The revelations come after prosecutors charged former senior Hochul aide Linda Sun for acting as an unregistered agent of Beijing.
A senior aide in the administration of New York Governor Kathy Hochul maintained a warm and enthusiastic working relationship with officials from the Chinese Communist Party–controlled government of Hong Kong, long after Beijing began a crackdown on the city’s pro-democracy movement.
The New York Chinese Consulate’s efforts to subvert the state government are well established, but correspondence obtained exclusively by National Review reveals that the Beijing-backed, authoritarian Hong Kong government enjoyed a level of access to Hochul’s office that was previously unknown.
The revelations regarding Hong Kong’s access to the Hochul administration come after prosecutors charged former senior Hochul aide Linda Sun for acting as an unregistered agent of Beijing. Through Sun, CCP officials were able to manipulate Hochul’s team into pursuing the party’s priorities, prosecutors alleged.
Prior to Sun’s arrest, Hochul had positioned herself as one of the most Beijing-friendly politicians in the U.S., attending events tied to China’s government while appearing to snub similar celebrations hosted by Taiwan’s government.
Hong Kong’s Inside Woman
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in New York (HKETO NY), the city’s de facto consulate, cultivated ties with a different former senior Hochul aide, Elaine Fan, throughout 2023, according to emails that the governor’s office provided National Review pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law. Fan, who was Hochul’s director of Asian Affairs, has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing, but experts raised concerns about HKETO’s ties to New York.
A director of HKETO NY welcomed Fan’s “friendship” with the CCP-controlled city, in one of the emails.
Collectively, the messages shed light on how Beijing-tied nonprofits in New York have created networks that help Chinese officials cultivate relationships with their U.S. counterparts without attracting public attention.
In fact, throughout her tenure working for Hochul, Fan was present at several events with Hong Kong officials, including a ceremony hosted at Citi Field on the evening of a Mets game, a dragon boat race in Flushing, Queens, and an event at the Times Square ball drop, as National Review has previously reported. Fan notably did not attend similar New York events hosted by Taiwan’s government, pro-democracy Chinese and Hong Kongers, or other groups that have been targeted by Beijing.
Fan encountered officials from HKETO at community events organized by a group tied to the CCP’s political influence apparatus and, in turn, met two consecutive HKETO directors for lunch, planned to host a delegation of Hong Kong officials at Hochul’s office in NYC, and introduced HKETO representatives to others in New York State government, the emails show.
In the early 2000s, Fan worked for the MingPao Daily, a newspaper in Hong Kong, coming to New York as its correspondent. But her family roots are in China; her grandfather Fan Changjiang was a senior official in the CCP’s propaganda apparatus in the 1950s. After leaving Hochul’s office in November 2023, Fan served as chief of staff for the 2025 New York mayoral campaign of former city comptroller Scott Stringer.
Neither Fan nor Hochul’s office responded to National Review’s requests for comment.
In a response to questions about its engagements with Fan, HKETO NY said: “We stress that our interactions were conducted solely in her official capacity with the New York State Government as part of discharging our office’s functions as stated above.”
HKETO is a vestige of the era when the U.S. government considered Hong Kong to be somewhat autonomous from China — and it has maintained a presence in America despite the State Department’s finding that Beijing ended that autonomy with a draconian crackdown in 2020.
In a statement, HKETO NY said that its mission is to “promote and strengthen the bilateral ties between Hong Kong and the 31 eastern states of the US in different areas such as trade, investment, arts and culture.”
“The New York ETO has all along been operating in accordance with local legislation,” the statement continued. “To fulfill the office’s mission, we have been maintaining close liaison with interlocutors and local stakeholders, such as state and city governments, think tanks, academic institutions, and the media, to help them stay informed about the latest developments in Hong Kong. Our office also frequently organizes business and promotional events, such as seminars, forums, cultural festivals, exhibitions and film screenings, to help deepen Hong Kong’s business and cultural ties with the major cities on the Eastern seaboard.”
But China experts and human rights advocates see a malign agenda.
“Instead of meeting with Hong Kong’s Economic and Trade Office, the United States should close their locations throughout the country,” Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told National Review. “It’s an extended branch of the Chinese Communist Party and a vector for Beijing’s malign influence. The office was legitimate when Hong Kong actually had autonomy from China, but it doesn’t anymore. Shut them down.”
HKETO NY told National Review: “We oppose any untrue and unfounded allegations regarding the work and functions of the New York ETO.”
The emails indicate that Fan first encountered officials from HKETO at events organized by the Sino-American Friendship Association, a nonprofit that is led by former Chinese officials and maintains close ties to the CCP’s united front political influence networks.
During a New Year’s Eve event at the end of 2022, the Sino-American Friendship Association hosted programming during the Times Square ball drop event. SAFA hosts a version of this ceremony every year, each time inviting Chinese officials.
The short event at the start of the evening featured remarks by former Chinese Consul General in New York Huang Ping and former HKETO NY Director Candy Nip. Fan also attended the festivities, representing Hochul’s office.
After the event, Nip wrote an email to Fan. She expressed regret that the two officials had not gotten to speak for longer.
