FBI Documents Show Chinese Influence In Bay Area Protest Groups

Documents released by the FBI Records Vault have revealed a troubling connection between figures associated with Chinese communist affiliated protest groups in the 1960’s and 70’s and Bay Area politicians. The FBI identified a number of individuals who were working with groups that were militant and Chinese-oriented in nature. Today, these individuals are involved with organizations who financially and politically support figures tied to protest groups operating in San Francisco, including the far left movement By Any Means Necessary (BAMN). The parties involved in support for these protest groups are also tied to institutions connected to billionaire George Soros.

I. Wellstone Action’s Ties To Advocacy Groups

The progressive advocacy organization Wellstone Action was founded by Jeff Blodgett to train community organizers, student activists, campaign staff, progressive candidates and elected officials. Based in Minnesota, it also runs the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club in Berkeley, California. The club is an attempt to foster a “grassroots movement for progressive change” which participates anti-Trump protests in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as promotes the notion that the Russian government interferes in U.S. elections.  Partners of Wellstone Action include the Bush Foundation, The Ballot Initiative Strategy Center, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the George Soros funded organization Moveon.org.

The Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club and Wellstone Action are also affiliated with a PAC bearing the Club’s name. The Center for Responsive Politics lists the PAC’s treasurer as Floyd Huen. Huen is the husband of Oakland mayor Jean Quan. A page showing the PAC’s 2016 donations reveals that donors included The Wellstone Club, Floyd Huen and Wilma Chan, a California Assemblywoman who served as California State Assembly Majority Leader from 2002 to 2004.

II. The Red Guard Party And Connections To Chinese Maoists

Huen and Chan’s affiliation with the Wellstone PAC is troubling given their history with groups investigated the FBI for involvement with Chinese-tied Communists and militant activity. On February 3rd, 2017, the FBI Records Vault tweeted out a series of four documents, detailing an FBI investigation into the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) and the connections that the AAPA’s members had to Chinese communists abroad. Huen was described as one of the AAPA’s most active leaders.

The investigation was incredibly broad in scope. Bureau branches in Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Newark, New Haven, New York, Philadelphia, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C. and Los Angeles all participated in efforts to uncover the AAPA’s ties. The FBI’s reports cite concerns about “Maoist” factions tied to the Chinese government who the FBI noted were active in multiple parts of the U.S., especially on the West Coast. Agents were particularly focused on looking into groups operating in San Francisco and the University of California, Berkeley given the area’s reputation as a hotbed for activism and connection with various groups suspected of extremist ties.

One of the groups FBI investigators focused on was the Red Guard Party, or Red Dragon Party. Founded in 1969 as a “street youth party,” the group was ostensibly focused on improving living conditions for Chinese Americans, but in reality was a paramilitary organization that pushed Chinese communist ideology and was openly supportive of infamous Chinese leader Mao Zedong. The FBI’s interviews with the leader of the Red Guard Party revealed that the group was in possession of weapons and would regularly study the teachings of Mao Zedong, as was common for Red Guard factions in China to do.

Summary of FBI interview with Red Guard leader Clifford Tom

Floyd Huen received major attention from the FBI due to his association with the Red Guard Party and other actions indicating that he was happy to act as a proxy to promote the interests of the Chinese government. Huen would also work alongside other ethnically oriented militant groups to push anti-American rhetoric. The FBI noted that Huen would attend meetings, sometimes directly hosted the Red Guard Party, where the Chinese national anthem was openly sung and posters pushing Maoist and communist propaganda were present. The events were sometimes hosted with members of the Black Panthers Party and militant Hispanic organizations. After some of these meetings, Huen would show signs of increasing radicalization, such as making statements supporting the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. Huen would also participate with other AAPA members in protests against the Japanese government and Japanese officials. Japan has traditionally been a regional opponent of China and continues to be a diplomatic rival today according to diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks.

Wilma Chan was also affiliated directly with the Red Guard according to information obtained by Disobedient Media. A 2009 article written by Chan for the Asian American Movement Ezine revealed that Chan served as the Chairperson of the National Asian Struggles Commission of the League of Revolutionary Struggle. The article has since been deleted, but was obtained by Disobedient Media using internet archive services. The pamphlet Statements on the Founding of the League of Revolutionary Struggle (Marxist-Leninist) lists the Red Guard Party having merged with another Chinese group, I Wor Kuen, which later became one of the groups which merged to form the League of Revolutionary Struggle. Huen and Chan’s direct involvement in various government positions in California shed light on the extent to which Chinese government affiliated groups have managed to gain influence on the West Coast.

III. Wellstone Action’s Involvement With Figures Tied To BAMN

Wellstone Action has become both financially and politically involved with supporting groups tied to the far left protest group BAMN. In addition to taking an active role in Bay Area protests through the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club, Wellstone Action supports Berkeley mayor Jesse Arreguin, who the Daily Caller has reported publicly associates with BAMN online and has been accused of enabling and supporting the group during their participation in violent protests against controversial conservative figure Milo Yiannopoulos. Arreguin included the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club and several chapters of the SEIU on a list of political endorsements he had received during his run for mayor in 2016. Arreguin is also listed as having made a donation to the Wellstone Democratic Renewal PAC in 2016, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

BAMN also targets young, impressionable teenagers when recruiting members in a striking similarity to tactics used by the Red Guard Party. In May 2017, the Daily Caller reported that BAMN organizers would intentionally try to recruit students into their organization using teachers who were members. The report followed revelations by the Daily Caller that BAMN’s parent organization worked directly with the pro-pedophelia group NAMBLA and the founding members of BAMN were admitted NAMBLA members. FBI documents mention that the Red Guard Party would also recruit members as young as 14, some of whom were previously involved in former street gangs.

Excerpt from FBI document discussing age and background of Red Guard Party members

The past history of ideological and political connections that Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club have with the Communist Chinese government is troubling. Even more alarming is the fact that these individuals have either held significant government positions in California or are in close proximity to government officials. Their involvement with protest movements in the San Francisco area raises concerns that factions in China could still be using their influence to promote protest movements that are anti-free speech and pro regime change in the United States. The involvement of groups tied to George Soros with Wellstone Action raises questions about, whether intentionally or not, Soros is working with foreign powers to influence U.S. politics.

Soros has spent hundreds of millions supporting various anti-government movements, including the Women’s March, the People’s Climate March, the Tax Day protests and far left Berkeley protest group Refuse Fascism. The ACLU also began actively organizing and training protest movements just one month after Soros sank $35 million into the group. On May 26th, 2017, Disobedient Media reported that Soros was also supporting groups who were using the net neutrality movement as a means of promoting censorship of alternative and conservative media outlets.

Infograph showing connections between Wellstone Action, protest groups and individuals who have been investigated for ties to China’s Communist Party