Just how deep does the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have its fangs sunk into the United States government? New indications seem to surface every day, and some of them go much deeper than an inept and dimwitted former California congressman's choices of sleeping partners.
The latest revelation, in a story broken at the Daily Caller, involves the outgoing Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and his wife, Elaine Chao. The Daily Caller story claims that Elaine Chao, whose original name is Zhao Xiaolan, allegedly held positions with Chinese government entities and organizations tied to the Chinese Communist Party's United Front apparatus while also serving in senior U.S. government posts.
That's a shocker by any standard.
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials appointed Sen. Mitch McConnell’s wife to multiple government positions, many of which partially overlapped with her two U.S. Cabinet posts, according to Chinese government and state media reports unearthed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Elaine Chao, who married the Kentucky Republican in 1993, has held numerous U.S. government positions since the 1980s, including serving as Department of Labor (DOL) secretary throughout President George W. Bush’s tenure and as Department of Transportation (DOT) secretary during President Donald Trump’s first term. After resigning from the Trump administration in January 2021, Chao then served on the board of EV charging company ChargePoint between 2021 and 2026, and is now listed as a distinguished fellow at the Hudson Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit.
Chao's lengthy service in the U.S. government isn't itself the issue. The potentially troubling part is the Daily Caller's claim that some of these reported Chinese appointments overlapped with her Cabinet service.
Chao — whose Chinese name is Zhao Xiaolan — has also received at least four Chinese government positions since 2008, including within arms of a CCP influence and intelligence agency called the United Front Work Department (UFWD), according to DCNF translations of Chinese government and state media reports. Beijing uses the UFWD to steer foreign policy and “gain access to advanced foreign technology,” according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC).
Chao did not disclose any of the reported Chinese government positions during her January 2017 DOT secretary Senate confirmation hearing, which required her to list all positions held within the last ten years.
If accurate, that nondisclosure would raise obvious questions about why the reported positions weren't included in Chao's confirmation materials — particularly given the nature of the organizations involved.
While these allegations are surprising and possibly career-ending, at the very least, what they are not is surprising, at least in the sense that the Chinese government would make such an attempt to gain access at this level of the American government. We've already seen concerns about Chinese influence operations reach Capitol Hill, most famously in the Fang Fang/Eric Swalwell episode. It's more than likely that similar efforts are going on in other quarters, and if there were, the kinds of things alleged here would be one way they may seek to gain access and influence.
McConnell's office declined to comment, while a spokesman for Chao strongly denied the allegations, saying she had never held a position with a foreign government or acted on behalf of one.
The main thing we can hope for is that we're doing it to them, as well. These kinds of games without frontiers make up a dirty business, and we'd better be able to play it as well as China can.