New York former deputy chief of staff Linda Sun is charged with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act and acting on behalf of Beijing. Experts familiar with Chinese Communist tactics say this is a typical espionage operation.
Linda Sun, former deputy chief of staff in the New York governor’s office and former deputy director of the state labor department, and her husband Chris Hu were arrested on Tuesday, September 3rd. She pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Former senior CIA official Dennis Wilder, who was responsible for China affairs, said in an interview with NBC on Wednesday, the 4th, that this is a typical operation of the (CCP) state security apparatus.
Wilder stated that the primary mission of Chinese intelligence is to “disrupt Taiwan” anywhere, including Chinatowns in American cities or state legislatures.
Born in Nanjing, Sun came to the U.S. at the age of 5 with her parents and is fluent in Chinese. In 2009, she was hired as chief of staff for then New York State Assemblyman John C. Liu (current U.S. Congressman), and in 2012, she joined the New York State government under Governor Cuomo.
She has held various positions in the New York State government, including Asian Affairs Director for the Governor, Global Trade Manager and External Affairs Director for Empire State Development, Deputy Director of Diversity Affairs for the state government, Deputy Director and Diversity Affairs Director for the New York State Finance Department.
In 2021, when Hochul became the governor of New York, Sun was appointed as her deputy chief of staff. In September 2022, Sun was appointed as Deputy Director of Strategic Business Development at the New York State Labor Department, the highest position she held in her 14 years of government service, but she resigned in March 2023.
According to the indictment, since 2016, at the request of the Chinese consulate, Sun has made concerted efforts to reduce interactions between Taiwanese government officials and the governor’s office. She even personally attended a public rally in Manhattan on July 12, 2019, organized by a pro-CCP Overseas Chinese group protesting the visit of the President of Taiwan to New York.
“In this respect, people working for Hochul will be very useful. She will have the ability to push pro-Beijing issues and suppress Taiwan issues,” Wilder said. He is currently an assistant professor at Georgetown University.
In March 2020, as COVID-19 spread in New York, state officials held a private phone conference to discuss their response to the pandemic and hate crimes against Asian Americans.
Unbeknownst to anyone, Sun secretly included a Chinese government official in the internal phone conference.
Prosecutors claim that during the phone conference, Sun also texted the Chinese official to “mute the phone.”
After listening to the 32-minute phone conference, the Chinese official sent a message to Sun saying, “Very helpful.”
This is just one example in the 64-page indictment. Prosecutors allege that Sun violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, acted on behalf of the CCP, and conspired in visa fraud, human smuggling, and money laundering.
She and her family received millions of dollars in kickbacks, free trips, and Nanjing-style salted duck.
U.S. counterintelligence officials have long been publicly and privately concerned about Beijing’s carefully orchestrated espionage activities, aiming to exert influence in American society, including bribing military and technology industry members.
Counterintelligence officials say Beijing’s long-term strategy also includes targeting local and state officials, hoping that after these officials are promoted, they will provide more support to the CCP and help deepen their understanding of U.S. political decision-making.
Former senior national security official at the Department of Justice, Adam Hickey, said unequivocally that Beijing has been trying to build relationships in state and local governments in the U.S., fostering friendships and connections.
Hickey has led the enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act at the Department of Justice.
Craig Singleton, a senior researcher on China issues at the Washington think tank the Democracy Fund, told NBC that the Sun case shows that Beijing is trying to use covert operatives to influence political decision-making at all levels of American government.
“Just as TikTok has raised concerns about data collection and influence operations, the Sun case highlights Beijing’s relentless efforts to infiltrate and manipulate U.S. institutions from within,” Singleton said.
“The charges against Sun indicate that China is implementing a broader strategy of using trust and channels within political circles to penetrate and influence all levels of American government, from local to federal,” he added.