A Joint investigation by the Breitbart News Foundation (BNF) & the Government Accountability Institute (GAI)
On the 1300 block of North Eustis Street in St. Paul, Minnesota, a ten-minute drive from the Governor’s Mansion, sits a brutalist brick building that houses a secret Chinese Communist Party (CCP) front operation that serves several functions for the CCP — none of them good for the United States.
Out of this building, CCP operatives curry favor with politicians like Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and provide various services for Chinese Americans in Minnesota who are still loyal to Beijing, including hosting meet-and-greets with CCP diplomats and dignitaries. Businesses registered at this address receive six-figure grants from American taxpayers.
The building has been associated with a web of businesses and groups including the Alliance of Chinese Culture & Arts, the Center for Community Service, and the Alliance of Minnesota Chinese Organizations. 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.”
According to a recently released US House Oversight Committee report, “united front work is carried out by a vast network—including through the United Front Work Department (UFWD), and Chinese intelligence services, including the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and the Ministry of State Security (MSS).” The Ministry of Public Security has been likened to China’s FBI while the Ministry of State Security is more like China’s CIA.
Chinese dictator Xi Jinping describes united front work as one of the CCP’s “magic weapons” that helps “undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the political system of targeted states.”
President of the Jamestown Foundation and former CIA Counterintelligence Analyst Peter Mattis says that 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.”
The CCP Ministry of Public Security’s united front work includes operating secret overseas police stations, including on US soil. Last year, the FBI busted one of these united front operations in Manhattan, describing it as a “secret, illegal police station.” In a separate case in New York, more than forty CCP officers and operatives were arrested. The secret CCP police station’s purpose was to “threaten, harass, and intimidate” Chinese dissidents and “spread disinformation and propaganda to sow divisions within the United States.”
The New York secret police station and the Minnesota service center appear on the same global list of Overseas Chinese Service Centers (OCSC) that has been posted to websites affiliated with the CCP. Activities include helping Chinese consulates in processing visas and other documents for overseas Chinese and both New York and Minnesota have special designated WeChat accounts assigned to their regional locations by the Chinese government. The New York secret police station used such tools to help the CCP—among other things—keep tabs on Chinese living abroad.
The Minnesota OCSC apparently spreads pro-CCP propaganda in the US. For example, Philip Lenczycki of the Daily Caller reported that Chinese Foreign Ministry documents reveal the Minnesota OCSC has a “propaganda chief” named Deng Qing. That propaganda chief is affiliated with and attends events at the Eustis Street outpost.
In September 2022, the Minnesota OCSC hosted then-Chinese Ambassador to the US, Qin Gang, when he made the Minnesota OCSC his very first stop on his first visit to Minnesota. The Minnesota OCSC also served as a title sponsor and/or co-hosting organization for other events featuring CCP delegations, diplomats, and dignitaries, including Chicago Consul General Liu Jun, as well as the Secretary General Of Overseas Chinese Affairs, Yang Fan, and Deputy Consul General, Yu Peng.
Then-Chinese Ambassador to the US Qin Gang visited the Minnesota OCSC in 2017. Credit: China’s CGTN News.
Chicago Consul General Liu Jin and other CCP dignitaries visited Minnesota OCSC.
Credit: China’s Consulate in Chicago.
Deputy Consul General Yu Peng, propaganda chief Deng Qing, and others shared a stage with then-gubernatorial candidate, Rep. Tim Walz, less than six weeks before Election Day 2018. Upon winning election, Gov-elect Walz invited Consul General Liu Jun to the inauguration ceremony.
China’s Foreign Ministry reveals that when Walz was elected governor, “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.”
The head of the Minnesota OCSC is a man who goes by the name Bingwen Yan, PhD. Dr. Yan and his associates have embedded themselves in political circles in Minnesota, and Dr. Yan is a recent political donor to Governor Walz, Senator Amy Klobuchar, 2020 Democratic Presidential primary candidate Andrew Yang, Republican Minnesota State Rep. Kelly Fenton, and 2018 Republican US Senatorial Candidate Karin Housley. Governor Walz has been photographed repeatedly with Minnesota OCSC head Dr. Yan, propaganda chief Deng Qing, and other Minnesota OCSC operatives.
Walz at a June 2022 gubernatorial fundraiser with Deng Qing, among other Minnesota OCSC associates.
Walz at a June 2022 gubernatorial fundraiser with Deng Qing, among other Minnesota OCSC associates.
Walz at a June 2022 gubernatorial fundraiser with Bingwen Yan and Deng Qing, among other Minnesota OCSC associates.
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. Dr. Yan is the current president and founder of Alliance of Minnesota Chinese Organizations (“AMCO”), a former board member of Chinese American Association of Minnesota (“CAAM”), a former professor at the University of Minnesota, and a scientist with multiple patents. One company, SarTec, received a $438,000 taxpayer-funded grant in 2008 while Yan served as the company’s chief scientist.
Dr. Yan has not replied to requests for comment.
During the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic—when state-and nation-wide shortages of COVID protective equipment were a serious problem—Dr. Yan organized an effort via the Minnesota OCSC and its partners to collect American COVID supplies and ship them to a Wuhan hospital in China’s Hubei province. Widespread reporting indicates that the CCP engaged in a global effort to hoard medical supplies during this early stage of the pandemic.
Minnesota OCSC partnered with AMCO, led by Bingwen Yan, to organize an effort to send materials including masks, biohazard suits, and ventilators from Minnesota to Wuhan.
Dr. Yan (back row, fourth from left) holding his consular protection liaison officer certificate.
In an April 2017 ceremony, Dr. Yan’s official Chinese government title became Consular Protection Liaison Officer which deputized him to provide “security services” to his local community on behalf of the regional consulate in Chicago. In 2018, the Ministry of Public Security—the CCP’s FBI-like agency that runs its overseas secret police stations—hosted a training event for overseas operatives. Dr. Yan was photographed multiple times at the event. At this event, according to the DCNF’s Lenczycki, “Ministry of Public Security officials demonstrated how OCSCs facilitate so-called ‘cross-border remote justice services.’”
Dr. Yan (front row, second from left) at the 2018 Ministry of Public Security training event in China.
Dr. Yan is expressly listed as the “Person In Charge” at events involving Minnesota OCSC activities and is further specified as the Person in Charge for all things requiring Consular involvement, protocol, or logistics. For example, 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. Two months later, Dr. Yan spoke with Chinese Embassy reporters and took a victory lap, boasting that not a single violent incident had occurred within his jurisdiction in the months following the event.
The owner of the Minnesota OCSC property is a company called Eustis Partners, which is run by Huan Gao—Dr. Yan’s deputy. Gao also serves as an agent for the Center for Community Service (Minnesota OCSC’s parent company) and a sister company called the Minnesota Huaxing Arts Group –all on Eustis Street. Gao runs multiple other companies at this address, such as Sunset Care LLC, which provides adult care services to “functionally impaired adults,” and Kang Le LLC, an intrastate passenger transportation company. Kang Le and Sunset Care received at least $225,000 (combined) from Minnesota’s Home and Community-Based Service (HCBS) providers grant program.
To recap, apparent CCP united front operatives have embedded themselves and are operating in Minnesota. This is a developing story in a joint BNF-GAI investigative series.
Seamus Bruner is the Vice President and Executive Director, Research and Jedd McFatter is a Senior Research Fellow at Peter Schweizer’s Government Accountability Institute. McFatter is the author of FOOL’S GOLD and Bruner is the author of CONTROLIGARCHS. Follow Jedd McFatter and @SeamusBruner.