KMT Chairwoman's US Trip Meetings Raise US Security Concerns

Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun （鄭麗文）, center, cheers at a gathering with Taiwanese expats in Washington on Thursday. Photo courtesy of the KMT

By Tsou Ching-wen and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Meetings between Chinese Nationalist Party （KMT） Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun （鄭麗文） and people with alleged links to China during her US trip have drawn attention from US security circles, a source said.

During a two-week visit to the US beginning on June 1, Cheng held a series of public engagements with people reportedly under scrutiny by US security agencies over alleged links to China, surveillance of dissidents in operations directed from Beijing, and cross-border influence activities, the source said yesterday.

In one instance, China Fujian Association chairman Chen Heng （陳恒） appeared alongside Cheng in photographs.

Chen and another man, Lu Jianwang （盧建旺）, were among those who led groups of pro-Beijing Chinese immigrants who protested outside a New York hotel in March 2023 during then-president Tsai Ing-wen’s （蔡英文） transit through the city.

Lu is a Chinese-American community leader and businessman based in New York who came to the attention of US national security authorities following allegations that he helped operate an unauthorized overseas Chinese police station in Manhattan’s Chinatown, the source said.

Last month, Lu was convicted of offences including acting as an unregistered foreign agent and obstruction of justice.

Although Chen was not charged or convicted in connection with the 2023 incident, he has long led the Fujian Association, which is alleged to have operated under the direction of Chinese public security authorities, sources said.

He allegedly engaged in similar activities with Lu, and is described by sources as having long been involved in cross-border influence activities and political mobilization on behalf of Beijing, making him a subject of ongoing US national security scrutiny.

Cheng’s public interactions with such overseas figures have raised questions in the US over whether the KMT lacks awareness of these people’s backgrounds or if other factors are involved, according to people familiar with the matter.