Former U.S. Cabinet Member Served CCP While in Office

Americans may know Elaine Chao as the former Bush and Trump-era cabinet official whose husband led the Senate Republican conference for more than two decades, but her involvement in government didn’t stop with roles in the United States. According to an explosive new Daily Caller News Foundation report, Chao “received at least four Chinese government positions since 2008.”

Several of these roles, first documented by the Chinese government and media, were in divisions of the “Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organ” the United Front Work Department (UFWD), which is known for its espionage and influence operations designed to sway global conversations and policy to align with CCP leader Xi Jinping’s political goals. The UFWD prides itself on co-opting Chinese nationals living overseas, particularly through “elite capture and public diplomacy,” to “advance Chinese influence, power and access to technology abroad.”

At least two of the Chao’s titles with UFWD-affiliated organizations appear to have overlapped with her time as a U.S. cabinet official.

“United front work damages U.S. interests through legal and illegal technology transfer, surveillance of Chinese diaspora communities, promotion of favorable narratives about the PRC through ostensibly independent voices, and the neutralization or harassment of critics of the CCP,” one memorandum from Congress’ select committee on the Chinese Communist Party detailed.

One of Chao’s alleged appointments, as advisor and fifth council committee member of the UFWD’s All-China Federation Of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFORC), partially coincided with her time as Trump’s Transportation Secretary. During that same period, 2012 to 2017, reporting suggests Chao and her father were also advisors to the UFWD’s China Overseas Friendship Association (COFA) located in Shanghai’s Jiading District. By 2019, Chao’s sister Angela became director of COFA’s national organization.