In the Service of the PRC

Former New York State official Linda Sun and her husband have been indicted for, among other things, violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, as a result of Sun’s alleged services on behalf of the People’s Republic of China. The indictment has gotten a good deal of publicity:

A former top aide to New York Govs. Andrew Cuomo (D) and Kathy Hochul (D) used her high-ranking position in the state’s government to peddle influence for China and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while profiting millions in the process, an unsealed federal indictment alleges.

I was curious to know what a secret agent of the PRC did to earn her pay–pay that was sufficient to finance, among other things, a $4 million home. So I read the indictment.

The indictment is long and rather boring. It details numerous instances in which Sun used her position to promote Communist China and freeze out Taiwan. Here are some of the broader allegations:

Acting at the request of PRC government officials and CCP representatives, SUN engaged in numerous political activities in the interests of the PRC and the CCP, including blocking representatives of the Taiwanese government from having access to the NYS governor’s office; changing Politician-1 and Politician-2’s messaging regarding issues of importance to the PRC and the CCP; obtaining official NYS governor proclamations for PRC government representatives without proper authorization; attempting to facilitate a trip to the PRC by Politician-2; and arranging meetings for visiting delegations from the PRC government with NYS government officials.

Additionally, the defendant LINDA SUN repeatedly violated internal rules and protocols within the NYS governor’s office to provide improper benefits to PRC and CCP representatives, including by providing unauthorized invitation letters from the office of the NYS governor that were used to facilitate travel by PRC government officials into the United States for meetings with NYS government officials. SUN’s unauthorized invitation letters for the PRC government delegation constituted false statements made in connection with immigration documents and induced the foreign citizens into unlawfully entering the United States.

More:

In particular, SUN worked to prevent representatives of the Taiwanese government from meeting with high-ranking NYS officials, because she knew the PRC government was opposed to such diplomacy, and PRC officials asked SUN to take action to prevent it. Additionally, SUN worked at the request of PRC government officials to shape the public statements of Politician-1 and Politician-2 to align with the PRC government’s political priorities. SUN also obtained and publicly presented an official NYS proclamation for PRC Official-1 without authorization from her employer. Finally, SUN attempted to arrange visits by Henan provincial officials to the United States to meet with NYS officials, as well as a visit by Politician-2 to the PRC, both at the request of representatives of the PRC government and the CCP.

In addition to preventing TECO representatives from meeting or developing ties with the NYS government, the defendant LINDA SUN engaged in other activities at the request of PRC officials that were intended to influence the U.S. public with respect to political interests of the PRC government. In particular, SUN helped shape the NYS governor’s private phone calls and official public statements to conform with the expectations of representatives of the PRC Consulate.

There are more details in the indictment. On reading the document, my initial reaction was that this is a medium-sized scandal. Yes, it is astonishing that public statements by the Governor of New York were being filtered through the requirements of the Chinese Communist Party. Still, it might not be greatly significant if Linda Sun were the only secret Chinese agent in the U.S.

But of course she wasn’t. How many second-tier government officials, all across the U.S., are secretly in the pay of the Chinese Communist Party? No one knows, but it probably is hundreds, and could be thousands. If you take the allegations against Sun and multiply them by hundreds or by thousands, you can envision a significant impact on U.S. public opinion and U.S. policy.

And, of course, the Chinese influence isn’t limited to the second tier. Joe Biden was pretty clearly an agent of Chinese influence, for financial gain. Or at least the Chinese thought he was; why else would they pay him millions of dollars? And Tim Walz is ideologically aligned with the Chinese Communists, as indicated by his honeymooning in that country–who on God’s green Earth would choose Communist China as a honeymoon venue?–and 30 or so subsequent visits, some of them lengthy.

Then there is the CCP’s penetration of academia. How many American professors and administrators have taken Communist Chinese money in exchange for promoting the Communist Party line in their institutions? A few have been criminally prosecuted, but that is no doubt the tip of an iceberg. We have no real idea how far this influence extends.

I wouldn’t want to make too much of the indictment of Linda Sun. But if you assume that she is one of many CCP foot soldiers in America, the recitation of her actions on behalf of the Chinese government is neither benign or insignificant. The threat from the PRC is real, and for the most part, American voters are asleep at the switch.

Oh, one postscript. This allegation against Linda Sun can only provoke hollow laughter:

In or about and between August 2019 and November 2019, both dates being approximate and inclusive, within the Eastern District of New York and elsewhere, the defendant LINDA SUN, also known as “Wen Sun,” “Ling Da Sun,” and “Linda Hu,” together with others, encouraged and induced the aliens listed below to come to and enter the United States, knowing and in reckless disregard of the fact that such coming to and entry was and would be in violation of law, for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain.

Four (not four million) names follow. Wow. So enabling illegal immigration is a crime after all? Can we indict Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and many others on the same ground? If not, why not?

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