“It was a great pleasure meeting you at the Hong Kong Press Conference at Westin Hotel and the New Year’s Eve Countdown Celebration at Times Square. Your support and friendship mean a lot to Hong Kong,” she wrote.
“It is a pity that we did not have much opportunity to talk. We could probably find time for a coffee or lunch when you are free. Please let me know if you are open to this idea.”
Nip also invited Fan to join a reception for the opening ceremony of a ballet performance by the Hong Kong Ballet in January 2023.
Fan responded, agreeing to meet with Nip and signing up for the ballet event. She called the New Year’s Eve ceremony arranged by SAFA “magnificent and amazing.”
“I would be very delighted to have coffee with you to talk about my role at the Governor’s office and any future partnership for us to work together,” Fan added.
The emails from Hochul’s office indicate that they met for lunch on February 17, 2023, two weeks after American jets shot a Chinese surveillance balloon out of the sky after it had traversed the continental U.S.
The Hochul administration’s contact with Hong Kong took place as the Biden administration was freezing high-level dialogue with Beijing over the incident. National Review previously reported on Fan’s support of meetings with a controversial CCP bureau, the International Department — which Hochul’s team said was at the behest of the Biden State Department later that year.
France Hui, a leading pro-democracy campaigner who is exiled in the U.S., explained that HKETO branches are tied up in CCP “united front” political influence operations to influence the state government. Hui said they are tasked with “promoting a curated ‘Hong Kong story’ — one that obscures Beijing’s ongoing dismantling of civil liberties and the rule of law in the city.”
“When U.S. officials at federal, state, and local levels engage with HKETOs or other organizations tied to the United Front, they should do so with full awareness of their connection to the Chinese government and the potential risks these ties pose to national security and to the safety of individuals in the United States,” Hui, now the policy and advocacy coordinator at the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, told National Review.
“This is especially critical in places like New York, home to large communities of Hong Kongers and Chinese diaspora who remain vulnerable to Beijing’s transnational repression — a campaign in which the HKETOs have evidently been involved elsewhere.”
The Hong Kong government has issued bounties for the arrests of Hui and other pro-democracy figures residing in the U.S. and other western countries. It has imprisoned numerous pro-democracy campaigners on spurious charges within the city, including Jimmy Lai, Joshua Wong, and numerous others.
Fan Prioritizes Access for Hong Kong Officials
Emails suggest that Erica Lam, the deputy director of HKETO NY, was also present at the February 17 lunch meeting between Fan, the Hochul aide, and Nip, the then-director of HKETO.
“It was a pleasure to have lunch with you just now,” Lam wrote in an email to Fan sent after the lunch, adding that a delegation of Hong Kong officials would visit New York for that year’s session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women.
Lam indicated that Fan had already agreed to meet the visiting Hong Kong representatives, who included Nick Au Yeung, deputy secretary for Hong Kong home and youth affairs, and Yuen-han Chan, a former Hong Kong legislator who holds a role in a union with close ties to Beijing.
“It would be really great if they could have a meeting with you during their stay in New York. We will pencil mark 3pm of March 6, 2023 (Mon) for the meeting. Let us know should there be any schedule change. Please also let us know the preferred location of the meeting, say your office?”
Fan responded, asking Lam to send her a calendar invite and saying, “I will prioritize this!”
It’s not clear if Fan ended up hosting the Hong Kong delegation at Hochul’s office. National Review requested all of Fan’s emails involving HKETO, but the Hochul administration, which has previously withheld certain records responsive to NR’s requests under the law, did not produce any correspondence following up on that prospective meeting.
Hochul’s office also did not furnish any correspondence confirming the time and location of Fan’s February 2023 lunch with Candy Nip, though Lam’s subsequent email stated that it took place.
Fan also connected Nip with Empire State Development, which is New York’s economic development agency. She wrote to an official at the agency: “It is my understanding that the connection between ESD and HKETONY lost due to staffer rotation during pandemic.”
Later that year, Nip returned to Hong Kong to take on a different role in the city’s government, with Maisie Ho, a former top aide to the city’s former chief executive, arriving in New York City as her replacement at HKETO NY.
Ho was previously an aide to CY Leung, a pro-CCP hard-liner who was rewarded for his battles against Hong Kong’s pro-democracy advocates with an appointment as vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political and Consultative Conference — a central node of Beijing’s united front — when his tenure as Hong Kong chief executive ended.
In early September 2023, Fan first met Ho during An Evening of Chinese Culture, an annual event hosted by the Sino-American Friendship Association during a Mets game. Prominent invitees have often included the Chinese consul general, officials from HKETO, and New York politicians and their representatives.
On September 5, Ho’s executive assistant, Gardi Mak, wrote to Fan: “It was so great to see you again at the ‘An Evening of Chinese Culture Ceremony’ at Citi Field last Friday. I had so much fun and it was my first major league baseball game ever :-).”
Mak continued: “Maisie also had the opportunity to meet you there and she wishes that she could have a little more time together with you. after the game, Maisie has asked me to contact and invite you to lunch in the coming weeks.”
Fan and Ho subsequently planned to meet at a Sushi restaurant steps away from the NYC branch of the governor’s office, on September 14, according to an email in which Mak sent details about the reservation, under Ho’s name.
Fan replied: “I am really looking forward to our discussion!!”