By Philip Lenczycki via Daily Caller News Foundation
- Republican members of Congress led by Texas Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas are urging the FBI to investigate Dominic Ng, President Joe Biden’s appointee to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
- Ng is a current and former member of two alleged Chinese intelligence front groups, a DCNF investigation recently found.
- “I request the FBI investigate and provide a report to Congress on the extent of Mr. Ng’s knowledge of sensitive information, as well as any potential violations of The Espionage Act,” the letter to the FBI states.
Republican members of Congress are calling on federal authorities to investigate an alleged Chinese Communist Party (CCP) front group member whom President Joe Biden appointed to represent U.S. business interests in Asia, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Republican Reps. Lance Gooden and Keith Self of Texas, Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Ben Cline of Virginia and Doug LaMalfa of California are urging FBI Director Christopher Wray to investigate Dominic Ng, CEO of East West Bank, after a recent DCNF investigation revealed that the banker is a current and former member of two organizations which multiple Chinese intelligence analysts have identified as front groups for a Chinese intelligence agency. Ng’s CCP ties first came under scrutiny in April 2022, when Biden appointed the banker to a one-year position representing the U.S. on the Business Advisory Council of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) just over a year after Ng had donated $100,000 to the Biden Victory Fund and $35,500 to the Democratic National Committee in 2020.
“We request the FBI investigate and provide a report to Congress on the extent of Mr. Ng’s knowledge of sensitive information, as well as any potential violations of The Espionage Act,” the letter to the FBI states.
“China has proved themselves as our greatest adversary and foreign competitor, and yet our leaders continuously jeopardize U.S. national security by allowing the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to infiltrate our third-party sector and federal government,” the letter states. “This lack of scrutiny should be promptly evaluated, and the Biden Administration should take immediate steps to ensure blunders like this will not happen again.”
“These are incredibly troubling disclosures,” Tiffany told the DCNF. “The FBI ought to be taking a very serious look at them.”
Ng, East West Bank, APEC, the White House and the FBI did not respond immediately to the DCNF’s request for comment.
Ng served as “executive director” at the China Overseas Exchange Association (COEA) between 2013 and 2017, before beginning a five-year position with the same title at the related China Overseas Friendship Association (COFA) in 2019, where Ng apparently remains a member, according to a DCNF translation of archived membership records.
Both COEA and COFA, which merged in 2019, have been identified as front groups for the United Front Work Department (UFWD), a CCP agency overseeing both influence and intelligence operations, according to multiple reports from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC).
“Communist China is creating and operating front organizations in the U.S. that are designed to influence events, businesses and leaders throughout our nation, and their mission is proving successful,” the letter to the FBI states.
“We need to know how far the tentacles of the CCP’s ‘United Front’ campaign have penetrated into our institutions,” Tiffany told the DCNF.
Complicating matters, the U.S. is scheduled to host APEC’s November 2023 summit in San Francisco where some expect Biden and General Secretary Xi Jinping to meet, according to statements made by Michael Swaine, East Asia program director at the Quincy Institute, on C-SPAN Feb. 5.
Ng is currently responsible for offering “recommendations to APEC leaders reflecting the perspectives of key APEC stakeholders,” as chair of APEC’s Business Advisory Council, according to the State Department.
“The president’s appointment of Mr. Ng to the APEC Business Advisory Council is just another example of the reach and motives of the CCP and the lengths its affiliated organizations will go to install influential Chinese operatives in U.S. leadership roles,” the letter to the FBI states.
In addition to Ng’s membership in alleged UFWD front groups, the banker has also met with UFWD leaders in both the U.S. and China, the DCNF determined.
In 2012, Ng traveled to Hong Kong to meet with Tung Chee-hwa, an individual whom USCC’s 2018 report characterized as “clearly associated with the United Front.” Tung is the vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which is the “highest-ranking entity overseeing the United Front system,” according to USCC’s 2018 report.
Shortly after joining COEA, Ng also met with COEA’s leaders Han Qide, He Yafei and Tan Tianxing in Beijing in November 2013, according to Chinese government records. Afterwards, Ng had an audience with the CCP’s former premier, Li Keqiang, and former foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, Chinese government records reveal.
Over the years, Ng has continued to meet with high-ranking CCP figures, the DCNF found. For example, Ng attended the CPPCC’s national committee in Beijing in March 2015 and the following year met with COEA’s “executive vice chairman” Qiu Yuanping in Los Angeles in February 2016.
During all of these meetings, Ng offered his cooperation to Chinese government entities, the DCNF found.
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio called Ng’s alleged CCP ties “beyond disturbing and concerning” in a Feb. 10 tweet.
“President Biden should never have appointed him to such a senior government position representing the U.S. in Asia,” Rubio tweeted.
Calling Biden’s decision to make Ng a U.S. representative to APEC “unfathomable,” Gooden told the DCNF that Ng was “compromised at best and a traitor at worst.”
“His donation of over $100,000 to President Biden’s re-election campaign has been rewarded with a position to represent U.S. business interests in Asia,” Gooden said. “The president should immediately rescind his appointment and the FBI should launch an investigation into whether Mr. Ng has passed sensitive information to Chinese officials.”
Original article link
