bailey to the presence of the outposts at the time.
“Communist dictators can’t use American soil to go after courageous dissidents and innocent families, and we must continue to fight back against this regime’s dangerous ideology.”
Inquiry From Senators
Last year, after the report of the presence of the outposts, several U.S. senators requested information from the Justice Department and FBI and called for
an immediate probe into the matter.
“The CCP’s intent is clear with its operation of these OCSCs: to intimidate and surveil Chinese Americans with dissenting opinions,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and seven GOP senators said in a
letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division Matthew Olsen.
In another
letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and nine other senators expressed concerns that the United Front was running the outposts.
“[The United Front] is responsible for coordinating domestic and foreign influence operations, through propaganda and manipulation of susceptible audiences and individuals,” a State Department
report reads.
“The United Front has also penetrated deeply into state, local, and municipal governments through a myriad of front organizations such as the CCP’s sister-cities programs, trade commissions, and friendship associations.”
The U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission published a detailed
report on the United Front’s (UFWD) operations.
“To carry out its influence activities abroad, the UFWD directs ‘overseas Chinese work,’ which seeks to co-opt ethnic Chinese individuals and communities living outside China, while a number of other key affiliated organizations guided by China’s broader United Front strategy conduct influence operations targeting foreign actors and states,” the 2018 report reads.
In April 2023, the FBI shut down an illegal Chinese police station and
arrested two people accused of secretly operating the facility in New York City on behalf of the CCP, taking orders from Beijing to target Chinese dissidents living in the United States.
The secret police station in New York was part of a network of more than 100
overseas stations run by the CCP in 53 countries, according to the Spain-based nonprofit group Safeguard Defenders.
“Taken together, these troubling events demonstrate the need to take [seriously] the real and ongoing threats that China poses to our national security,” Ms. Blackburn said at the time.
Dorothy Li contributed to this report.
