New details of the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front setup in Minnesota, and Governor Tim Walz’s interaction with its agents, have been excavated by the Breitbart News Foundation and the Government Accountability Institute. They are conducting a joint investigation.
China’s United Front is an influence operation, or a network of many such operations. The House Select Committee on the CCP defines it as “a unique blend of influence and interference activities, as well as intelligence operations, that the CCP uses to shape its political environment. It is carried out by an extensive and well-documented network of organizations operating in parallel to the People’s Republic of China’s foreign ministry and intelligence services that seeks to influence universities, think tanks, civic groups, other prominent individuals and institutions, and public opinion broadly.”
According to former CIA counterintelligence analyst Peter Mattis, United Front work “damages U.S. interests through legal and illegal technology transfer, surveillance of Chinese diaspora communities, promotion of favorable narratives about the PRC through ostensibly independent voices, and the neutralization or harassment of critics of the CCP.”
Among the entities and persons discussed in Breitbart’s report (March 26, 2025):
A building on North Eustis Street in St. Paul (shown above). This is a base for CCP operatives who provide services for Chinese Americans loyal to Beijing and “curry favor with politicians like Minnesota Governor Tim Walz…. Businesses registered at this address receive six-figure grants from American taxpayers…. It is also the home of the Overseas Chinese Service Center of Minnesota (‘Minnesota OCSC’), which apparently works under the umbrella of the CCP’s ‘united front’ [and] spreads pro-CCP propaganda in the US.”
Deng Qing. A “propaganda chief [who] is affiliated with and attends events at the Eustis Street outpost.”
Qin Gang. In September 2022, when he was the Chinese ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang’s “first stop on his first visit to Minnesota” was the Minnesota OCSC.
Yu Peng. The deputy general consul who shared a stage with Tim Walz several weeks before he was elected governor in 2018.
Liu Jun. “Upon winning election, Gov-elect Walz invited Consul General Liu Jun to the inauguration ceremony.” When Walz won his election, China’s foreign ministry reported that “Acting Consul General Liu Jun congratulated Governor Walz and expressed his expectation to strengthen cooperation with the new Minnesota government to jointly promote the friendly and cooperative relations between Minnesota and China.”
Bingwen Yan. The head of the Minnesota OCSC, Yan and his associates have “embedded themselves in political circles in Minnesota.” Yan has donated to Walz and several other prominent politicians.
“Governor Walz has been photographed repeatedly with Minnesota OCSC head Dr. Yan, propaganda chief Deng Qing, and other Minnesota OCSC operatives….
“Press releases from the Chicago Chinese Consulate’s website indicate that Dr. Yan has been the primary director of the united front operation in the Twin Cities—especially since the Minnesota OCSC was officially chartered by the Chinese government in September 2016.”
He is a scientist holding several patents. “One company, SarTec, received a $438,000 taxpayer-funded grant in 2008 while Yan served as the company’s chief scientist.”
Dr. Yan hosts and leads Twin City tours for high-ranking Chinese government officials. Dr. Yan’s authority was on full display when he organized and moderated a virtual townhall featuring Walz and other Minnesota political elites that centered on “Combating Rising Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans.”
Virtual attendees from the Chinese community watched as Dr. Yan opened the event by lecturing all public officials to do better to protect the Chinese community. American officials including Governor Walz, US Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, Congressman Dean Phillips, several members of the State Legislature, and several local sheriffs delivered remarks at this event.
Chinese state media broadcast the event globally and touted it as a model of forceful advocacy on behalf of the overseas Chinese community.
Huan Gao. A deputy of Yan who runs the company Eustis Partners, owner of the Eustis Street building. He also runs several other companies headquartered there.
Walz’s longtime chumminess with the CCP had been reported during the 2024 presidential campaign. And perhaps that reporting—which the Breitbart piece, the first of a series, now expands upon—played some small part in addition to Harris’s glaring personal and ideological faults in helping to tank the Walz-Harris ticket.
Walz is not yet out of the picture, however. In addition to continuing to torment the people of Minnesota as governor, he has been talking about running again for the White House in 2028, this time at the top of the ticket.
Also see:
Breitbart.com: “The CCP’s United Front Hub in America’s Heartland, Part II”
“Has a U.S. taxpayer-funded public university email address been used to conduct CCP activity in the United States? This is not the first time the University of Minnesota and China’s United Front have been connected.”
Daily Caller: “Tim Walz Has a History Of Rubbing Elbows With Nonprofit Linked to Chinese Intel And Influence Agency”
StoptheCCP.org: “Tim Walz, the Communist Anticommunist”
StoptheCCP.org: “China’s United Front Operatives in the United States: Not Even Nuisances?”
