Members of Congress have dished out large campaign payments for over a decade to a Chinese-owned newspaper the Department of Justice forced to register as a foreign agent, records show.
Campaigns for eight Democratic and Republican politicians have paid over $41,500 combined between 2011 and 2023 for advertisements in Sing Tao U.S., according to campaign finance disclosures reviewed by the Washington Examiner. The newspaper is a subsidiary of the Hong Kong-based Sing Tao News Corporation and reported itself as a foreign agent in 2021 that is involved in "political activity," DOJ filings under the Foreign Agents Registration Act show.
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The decadelong cash transfers underscore how entities in China have amassed influence in the United States, which in recent years has stepped up its scrutiny of foreign media and required the companies to submit foreign agent reports. Sing Tao U.S., which has operated in New York and California and has a Hong Kong affiliate called Sing Tao Daily that is the city's oldest Chinese language newspaper, reported in August 2021 to the DOJ that over half of its content has been purchased by the Chinese-based Star Production (Shenzhen) Limited.
China's government has one of the "world's most restrictive media environments, relying on censorship to control information in the news, online, and on social media," according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think tank. Sing Tao Daily has long been held to be a pro-Beijing outlet and reportedly maintained leaders on China's National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
One lawmaker tied to Sing Tao is Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), whose campaign paid it over $2,800 between 2011 and 2015 for "newspaper advertising," according to disclosures. Eshoo claimed to the Washington Examiner the payments "may not have been listed correctly" on the Federal Election Commission website and that her lawyers are "looking into it."
"It's a large law firm, and so they designate someone to work with us. They think those amounts are correct. And they are listed as newspaper advertisements, but they may be more accurate to be listed as a nonfederal committee," Eshoo said, later adding the payments were "for ads" though may have for some reason gone through the San Mateo, California, Asian Pacific Islander Caucus.
The congresswoman and her campaign also said the 2011 to 2015 filings aren't the only Sing Tao-related payments.
Tamara Fagin, campaign manager for Eshoo, said the committee used funds in 2020 and 2022 to pay the San Mateo API Caucus, which placed ads in Sing Tao, Philippine News, the news agency of the Government of the Philippines, and World Journal, a Chinese language newspaper in the U.S. that has been alleged to have ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
The Washington Examiner could not confirm with the campaign which specific payments in the FEC database it was referring to in 2020 and 2022. However, the campaign did send $450 in July 2022 to the caucus for a "newspaper ad," which Fagin initially said corresponded to one Sing Tao-linked payment before saying her email records contrarily indicated a $300 payment, according to filings.
The 2022 ads were for 23 total candidates, Eshoo said in an interview, noting she doesn't think the API caucus was "aware" Sing Tao was a foreign agent.
"I wasn't aware that the State Department listed this paper as such, but I am certainly going to notify the organization and the person that's in charge of, you know, carrying out the local endorsements," the congresswoman, who later noted she was referring to the DOJ after the Washington Examiner pointed out it was the correct agency that handles FARA, said.
Another lawmaker who paid Sing Tao is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), whose campaign steered it $442 in May for "print advertising," campaign finance disclosures show. Her campaign previously paid it $5,000 combined between 2020 and 2022 for various matters, including "vaccination ads," general "advertising," and an "advertising expense."
Michael Sobolik, an Indo-Pacific studies fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council think tank, said it's clear American politicians shouldn't be paying Chinese foreign agents to advertise.
"It smacks of political desperation and, rightly or wrongly, gives the impression of not caring about Beijing's malign influence," he told the Washington Examiner.
The campaign for Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY), who has come under fire from Republicans for being allegedly linked to a CCP operative, paid Sing Tao $1,000 in November 2022 for a "print advertisement" after previous payments of more than $12,300 combined for "advertising" between 2012 and 2020, according to disclosures.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis's (R-NY) campaign steered $7,300 in October 2022 to Sing Tao for "print ads," while Rep. Kevin Mullin's (D-CA) campaign paid it $1,440 for "newspaper ads" in January 2022.
Meanwhile, the 2016 presidential campaign for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) paid $3,370 to Sing Tao for "print advertising," while then-California GOP Rep. Ed Royce that same year steered $6,600 combined to it for "print advertisements," according to records. Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-MA) campaign paid Sing Tao $1,100 in 2012 for "print advertising."
Sing Tao Daily was deemed in a 2013 report by the U.S. government-backed Center for International Media Assistance to have editorial practices indicating it may be controlled by the CCP. Another report, published in 2001 by the Jamestown Foundation, a defense policy think tank, said Sing Tao Daily was heavily affiliated with China's government, citing how deputy chief editor of Sing Tao's U.S. branch in San Francisco, Larry Lee (Li Gee), used to be an editor for People’s Daily in Beijing.
People's Daily is owned by the CCP and is "effectively controlled by the government of the People’s Republic of China," the State Department announced in 2020 upon designating it as a "Foreign Mission."
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The Ocasio-Cortez, Meng, Malliotakis, Mullin, Warren, and Sanders Senate campaigns did not reply to requests for comment.
Royce, now policy director at the lobbying and law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, did not either. He registered in 2021 as a foreign agent for Saudi Arabia and has lobbied for other countries, including Egypt, according to DOJ filings.