In a story that sounds more like the plot of a political thriller than everyday New York City life, recent investigations have revealed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) growing efforts to shape local politics through a network of social clubs and hometown associations. According to an August 25, 2025 report by The New York Times, these organizations—often tax-exempt nonprofits with deep community roots—have been quietly but forcefully influencing elections, intimidating dissenters, and supporting candidates who align with Beijing’s interests.
Over the past five years, more than 50 organizations with ties to Beijing have mobilized members to fundraise for, endorse, or otherwise back political candidates. This activity, as The New York Times found, is not limited to friendly handshakes and photo ops. At least 19 of these groups, registered as charities, ignored the legal ban on electioneering, openly endorsing candidates and hosting fundraisers. “That’s totally out of bounds,” said Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer, a professor at Notre Dame who studies nonprofit law, in an interview with Newsmax. “That’s a clear violation of the limits that Congress has put on their tax-exempt status.”
But the story doesn’t stop at campaign finance violations. Less than a month before the November 2024 presidential election, CNBC reported that China’s efforts had shifted from national races to state and local contests, where the impact on U.S. policy could be more direct and lasting. “You never know which politician might eventually run for Congress at the national level, or become a presidential candidate,” Audrye Wong, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, told The New York Times. In other words, today’s city council hopeful could be tomorrow’s national leader—a prospect not lost on Beijing.
According to The New York Times Insider, the CCP’s influence campaign is multifaceted and, in some cases, aggressive. The U.S. government and other news outlets have documented Chinese intermediaries hacking cellphone networks and even setting up an illegal police station above a noodle house in Manhattan’s Chinatown, allegedly used to harass Chinese dissidents. While the notion of “reds under the bed” reporting is a concern for journalists wary of overreach, the evidence points to a coordinated and persistent influence operation.
At the heart of this effort are the so-called “hometown associations”—organizations built around people from the same villages or provinces in China. These groups, numbering more than 200 in New York alone, have forged close ties with China’s consulate in Midtown Manhattan. Consular officials are in frequent contact with association leaders, and social media videos show diplomats presiding over at least 35 ceremonies since 2016, where leaders are led through loyalty oaths echoing Beijing’s political priorities. These oaths often invoke themes such as “reunification” with Taiwan and “rejuvenation” of the Chinese nation—language straight from President Xi Jinping’s playbook.
For New York’s Chinese American community—600,000 strong—the pressure to conform to Beijing’s line can be intense. Politicians who support civil liberties in Hong Kong, dream of a more democratic China, or even express sympathy for Taiwan often find themselves ostracized or targeted. The case of Iwen Chu, a New York state senator born in Taiwan, is illustrative. After attending a banquet with the Taiwanese president in 2023, she was confronted by a high-ranking Chinese consulate official and shunned by community leaders with close ties to Beijing. She was the only state senator to lose re-election last November, a defeat many observers link to this coordinated backlash.
The stakes can be even higher for those with a history of activism. Yan Xiong, a former leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests who ran for Congress in 2022, became the target of a plot by an agent from China’s Ministry of State Security. Federal prosecutors allege the agent conspired with a private investigator to undermine Xiong’s candidacy, even discussing physical intimidation and attempts to entrap him in scandal. These are not the tactics of ordinary political rivalry; they are the marks of a foreign government determined to silence dissent and shape outcomes.
Investigative journalists from The New York Times spent nearly a year unraveling the threads of this covert campaign. Their work included interviews with group members, politicians, prosecutors, and China experts, as well as analysis of campaign contributions, voting patterns in majority-Chinese neighborhoods, and hundreds of hours of video footage. Ironically, much of this material was found on YouTube—a platform banned in China—where associations often post recordings of their elaborate banquets and oath-taking ceremonies.
One of the more colorful figures to emerge from these investigations is John Chan, a former heroin trafficker and human smuggler who has reinvented himself as a political power broker in Brooklyn. Then there’s Winnie Greco, a top fundraiser and former adviser to Mayor Eric Adams, whose homes were raided by federal investigators probing Chinese interference in the 2021 mayoral race. Greco and another Adams supporter drew attention recently for giving red envelopes filled with cash to journalists at campaign events—a gesture steeped in Chinese tradition but raising eyebrows in the context of alleged influence operations.
The scale of Beijing’s involvement is staggering. The New York Times compiled a database of more than 200 hometown organizations with consulate ties, many of which have been involved in political activities that are not only controversial but, due to their tax-exempt status, often illegal. These groups have documented their political work in high-resolution video, making the task of mapping their activities both easier and more damning.
As the investigations continue, journalists are mindful of the need for nuance. Not every contact with the Chinese government implies wrongdoing, and accusations must be weighed carefully—lessons learned from past cases like that of nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee. Still, the evidence points to a sustained campaign by Beijing to shape the political landscape of America’s largest city, one community association and one local election at a time.
For New Yorkers of Chinese descent, the story is deeply personal. Some leaders with family or business ties in China say they fear retribution if they step out of line. Others, including many ordinary citizens, find themselves caught between two worlds—one defined by the promise of American democracy, the other by the long reach of Beijing’s political machine.
The full extent of China’s influence in New York politics remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the battle for the city’s future is being waged not just in the halls of power, but in banquet halls, community centers, and social clubs scattered across the five boroughs. As the investigations unfold, the city—and the nation—will be watching closely.