Tim Cheung (@TimCheung)

https://www.facebook.com/ChinaCreepingAuthoritarianism/posts/pfbid02Cz5zZ4CXyhgjz2XJoUYadDstoC9hUbW5p593H8p5Ca2xV9wbPK5TNNgLji6fyL9kl "In #NewYork City, #socialclubs backed by #China undermined a congressional candidate who once challenged the regime on #Chinese #television. They helped unseat a state #senator for attending a banquet with the president of #Taiwan. And they condemned a #CityCouncil #candidate on #socialmedia for supporting #HongKong #democracy. In the past few years, these organisations have quietly foiled the careers of #politicians who opposed China’s #authoritarian government while backing others who supported policies of the country’s ruling #Communist Party. The groups, many of them tax-exempt #nonprofits, have allowed #America’s most formidable adversary to influence #elections in the country’s largest city, The New York Times found. The groups are mostly 'hometown associations' of people hailing from the same town or province in China. Some have been around for more than a century, while dozens of others have sprung up over the past decade...many hometown associations have become useful tools of China’s #consulate in midtown #Manhattan, according to dozens of group members, politicians and former prosecutors. Some group leaders have family or business in China and fear the consequences of bucking its authority. Consulate officials have enlisted them to intimidate politicians who support #Taiwan or cross #Beijing’s other #redlines. In one case, a Chinese intelligence agent and several hometown leaders targeted the same candidate...China is determined to quash dissent in its #diaspora before it spreads back home, said Audrye Wong, a fellow at the #American Enterprise Institute who studies Chinese influence. Beijing is also making a longer bet, she said: 'You never know which politician might eventually run for Congress at the national level, or become a presidential candidate'...China’s influence machine is one of the world’s most expansive and effective. Over decades, it has harassed exiles in #France, bribed #academics in #Britain and targeted #politicians in #Canada. It has even built clandestine #policestations in dozens of countries to threaten #dissidents. Its efforts have been especially potent in New York City, home to 600,000 ethnic Chinese people. In 2023, the #FBI arrested leaders of one group, the #America Changle Association, for operating a police station in its #clubhouse. Last year, a federal indictment accused a former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul of conspiring with the heads of two Chinese associations, saying their political activities 'were supervised, directed, and controlled' by Chinese officials. And this summer, FBI agents interviewed group leaders in# #Chinatown about consulate pressure, two leaders said. The Times uncovered new evidence of how the consulate wields its influence. Videos uploaded to YouTube show festive ceremonies in which consulate officials led hometown groups in pledges to love the #motherland and defend her interests. Sometimes they vowed to promote 'reunification' with Taiwan, a self-governed island democracy that China aims to absorb into the #mainland. More than 50 organisations with ties to Beijing have mobilised members to fundraise or endorse political candidates over the past five years, the Times found. Many were nonprofit charities, which are prohibited by law from electioneering...In a city where victories can be determined by ethnic voting blocs, relationships between China-aligned groups and elected leaders are mutually beneficial. Politicians often court these groups and, once in office, sometimes send government money back their way. (Mayor Eric) Adams — whose former aide resigned amid an investigation into China’s possible intrusion in the last mayoral race — has secured endorsements from the leaders of at least nine hometown groups in his tough campaign for reelection. That aide and another Adams supporter also caused a stir after reports last week that they had given red envelopes of cash to some journalists at his events this summer.