Yang brought communist official to meet Trump aides
South Florida day spa entrepreneur Cindy Yang – also famous for her Super Bowl party selfie with Donald Trump – used her burgeoning political access to bring Xianqin Qu, a leader from the foreign arm of the Communist Party of China, to an event where she met top Republicans and members of the Trump administration, including Kellyanne Conway, counsellor to the president.
Qu is president of the Florida Chapter of the Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Unification – a group ‘‘directly subordinate’’ to the Communist Party of China, according to a 2018 US government report.
The group’s stated purpose is to push for reunification of China and Taiwan, although in recent years members in chapters around the world have promoted a range of policies in harmony with Beijing’s agenda abroad.
Although liaisons with lobbyists from foreign governments are normal, Qu gained access to some of Trump’s closest allies not through official channels but at political and social events.
US-China relations have soured over economic concerns, including an ongoing trade war.
Through Yang, Qu gained access to high-profile events featuring Trump aides and family members on at least two occasions.
Yang arranged for a group of Chinese expatriates, including Qu, to attend a Republican fundraiser for Trump at a restaurant in New York in December 2017. Yang was the organiser of the Asian GOP contingent at the event, according to Cliff Li, the founder of the political committee where Yang volunteered as a primary fundraiser.
At the breakfast meet-andgreet, Qu was photographed with Conway and several Republican donors with deep pockets.
In January 2018, Qu also attended a Safari Night event at Mar-a-Lago – a charity event cosponsored by the Asian GOP and attended by Trump’s sister, Elizabeth Trump Grau. Again, Yang organised the group, according to Li.
Organisations like the Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Unification ‘‘actively cultivate ties to campaign donors and politicians in the United States in order to lobby for Beijing’s policy priorities, [and] encourage overseas Chinese to get involved in politics to advocate for Beijing’s interests’’, according to a 2018 report from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
The council has at least 200 chapters in 90 countries, including 33 chapters in the US.
Records and social media posts indicate that Yang is both a business partner and social acquaintance of Qu’s.
Yang’s dual roles as massage parlour operator and political activist with access to Trump and other Republican luminaries became known after the Miami Herald published a story highlighting her social media accounts, which have since been taken down.
She was the founder of the Treasure Coast spa, where the New England Patriots American football team’s owner, Robert Kraft, and others were busted for buying sex, but had sold the business.