Swalwell campaign in the hot seat after accepting almost $15K from CCP-tied law firm: 'Stop playing footsie'
FIRST ON FOX: Rep. Eric Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign recently received almost $10,000 from the California-based office of a top Beijing law firm that has deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party, a Fox News Digital investigation found.
A filing that was released this week reveals that Swalwell’s campaign received $9,999 from the DeHeng Law Offices PC on Dec. 30 and said that the office is based in Pleasanton, Calif. The law firm’s website reveals that this office is their "Silicon Valley Office" and appears to only have one lawyer who works there.
Keliang "Clay" Zhu, who donated $5,000 to Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign this past November and previously donated over $10,000 to his House campaigns, is a partner at the law firm and is the only name listed for the "Silicon Valley Office," according to their website.
A Fox News Digital review revealed that the law firm was founded as the China Law Office, which was a subsidiary firm established by the CCP’s Ministry of Justice in the early 1990s before being renamed the DeHeng Law Offices in 1995. While the firm, which has over two dozen offices in China, portrays themselves as independent, the firm and its lawyers continue to have longstanding cooperation with the Chinese government's departments and major state-owned enterprises.
Zhu, who is originally from China, touts several examples of how he has helped Chinese state-owned enterprises and other Chinese companies get a foothold in the United States, according to his bio. For example, he touts representing an "investment fund of a major state-owned enterprise in acquiring majority shares in one data analytics software company in the Silicon Valley," which he valued at $100M.
Another bio touts how he "has assisted Chinese companies and funds to complete more than $9 billion investments in the fields of chips, unmanned vehicles, new energy, artificial intelligence, industrial automation, and biopharmaceuticals in the United States."
"On behalf of Chinese enterprises, he has negotiated with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Treasury and other organizations for many times and achieved compliance plans, which greatly reduced the compliance risks for Chinese clients in the United States," the bio continued.
His bio also says he helped advise "a governmental investment fund from Shenzhen for its compliance with CFIUS regulations in the U.S." and represented "WeChat users in a historic lawsuit that sued President Trump and successfully stopped his WeChat ban in 2020."
At the time, Trump’s first administration sounded the alarm over WeChat and said the "data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information" and was concerned that the CCP would use data to stalk dissenters or control messaging inside the United States, such as launching disinformation campaigns. Similar efforts to restrict WeChat have occurred in countries like Australia and India, according to the White House.
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Zhu also has a history of fighting against state-level legislation aimed at preventing China's foreign land grab in the United States.
After a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit intended to stop a Texas law banning Chinese nationals from owning or leasing land in the state, Zhu described the legislation as "unfair, unconstitutional and un-American," according to AsAmNews, a daily news site focused on Asian-American and Pacific-Islander communities. Zhu similarly expressed disfavor with a Florida law meant to prevent individuals from countries that are foreign adversaries to the United States, such as China, from buying up land.
National security experts have sounded the alarm about China increasingly buying up farmland, property near military bases and other land near places of strategic value, which has been matched with state-level legislation in places like Texas, Florida, Arizona and more.
"All Asian Americans will feel the stigma and the chilling effect created by this Florida law, just like the discriminatory laws did to our ancestors more than a hundred years ago," Zhu said in 2023 about an anti-land grab bill, according to a press release from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. "We shall not go back."
Michael Lucci, a top China expert and the State Armor Action founder and CEO, sounded the alarm over the donations and called for Congress to reform the "campaign finance laws to define donations made on behalf of foreign adversaries to be bribes."
"Congressman Swalwell must finally stop playing footsie with America’s foremost adversary: Communist China. First was his fiery romance with Fang Fang, a CCP spy, and now he’s caught taking campaign checks from Communist China’s favorite big law firm," Lucci told Fox News Digital. "Congress must fix this problem by reforming campaign finance laws to define donations made on behalf of foreign adversaries to be bribes, and to impose criminal penalties upon those who make such donations. And Congress should go further by altogether prohibiting the acceptance of payment for any lobbying or other influence work on behalf of an American adversary, as the State of Texas did last year."
Meanwhile, several of the firm's China-based partners have a history of working in Chinese politics, largely through the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which is a "key mechanism for multi-party cooperation and political consultation" under the leadership of the CCP, according to the CPPCC website, and is a crucial tool of the United Front strategy to influence U.S. policy.
For example, Zhixu Wu, who is a "Director and Senior Partner" of the Kunming, China-based office of DeHeng Law Offices, is a member of the "Standing Committee of the 13th Kunming Committee of the CPPCC" and a member "of the 12th Yunnan Committee of the CPPCC." His bio also says he was previously awarded in 2017 with "the title of ‘Excellent League Member’ for the second assistance event of the National Lawyers Service Group," which was approved by the "Eight Bureau of United Front Work Department of CPC Central Committee, Guidance Department of Lawyer’s Notarization Work of the Ministry of Justice."
Degang Zheng, a senior partner in the Shenzhen office, also touts his ties to the CPPCC, saying in his bio that he is a "Member of the Executive Committee" of the CPPCC's Shenzhen chapter. Hongli MA, a senior partner in the Hangzhou office, says he was recognized for "Three consecutive years of outstanding CPPCC members in Binjiang District, Hangzhou in 2014, 2015, 2016."
Li Wang, another top attorney and the chief global partner of the Beijing office, touts how she "has served as general legal counsel for scores of Ministries of the PRC, state-owned enterprises, and private enterprises and institutions." Her bio also says she is the "Commissary of Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Beijing Committee" and the "Chairman of Belt & Road Service Connections."
Swalwell's ties to China have come under scrutiny before, particularly after Chinese national, Christine Fang also known as "Fang Fang," gained special access to him and his campaign. She was deemed by U.S. officials to be part of a counterintelligence effort linked to China meant to influence and get close to U.S. political figures.
Swalwell has repeatedly claimed he cut off ties as soon as U.S. intelligence officials warned him of the threat and a congressional ethics investigation into the matter eventually found no wrongdoing on Swalwell's behalf. However, he was ultimately removed by Republicans from his post on the House Intelligence Committee, with then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy citing Swalwell's past run-in with a suspected Chinese spy.
Lucci told Fox News Digital that Swalwell should commit to halting any further dalliances with America's foreign adversaries, and re-donate the funds he received from DeHeng Law Offices and Zhu "to an organization that fights the evils of communism."
Fox News Digital reached out to Swalwell and Zhu for comment on this story, but did not hear back by publication.