Californias Democratic state treasurer and leading 2026 lieutenant governor candidate Fiona Ma has quietly built a campaign war chest that includes more than $100,000 from donors with documented ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), its intelligence-linked front groups and Beijings sprawling influence network.
According to Western Journal, a detailed investigation by the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) found that Mas political committees have repeatedly accepted contributions from individuals and entities connected to the CCPs United Front Work Department (UFWD), Chinese government organs and organizations flagged by U.S. national security officials as vehicles for foreign influence. The pattern of donations, meetings and photo-ops raises serious questions about the judgment of Californias chief financial officer and the broader willingness of Democratic officials in deep-blue states to ignore mounting warnings about Beijings covert operations on American soil.
Among the most striking examples, filings show that Ma accepted a $2,500 contribution in September 2022 from then-Arcadia mayoral candidate Eileen Wang, who the Department of Justice says is expected to plead guilty in the coming weeks to charges of acting as an illegal agent of China. Ma had been photographed with Wang at multiple California events and publicly endorsed her mayoral bid in August 2022, just one month before the donation landed in Mas campaign account, according to DCNF translations of Chinese-language media reports.
Neither Ma nor Wang responded to multiple requests for comment about the contribution or their relationship. For a statewide official responsible for overseeing billions in public funds, the silence only deepens concerns that political expediency and ideological alignment with the Democratic establishment are being placed above basic national security prudence.
The DCNF previously reported that Ma has met with officials from the Chinese government and the UFWD at least 30 times since 1999. The UFWD, long recognized by intelligence professionals as a key arm of Beijings global influence apparatus, is not a benign cultural outreach body but a sophisticated political warfare tool.
The House Select Committee on the CCP has described the UFWDs operations as a blend of engagement, influence activities, and intelligence operations that Beijing uses to shape foreign policy and gain access to advanced foreign technology. In other words, the very entities Ma has repeatedly engaged with are at the center of the CCPs strategy to penetrate Western political systems and siphon off American know-how.
This is how China seeks to co-opt U.S. lawmakers. It floods the zone with United Front community groups to entangle American politicians in meetings, under the guise of legitimate community outreach and multiculturalism, investigative reporter Sam Cooper, author of Wilful Blindness: How A Network Of Narcos, Tycoons and CCP Agents Infiltrated The West, told the DCNF. If the politician you are investigating is meeting frequently with groups confirmed to fall within that classification and receiving donations from them, that constitutes a grave concern for American democracy.
Mas China entanglements drew broader public scrutiny after an April 2026 Politico report revealed that in September 2023 she offered to help secure U.S. internships and job opportunities for students at Pegasus California School, a program founded in Qingdao by the chair of Mas campaign finance committee. Those students, all Chinese nationals, allegedly obtained unlawful California high school diplomas through a partnership with the Val Verde Unified School District, according to a 2026 audit by the Riverside County Office of Education, which did not accuse Ma herself of wrongdoing.
Even without direct legal culpability, the Pegasus episode underscores a recurring theme: a powerful Democratic official repeatedly aligning herself with China-linked institutions in ways that benefit foreign nationals and politically connected insiders. For conservatives who have long warned about the CCPs infiltration of American education, business and politics, Mas conduct looks less like nave outreach and more like a case study in how elite Democrats normalize dangerous relationships under the banner of global engagement.
Campaign finance records show that Mas political committees took in just over $2 million in total contributions in 2025, with a notable share coming from individuals tied to Chinas government, military and intelligence-linked organizations. It is disgraceful to see the willful entanglements with CCP-tied entities by government and business elites that are blinded by the allure of the promise of money and jobs, particularly since they are ignoring the directives and warnings by our national security and intelligence agencies, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Cella told the DCNF.
Mas campaigns have accepted tens of thousands of dollars from donors affiliated with the UFWD, including Royal Business Bank co-founder Simon Pang, who has given $12,500 to Ma since 2018. Pang serves as the Southern California coordinator for the Chinese Peoples Association For Friendship With Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), a UFWD affiliate, the DCNF reported in July 2025.
The U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center has warned that CPAFFC has sought to directly and malignly influence state and local leaders to promote [Chinas] global agenda. Despite that warning, Ma has been photographed interacting with Pang at multiple events, including the Los Angeles Chinese Consulates Chinese New Year celebration in January 2023, according to Chinese government photographs.
Campaign filings and DCNF translations of Chinese government and state media reports show that Mas campaigns have also received tens of thousands of dollars from several individuals affiliated with CPAFFC who traveled with Pang to the organizations Beijing headquarters in February 2016. Pang could not be reached for comment, leaving unanswered why a California constitutional officer has become such a favored recipient of funds from a network so closely aligned with Beijings foreign policy objectives.
The donor list grows more troubling the deeper one looks. Mas 2022 state treasurer re-election campaign received $1,000 from businessman Xuan Guojun, who has held positions in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Peoples Congress and multiple UFWD arms, the DCNF reported in July 2025. Authorities in California arrested Xuan in May 2025 for allegedly abusing his 21 children in the U.S. in connection with an apparent surrogacy scheme, though no charges have yet been filed.
