Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has recently alleged that the White House has been blind to a gradual "infiltration" of the United States government by China.
Knewz.com has learned that Pompeo's statement came in the wake of the arrest of Linda Sun, the former aide to the New York Governor Kathy Hochul, after being accused of acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government.
In an op-ed piece in the New York Post, Pompeo wrote, "For years I have warned that the Chinese Communist Party has been working to infiltrate America’s society and government at every level."
"The safety and sovereignty of our nation depends on our ability to counter this threat," he added.
It has been reported that Sun had held several positions in the state government of New York and was also the deputy chief of staff of Governor Hochul.
Following her arrest on September 3, New York prosecutors accused Sun of "pushing Chinese interests at state functions, including allegedly blocking representatives from Taiwan from meeting the governor, in exchange for financial benefits worth millions of dollars," per reports.
Sun's arrest has reportedly been deemed one of the most high-profile ones of its kind, and it has been pointed out that the previous arrests involved suspected Chinese spies accused of surveillance and reporting dissidents who were critical of the Chinese Communist Party.
"[Sun's arrest] appeared to show how China is trying to directly influence U.S. politics in line with its interests, even at the local level," reported The Associated Press.
The unsealed indictment against the former chief of staff for the New York governor also mentions that Sun and her husband received millions in laundered cash from the Chinese government in return for furthering the "interests of the Chinese government and the CCP."
Pompeo wrote in his opinion piece in the New York Post that the allegedly increasing Chinese influence in the U.S. government and the threat it poses to the nation is something he tried to bring to the attention of the National Governors Association in 2020 when he was the Secretary of State.
At the time, the Association was chaired by the then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
"It appears that neither Cuomo nor his successor, Gov. Hochul, took my warnings seriously," Pompeo wrote.
Adding to Sun's list of accusations, he wrote that she "ensured content in speeches and press releases accorded with CCP-approved language, granted CCP officials access to high-level state government discussions such as COVID response efforts."
Sun also allegedly "personally participated — in the capacity of a senior New York state official — in the CCP-organized protest against the democratically-elected president of Taiwan, who was visiting New York City."
"We cannot treat this threat as something that is far away, across a vast ocean. The CCP is inside the gates," Pompeo wrote.
The Associated Press cited Willy Lam, a senior fellow at The Jamestown Foundation, who said that the government of China has a long history of targeting "major American cities and states with large Chinese populations such as New York, New Jersey, Los Angeles, and San Francisco."
Lam added that Chinese operatives have been working with well-established associations and trade groups for overseas Chinese nationals.
Pompeo also took aim at the Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris in the opinion article:
"As for Kamala Harris, you can count on one hand the number of times she has mentioned the Chinese Communist Party on the campaign trail. She won’t dare say a bad word about China."
He accused President Joe Biden, Harris, and Governor Hochul of living "in a fantasy world" and wrote that they believe "the US relationship with the CCP should be based on mutual understanding, fair competition and cooperation around issues like climate change."
"This is a dangerous delusion that gives the CCP all the room it needs to infiltrate our government and society."