Then-freshman member of Congress Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., seen posing in a photo with Deputy Consul General at China's Bay Area consulate in San Francisco Song Ru'an in 2013. (Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in San Francisco)
The unearthed photo comes a couple of weeks after Fox News Digital reported on a California-based law partner for a Beijing law firm donating thousands of dollars to Swalwell's gubernatorial campaign. Like Keliang "Clay" Zhu, Ru'an has a history of supporting interests contrary to American priorities. Ru'an served as one of China's leading officials in Hong Kong between 2015 and 2021, and was a vocal critic of a 2019 U.S. Human Rights and Democracy Act aimed at protecting Hong Kongers from China's authoritarian crackdown on its dissidents that only a single Republican member of Congress voted against.
Ru'an blasted the bill at the time as the "the epitome of hegemony" and warned it went against American interests, according to the South China Morning Post. Ru'an also reportedly slammed the moves as a "negative and disgraceful role" the U.S. was playing in China's domestic issues.
Ru'an emerged as a central figure in Hong Kong during China's national security crackdown there that began boiling over in 2020, 2021 and subsequent years. According to the Hong Kong Journalists Association, Ru'an told foreign media outlets to "inject positive energy" into coverage about new extradition laws China was imposing on Hong Kong in 2019. Multiple briefings from both previous and subsequent years showed similar efforts by Ru'an to "guide" media coverage in favor of China.
In 2018, he met with members of the American media to discuss how the "One Country, Two Systems" framework between Hong Kong and China is vital to U.S.-China trade relations.
Prior to Ru'an's work on behalf of the Chinese government in Hong Kong, while serving as Deputy Consulate General at China's San Francisco consulate, public reports said Ru'an and other consular officials sent letters and traveled to Oregon in an attempt to prevent the creation of a mural highlighting China's human rights abuses against Tibetan people. Prior to working in San Francisco, Ru'an held multiple CCP roles back in China, including at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Swalwell's team declined to provide any comment for this story. The San Francisco Chinese Consulate did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., was mocked on X this week after posting a video of himself lifting weights while trashing Republicans. (Getty Images)
U.S. officials have repeatedly warned that Beijing uses diplomats and influence networks like the United Front to cultivate relationships with American politicians, making even routine-looking interactions politically combustible when they involve a lawmaker already shadowed by foreign-influence scrutiny.
"Swalwell met Fang Fang when he was on the city council. He continued a long relationship with her and she would direct him. She directed interns in his office," former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told Fox News Digital. "And it wasn't just Swalwell who had knowledge of her. I believe people in his family became friends with her as well. But his activity and his behavior is very disturbing."
"The report that I received, he never should have been on Intel," McCarthy told Fox News Digital, citing the briefing he and other senior level members of Congress received after news broke about Swalwell, Fang Fang and the alleged influence operation she was part of. "The knowledge that I have of what transpired and the actions that he has done and the behavior, especially when he's gone to other countries, I would be very leery of him in any position of that can have sensitive information. The recklessness in which he lived his life, the reports that have come back, I think it would be hard for him to ever even be considered as a governor candidate, period."
The national flags of the United States and China flutter at the Fairmont Peace Hotel on April 25, 2024 in Shanghai, China. (Wang Gang/VCG via Getty Images)
Eventually, U.S. intelligence officials became so concerned with Fang Fang's activities that they alerted Swalwell and other members of Congressional leadership in 2015. At the time, Pelosi was serving as House Minority Leader while McCarthy was the House Majority Leader, but McCarthy indicated he was not briefed then. Meanwhile, Swalwell immediately cut ties with Fang Fang upon the defensive briefing, sources speaking to Axios said. McCarthy has questioned how long Pelosi knew about Swalwell's ties to Fang Fang, and whether she was aware of them prior to appointing him to the influential House intel committee.
Shortly after Axios broke its investigation of Swalwell's ties to Fang Fang in 2020, top-level Democrats and Republicans, including then-House Minority Leader McCarthy and then-House Speaker Pelosi, received further briefings on the matter, which was followed by GOP calls for Swalwell to be removed from the HPSCI. The high-level committee exercises primary congressional oversight over the U.S. intelligence community and is privy to classified information other members of Congress are not.
Swalwell has denied any wrongdoing and a multi-year congressional ethics report backed that assertion and did not take any further action against the congressman over his questionable associations.
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In 2021, House Republicans attempted to formally remove Swalwell from the House intel committee, but Democrats had the power and killed the bill. Upon the power in Congress shifting to Republican hands the following Congressional session, then-Speaker of the House McCarthy rejected Swalwell's attempt to maintain his seat on the powerful committee and he was pushed out in 2023.
Rep. Eric Swalwell's, D-Calif., China ties are under fresh scrutiny amid his bid to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
McCarthy said he wasn't trying to take advantage of the opportunity to "punish" Democrats, but, rather, was so alarmed by Swalwell's behavior that he felt it was necessary to protect national security.
"Based upon my classified knowledge, and based upon being Speaker – the reports that have come to me are very disturbing, his continual actions and behavior," McCarthy added. "I don't understand how a man like him would consider running just based upon that knowledge."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/unearthed-photo-swalwell-meeting-with-top-ccp-official-raises-alarm-bells-very-disturbing