Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has taken thousands of dollars in donations from pro-Chinese Communist Party businessmen and has been cordial with Beijing-friendly streamer Hasan Piker, now occupies a top role on the congressional committee intended to curb Chinese influence in the United States.
Khanna was elevated to ranking member of the House Select Committee on the CCP on Wednesday, replacing Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) as the top Democrat on the panel. Though Khanna has criticized China as an “authoritarian, surveillance state” and acknowledged its human rights violations, wealthy donors with connections to the CCP nonetheless feel comfortable cutting him checks.
East West Bank CEO Dominic Ng, for instance, donated $5,800 to Khanna between March 2021 and May 2022, campaign finance records show.
Press reports have identified Ng as having held leadership roles in the China Overseas Exchange Association and the China Overseas Friendship Association — two groups that the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressional office dedicated to studying China, has identified as front groups for China’s United Front Work Department.
The UFWD is an international network of CCP loyalists who work to exert influence and conduct operations on behalf of the Chinese government.
East West Bank has acknowledged Ng’s past membership of COEA, though it has downplayed his involvement. The bank, however, denies that Ng was ever part of COFA, despite membership records identifying him as its executive director as of 2019.
Ng has, on multiple occasions, met with alleged UWFD leaders, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
More recently, Pin Ni, an automobile executive identified in corporate documents as a member of the CCP, donated $3,000 to Khanna in March of 2025.
The Washington Examiner previously reported that Wanxiang Group, where Ni sits on the board of directors, has been praised directly by Chinese President Xi Jinping for being “in line with the Party Central Committee” and doing “what our Party committees and governments at all levels advocate.”
Americans paid to represent the interests of China have also made contributions to Khanna.
Richard Edelman, who leads the public relations firm Edelman, gave $5,000 to Khanna between September 2023 and August 2024, according to public records. Disclosures filed with the Justice Department show that Edelman’s firm has represented Invest Hong Kong since 2023. Invest Hong Kong is an agency within Hong Kong’s CCP-controlled government. Edelman’s firm also worked on behalf of then-Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong during her visit to the U.S. in 2013.
“Rep. Khanna’s stance on China has always been clear: he is fiercely for American reindustrialization and fights for American workers, manufacturers, and our national security interests in his role as ranking member,” a spokeswoman for the congressman’s campaign told the Washington Examiner. “He has never accepted a dime from any PAC, lobbyist, or corporation. He also rejects the McCarthyism of painting Asian American citizens as Chinese government sympathizers.”
While Khanna has been critical of the CCP along some lines, other statements made by the congressman mirror the rhetoric of groups aligned with China.
The congressman, for example, opposed banning the Chinese social media platform TikTok in the U.S., voting against legislation that would have forced Chinese interests to divest from the app and introducing legislation to repeal it after it passed with bipartisan support.
More broadly, Khanna has advocated against the U.S. approaching China as if the two countries are locked in a “new Cold War,” pushing instead for greater economic and diplomatic cooperation.
No Cold War, a group that opposes escalation with China in favor of greater cooperation, is bankrolled by pro-CCP software mogul Neville Roy Singham. A 2023 New York Times report linked Singham, who has openly praised the CCP, to Chinese government-backed propaganda efforts, but the former tech executive has denied having a relationship with Beijing.
Unlike most of China’s advocates in the West, Khanna is willing to criticize its regime for human rights violations. He has, for instance, accused the Chinese government of carrying out a genocide against Uyghur Muslims.
Khanna’s public statements haven’t stopped pro-China operatives from targeting him in their influence operations, however.
Foreign agents working on behalf of Hikvision, a Chinese partially state-owned surveillance company, contacted Khanna’s chief of staff multiple times in 2022 to “schedule” a “cyber briefing,” according to DOJ records. Hikvision has landed on American black lists over its alleged role in China’s repression of Uyghurs. Khanna has also communicated with foreign agents representing Taiwan.
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While Khanna himself has been relatively measured in his public comments on China, Piker, the livestreamer, has offered strong praise for the regime.
Piker, for example, has said that China’s economy and political system is “probably the closest” to “an example that we should learn from.” He has acknowledged that China has some “repressive elements” but qualifies the claim by arguing that conditions are worse in the U.S. under the Trump administration.
Piker has stated that he has no problem with the U.S. moving toward an “end goal of communism.” The live streamer has also appeared on Chinese state media and visited the country, praising it during his travels.
Khanna, for his part, appeared in person on Piker’s livestream in December 2025, where the duo discussed the Epstein files and dynamics within the Democratic Party for over an hour and were largely friendly with one another. The congressman also allowed Piker to interview him during the 2024 Democratic National Convention.
Khanna’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
