When a former aide to New York’s governor was charged this year with acting as a Chinese agent, the federal indictment suggested a surprising level of interest by Beijing in state-level governance in the United States.
Chinese espionage at the national level, like hacks and the theft of trade secrets, is big news. But intelligence officials and prosecutors say that Chinese diplomats and their intermediaries are increasingly dangling prizes — travel benefits, pandas for local zoos, even salted ducks — as a way to shape local policy or curry favor in a city hall or statehouse.
Here’s why.
Access to national leaders has diminished.
There was a time when members of Congress made regular trips to China. Those have all but stopped. In many parts of the United States, China is so unpopular that a lawmaker could pay a political price for visiting.
Some members of Congress may also see it as risky to associate with people who are close to Beijing. Representative Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California, underwent a two-year ethics investigation after reports that a suspected Chinese spy had helped with fund-raising for his 2014 campaign. Investigators decided to take no action and closed the matter.
For Beijing, local leaders are the next best thing.
“As Washington’s attitude toward China toughens, the attitudes of the states are critical,” reads a 2019 study by a Chinese research organization and Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Local politicians may not be as guarded.
In Chinese-language journals, party officials have written about local politicians being more malleable. They are also less protected against security threats. Members of Congress get C.I.A. briefings before going overseas. Local politicians typically do not.
“Their priority is not national security,” said Emily de La Bruyère, co-founder of the risk consulting group Horizon Advisory, who has testified before Congress on what is known as subnational influence. “They’re going to be looking at positive cooperation and economic relationships,” she added, referring to local officials.
My colleagues and I reported that, as Mayor London Breed of San Francisco lobbied the Chinese government to send pandas to the city zoo, she traveled to China without an intelligence briefing and met with top government officials. The trip was arranged by a Chinese group that intelligence agencies say works to influence American politics.
Ms. Breed’s office said the trip was intended to bolster San Francisco’s economy and that the entire city stood to benefit.
Today’s mayor may become tomorrow’s senator.
China has had success playing the long game. The Chinese leader Xi Jinping met Terry Branstad, then the governor of Iowa, in 1985, when Mr. Xi visited Iowa as a local party leader. Mr. Branstad maintained strong ties with China, culminating in a stint as ambassador from 2017 to 2020.
These sorts of relationships can benefit both countries. Officials in Washington and Beijing with mutual understanding may be less likely to come into conflict.
But the F.B.I. director, Christopher Wray, said in 2022 that Chinese agents looked for politicians who would someday advocate on behalf of Beijing’s agenda. “They look to cultivate talent early,” he said.
Beijing is keenly interested in the Chinese diaspora.
In some regions, political access is about keeping tabs the Chinese diaspora and silencing dissidents.
New York and San Francisco are top targets because they have large ethnic Chinese populations, Mr. Wilder said.
“They want to control those communities,” he said. “And they want to make sure that Taiwan has very little influence.”
That struggle for control is reflected in the charges against the former aide to New York’s governor. She stands accused of blocking representatives of Taiwan from gaining access to the governor’s office.
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