In what is now a well-known story, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), was allegedly honey-potted by a Chinese spy by the name of Christine Fang, or Fang Fang, from 2011-2015. During this time, Fang Fang “took part in fundraising activity for Swalwell’s 2014 re-election campaign” and helped place at least one intern into Swalwell’s office, as reported by Axios in December 2020.
In 2015, Swalwell received a “defensive briefing” from counterintelligence officials to alert him that Fang Fang potentially being a Chinese spy. The California US Representative quickly cut ties. That same year, Fang Fang reportedly fled the country.
This discovery led to the development of a unit within the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force that was dedicated specifically to “countering China’s political influence in the United States”. It was also reported that now-deceased Senator Dianne Feinstein had been chauffeured by a Chinese spy for upwards of 19 years.
Up until yesterday, the location of Fang Fang was a mystery to the public. But a shocking post from Hu Xijin on X alleges that not only is she still alive and well, but that the story about her in the mainstream media is inaccurate.
Yesterday, Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of the CCP’s Global Times, posted that he just had lunch with Christine Fang. And that the story disseminated about her is wrong. Hu included a photo of Fang Fang sitting with him at a restaurant, perhaps for authenticity.
Hu Xijin wrote:
- In 2009, she went to study in [US] and did a lot of work to promote personnel exchanges between China & US in those years.
- In 2015, the CIA & FBI approached her, asked her to “cooperate.” The FBI used coercion & inducement, offering to give her [US] citizenship and $1 million, requiring her to work for them or else they would “ruin her.”
- 3 days after the FBI had a showdown with her, she fled [US] alone and returned to China, her motherland.
- She told me: “I just don’t want to betray my motherland. I don’t want to be an American spy. That’s my bottom line as a person.”
- She went to [US] with dreams, but in the end, her dreams were shattered. It was the US that shamelessly betrayed this exceptional girl’s dream for it.
I had lunch with this lady today. Her name is Fang Fang, and US media called her a “suspected Chinese spy.”
In 2009, she went to study in and did a lot of work to promote personnel exchanges between China & US in those years.
In 2015, the CIA & FBI approached her, asked… pic.twitter.com/m0AbtXYxPI— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) March 13, 2024
The restaurant appears to be a Beijing chain called Annie’s Italian Restaurant, with at least six locations in Beijing. It is not clear which one specifically this was taken at. This location appears to have photos or paintings of Rocky and Drago from Rocky IV in the background.
The story was originally reported by Red State:
The Chinese operative, who was Rep. Eric Swalwell’s (D-CA) personal companion and staffer, broke cover in an X-post of her sitting with a Global Times reporter nearly 10 years after her abrupt exit from the United States—shortly after the FBI warned Swalwell she was a foreign agent.
…
It is interesting that Fang Fang has finally broke cover so long after her American dream ended.
In November, CNN reporter John LeFever told viewers Fang Fang was killed in an airplane crash—a report Fang Fang reposted on her X account.
While there doesn’t seem to be any indication that LeFever was a reporter at CNN, there is a link to an X post where LeFever says:
“Not many people know that Swalwell’s Chinese spy mistress – Fang Fang – died last year in a random plane crash caught on video.”
This information has not been confirmed to be Swalwell’s former mistress, however, New York Times reported on a plane crash in China during March 2022, writing:
“By Monday afternoon, the identity of one of the passengers missing, and most likely dead, emerged: Fang Fang, the chief financial officer of Dinglong Culture, a mining and resources company in Yunnan Province, where the flight began.”
“Fang Fang” was the only passenger identified in the New York Times piece. But again, there is no confirmation that this is Swalwell’s Fang Fang. However, there is some evidence that would support the possibility. According to Gelonghui.com:
China Eastern MU5735 aircraft flight accident national emergency disposal headquarters, the company’s financial director, Ms. Fang Fang, died of a plane crash on March 21, 2022 at the age of 30…
If Fang Fang immigrated to the US in 2009 “to study”, there is a possibility of that age being accurate, although unnamed sources told Axios she was in her late 20s to early 30s when she arrived in the US. The use of “Ms.” would further imply she was unmarried.
An account by the name “Christine Fang” (@FangFang_ca) shared the post from Hu yesterday, and had previously commented on LeFever’s post about her ‘death’. The X account alleging to be Christine Fang was created in February 2011 and says it’s located in East Bay CA. It also links to a Facebook profile that claims to be Christine Fang as well. The Facebook account has photos of Christine Fang dating back to May 11, 2013. That’s two years before it was known to the public that she was alleged to be a Chinese spy.
The resurfacing of Fang Fang by Hu coincides with Congress introducing a bill to force the sale of Tik-Tok, which was the focus of Hu’s most recent X postings.