Congressional Republicans are slamming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other Democrats for risking national security after the two attended an event last month with a man now facing federal charges for allegedly running a secret Chinese police station in Manhattan.
Video recorded on March 18 appears to show Lu Jianwang standing alongside Adams at a fundraising event for the Fukien American Association, a cultural nonprofit linked to the Chinese province. Schumer spoke at the event.
Lu was arrested last week and charged with conspiring to act as an agent of China’s government, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
“Chuck Schumer, Eric Adams and New York Democrats have failed to take the threat of Communist China seriously and risked compromising national security for a photo op with Chinese foreign agents infiltrating New York State,” House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik told Fox News Digital. “While far-left Democrats in New York are schmoozing our foreign adversaries, House Republicans are working to hold Communist China accountable for their malign actions and defend Americans from the malicious threat of the CCP (Chinese Community Party).”
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In April 2022, Lu also met New York Democrat Rep. Grace Meng at a fundraising event, according to the Daily Caller, citing images the outlet found.
Records show that since 2006 Lu has contributed at least $32,625 to New York elected officials, including Adams and New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul.
On the other side of Capitol Hill, Republican senators say it is “no surprise” that Chinese operatives mingle with Democrats, casting the party as a whole as “pro-China.”
“It is not surprising that that CCP spies are mingling with prominent Democrats like Chuck Schumer, and it is clear that the left learned nothing after Eric Swalwell,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., told Fox News Digital.
Blackburn was referring to an incident in 2020 in which a suspected Chinese spy, known as Fang Fang or Christine Fang, targeted Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., by reportedly taking part in fundraising for his 2014 reelection campaign, although she did not make donations nor was there evidence of illegal contributions. Fang’s relationships with at least two Midwestern mayors turned sexual, according to reports, and at least two incidents were caught by FBI surveillance.
“While the Biden administration is attempting to appease Beijing and work on climate change, CCP spies are infiltrating cities and organizations around the country,” Blackburn said.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said that it is “no surprise that Chinese operatives found their way into Democrat events.”
“The Democrat Party is structurally pro-China,” Cruz told Fox News Digital. “Democrats get their money from Big Business, Big Hollywood, Big Universities and Big Tech, all of whom get their money from China.”
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“Democrats are happy to ignore China’s genocide of the Uyghurs, other human rights atrocities, culpability for COVID and intellectual property theft,” Cruz added.
A spokesperson for Sen. Schumer told Fox News Digital, “Senator Schumer attends countless events in every corner of New York, including with the Asian American community. He was attending the annual Fukinese Association dinner, as he has in years before, and took photos with those present. He had never met this man before and did not know who he was.”
Adams’ office told Fox News that the mayor’s attendance at an event is either to show support for a local community or the city and does not signal any kind of endorsement. A spokesperson for Adams also said he does not know Lu.
When announcing Lu’s arrest last week, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York said China’s Ministry of Public Security “has repeatedly and flagrantly violated our nation’s sovereignty, including by opening and operating a police station in the middle of New York City.”
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The CCP’s overseas police stations allow Chinese authorities to “carry out policing operations on foreign soil” and have aided a CCP campaign to combat citizens living abroad, according to the pan-Asian human rights organization Safeguard Defenders.
Chen Jinping was also charged with conspiring to act as an agent of China’s government.
The FBI raided the illegal police station before Lu and Chen’s arrests.
Peace said his office and the FBI’s New York field office are the “first law enforcement partners in the world to make arrests in connection with the Chinese government’s overseas police stations.”
Fox News’ Bryan Llenas and Greg Norman contributed to this report.