Over the past decade, a long-time friend and mentor of Vice President Kamala Harris who is running for Congress in California has maintained friendships with the top executive of an organization that represents a Chinese Communist Party front group.
James Chau wrote, in early 2022, a few months before he became president of the China United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), “Belated Best Wishes to my sister and friend [Lateefah] as she builds upon her years of service [Akonadi Foundation] for Meadow Fund.”
He continued, “These are times of complexity — but also times when skill and compassion matter even more.” “I look forward to the impact of your work.”
Simon, who is currently running for Rep. Barbara Lee’s House seat and was a key speaker at the 2024 DNC convention on behalf of Harris, responded, “I love you James. Hong Kong this summer!”
Belated best wishes to my friend and sister @lateefahsimon as she builds on her years is service @akonadi_oakland to lead Meadow Fund. These are complex times — yet also times in which skill and compassion count even more. Looking forward to seeing the deep impact of your work.
— James Chau (@jameschau) February 17, 2022
He replied, “You’ve got free reign on my heart.”
Chau also posted on social media a photo of what appeared to be a painting of a tree that had dozens of leaves with the caption “What are you GRATEFUL for?” Chau claimed that the tree was “not big enough” and then tagged Simon. She responded with a heart-shaped emoji.
This tree is not large enough! @lateefahsimon pic.twitter.com/DQV6CQK0uf
— James Chau (@jameschau) November 8, 2020
When contacted for comment, Elizabeth Power, Simon’s spokesperson, stated that the premise of the story was absurd and had no basis in fact or reality.
Chau’s Twitter exchanges and other social media posts, as well as his previous CUSEF work, were made at a time when Chau was already working actively for CUSEF. Chau “joined CUSEF” in 2018, and “was working with its founder, The Hon. Tung Chee Hwa, before he was elected president of the group in 2023.
Tung Cheehwa was vice chair of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a crucial part of the CCP’s United Front System that works to advance the CCP’s interests at home and abroad.
A report reveals that Chee-hwa’s CUSEF paid Julia Wilson, a Black Public Relations Consultant, over $1 million to learn about Black Americans, gain influence in historically black colleges and Universities, and Black leaders.
“In 2009, the former chief executive of Hong Kong [Tung Chee-hwa] visited me in my office with his staff from the China-United States Exchange Foundation, and they wanted to know how we got a Black president,” Wilson, whose office is across the street from the White House, told college students during a 2017 presentation. “They were saying, ‘We don’t know anything about Black people. So can you write us a white paper and share it with us? How did Black people get enough power to vote a Black man into office?’ So they needed an overview of our history. Who are we? Who are African Americans?”
CUSEF’s latest annual report, published in July, shows how the CCP has a strong influence on the foundation, from its advisers, partners, and donors. CUSEF’s top partner is the People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. This Beijing-based organization was previously described as “a Beijing-based organization that co-opts subnational governments,” and seeks to “directly, and maliciously” influence state and local officials to promote the PRC’s international agenda.
According to the website, the China Ministry of Foreign Affairs is another partner in CUSEF’s annual report. This important part of the CCP’s apparatus coordinates regularly with CCP leaders and branches. Top Chinese and American Universities like Princeton, Georgetown, and Harvard are also partners. Sidwell Friends School was on the list, an elite boarding school where the daughters of former President Obama and the grandchildren of President Biden attended.
CUSEF has received donations from several Chinese billionaires. Wang Jianlin is the billionaire chairman of the Wanda Group and a CCP Member. He served at the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. He has also been a member of the CPPCC for a very long time. Bernard Chan, a donor listed in CUSEF’s Annual Report, is the same Bernard Chan who served as the Hong Kong Delegate to the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China for 15 years, the highest organ of power within the CCP.
Peter Woo is a current member of the Standing Committee for the 11th CPPCC. According to CUSEF, Liu Changle is the founder of the Chinese state-owned Phoenix Satellite Television. He also has several CCP connections.
Chau, who worked as an anchor at China Central Television (a state-owned company), has written about Tung on his X page and interviewed him several times. Chau, who was a contributor to China’s state-owned CGTN in 2017, sat with Tung for an interview and discussed U.S.-China relations. He began working with Tung a year later at CUSEF.
Simon, who spoke at the DNC earlier this summer, reflected on Harris’s friendship, and her experiences working with her in the early 2000s.
Simon, speaking in August 2024 at the DNC, said: “She truly sees me. She is among the best of us. After working with Kamala for five years, creating programs to support young people in getting out of the criminal system with good jobs and opportunities, she wanted to get to the core cause of a criminal justice system that is broken.”
Chau and Simon first met in San Francisco, California, in 2008, while they were both working against HIV. They have remained friends ever since, and even became close over their fathers’ deaths, Chau’s and Simon’s, weeks apart. This was revealed in the opening segment of a 2020 digital interview between the two, part of CUSEF’s “The China Current” platform. Simon told James at the end of their interview about the pandemic, and “inequity in a healthcare system” for people of color. Let’s discuss more.”
Months later, Chau called Simon “brilliant” in a Twitter post, saying he was “watching this important discussion on the history of black organizing in Oakland—one of the centers of global civil rights.”
CUSEF posted a blog on its website in 2019 highlighting their engagement with Black Americans, “in collaboration with the Congressional Black Caucus” and other civil society organizations focusing specifically on the Black community in the U.S.
