China loves to peddle its influence everywhere. Internationally, it employs Trojan horses such as the Belt and Road Initiative to entice poorer countries into coming under its control. Stateside, it embeds spies close to Democrat politicians.
A recent example of this is Linda Sun, a naturalized citizen from China and a former top aide to New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Sun was charged with being an “unregistered foreign agent,” though her other crimes allegedly included visa fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, bribery, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., and tax evasion.
Sun was originally in disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration. When he left under a cloud of scandal, his replacement, Hochul, hired Sun in 2021 to be her deputy chief of staff.
Sun was reporting to a Chinese consular official, Lihua Li. In text messages revealed at her trial, one said, “She is much more obedient than the governor.”
Sun was able to manipulate Hochul into delivering Chinese Communist Party talking points in a Chinese New Year video.
Footage HERE of the video @KathyHochul so ‘obediently’ filmed for the Chinese Communist Party after her Chinese Communist spy coaxed her into it.
This is her same Chinese spy and top former aide who’s on trial for doing favors on behalf of Chinese officials in exchange for… pic.twitter.com/eK5AuzKAzE
— Elise Stefanik (@EliseStefanik) December 4, 2025
New York Republican Representative Elise Stefanik, who was Hochul’s top competitor for the governorship in next year’s election but has since dropped out of the race, had this to say:
Not only is Kathy Hochul the most corrupt and Worst Governor in America, but she’s also the most compromised. It turns out Compromised Kathy bent the knee to her own Communist aide even before she bent the knee to New York City’s Socialist mayor-elect. New Yorkers deserve a leader with a backbone — not someone who bends to the whims of an alleged Chinese agent in the middle of a corruption trial.
Yesterday, Sun’s trial culminated in a hung jury/mistrial, though a second trial is forthcoming.
Sun isn’t the only staffer in Hochul’s administration who has deep ties to China. Another former top aide, Elaine Fan, also has a close relationship with Hong Kong’s Chinese Communist Party-backed government. She has not been accused of any crimes, but emails have linked her to Hong Kong.
New York is a prime target for Chinese influence. It has the largest number of Chinese immigrants in the U.S., followed by Los Angeles and San Francisco. Speaking of California, China has planted spies in that state’s Democrat circles as well. California Representative Eric Swalwell was reportedly sleeping with a Chinese spy, and the late former Senator Dianne Feinstein had an office director who was a Chinese spy.
The FBI has warned politicians of all stripes about the national security threat that is Chinese influence peddling. And yet, the ease with which Chinese operatives get to Democrat politicians is shocking.
It prompts the question: Do Democrats actually care that China is influencing them? After all, they seem to have the same goal: destroy America.
One can only hope there is just enough patriotism left in their souls that the answer is no.