Xuan also serves as executive chairman of the U.S.-Zhejiang General Chamber of Commerce (USZJGCC), a California-based nonprofit that donated $2,750 to Mas 2022 re-election campaign. Tax records list USZJGCC as a 501(c)(3) charity, a classification that is explicitly barred by the Internal Revenue Service from making political contributions.
The DCNF reported in January 2025 that USZJGCC is co-chaired by a supervisor for Chinas Ministry of Public Security, often described as Chinas FBI. Ma has appeared at several USZJGCC events, including an April 2023 webinar, according to DCNF translations of the groups announcements.
Neither Xuan nor USZJGCC responded to requests for comment about the apparent violation of U.S. nonprofit law or the organizations leadership ties to Beijings internal security apparatus. For a state treasurer who should be intimately familiar with regulatory compliance, accepting money from a 501(c)(3) with such connections suggests either gross negligence or a troubling indifference to legal and ethical red flags.
California Secretary of State filings further reveal that Mas current lieutenant governor campaign has received $13,600 from Eric Zhang & Associates LLP, whose founder hosted a fundraiser for Ma in January 2024, according to a DCNF translation of Chinese media. The manager of the firms Las Vegas office, Barry Zhang, served as the registered agent for the now-defunct Prestige Biotech Inc. (PBI) and another company linked to alleged illegal biolabs discovered in Reedley, California, in December 2022 and in Las Vegas, Nevada, in January 2026, business filings show.
While it remains unclear whether authorities recovered pathogens at the Nevada site, the California facility contained at least 20 potentially infectious agents, according to a 2023 investigation by the House Select Committee on the CCP. That same investigation reported that PBIs accountant worked for organizations headed by individuals linked to CCP leadership and to the [UFWD], and a committee spokesperson confirmed to the DCNF that the accountant in question was Barry Zhang.
Eric Zhang & Associates and Barry Zhang did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The unanswered questions surrounding the biolab case, combined with the firms financial support for Ma, highlight how deeply CCP-linked networks can intersect with American politics when officials fail to draw firm lines.
Donors serving in other UFWD arms, including the All-China Federation Of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC) and the China Overseas Friendship Association (COFA), have also poured tens of thousands of dollars into Mas campaigns. The American public should be aware that ACFROC and COFA may conduct actual intelligence, espionage and criminal activity on American soil, journalist Sam Cooper warned.
ACFROC overseas adviser and media mogul Florence Fang has donated $5,750 to Mas campaigns since 2004, according to filings. Fangs family owned the now-defunct AsianWeek magazine, where Ma previously worked as a columnist, as reported in 2002 by The San Francisco Examiner, which itself was once owned by the Fang family.
Filings also show that Mas campaigns have received $8,805 from Tina Yao, who serves as executive director of COFAs Jiangsu provincial branch, according to a DCNF translation of a UFWD announcement. Ma has presented at least two commendations to Yao since 2024 for her work as president of the American Yunnan General Chamber of Commerce (AYGCC), a California-based nonprofit where Mas late father served as honorary president, according to AYGCCs website.
Fang and Yao did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Their silence, combined with Mas refusal to address the pattern of donations, leaves voters to piece together the implications of a political career heavily subsidized by figures embedded in Beijings global influence architecture.
Beyond individuals, Ma has also taken campaign cash from venture capital firms investing in companies that develop technology for Chinas security state and military. Among them is Oriza Ventures, which donated $12,000 to Mas lieutenant governor race, according to campaign filings.
Oriza Ventures parent company is an investment arm of the Suzhou municipal government, which supports the CCPs strategy of military-civil fusion the repurposing of civilian technology for Chinas armed forces according to a 2018 report by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Oriza Ventures could not be reached for comment, but the firms backing of Ma underscores how deeply Chinese state-directed capital has penetrated American political and economic life, often with little resistance from progressive officials who champion global partnerships while downplaying security risks.
Chinas dictator Xi Jinping has massively expanded the UFWDs cadre system with the explicit purpose of weaponizing diaspora community groups in the U.S., Cooper said. The assigned task of those community group members is to surround and cultivate elected officials. In the more aggressive operations, my assessment is that the objective extends to ensnaring those officials in financial corruption, Cooper added.
When a politician accepts an award, a donation, or a speaking platform connected to organizations operating under the umbrella of these friendship and trade groups, a Chinese intelligence officer is, in my assessment, very likely involved in an influence operation designed to subvert American democracy. American voters deserve to know who funds and organizes the access events their elected representatives attend.
For conservatives, the Ma case is not an isolated aberration but a warning flare about the broader posture of the Democratic Partys coastal establishment toward a hostile foreign power. While federal intelligence and counterintelligence agencies have repeatedly cautioned about the UFWD, CPAFFC, ACFROC, COFA and similar entities, prominent Democrats in California continue to cultivate relationships, accept money and lend legitimacy to organizations that serve Beijings strategic aims.
The unanswered questions are stark: Why has Ma not publicly explained or renounced these donations, and why has her party shown so little interest in imposing ethical boundaries on its own rising stars? As Beijings influence machine grows more aggressive under Xi, the stakes for American sovereignty, democratic integrity and national security demand far more vigilance than Californias treasurer has so far been willing to show.
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