Chinese Mata Hari’s honeytrap mission to woo top politicians
A SUSPECTED Chinese spy acted as a ‘honey trap’ to lure American politicians into bed in the hope of infiltrating the corridors of power, intelligence officers believe.
Fang Fang, also known as Christine Fang, arrived as a student in California and spent the next four years wooing men across the political spectrum, they claim.
She had sex with one city mayor in his car while under the watch of the FBI, it was alleged, while another l ocal l eader introduced her to colleagues as his ‘girlfriend’.
Fang, who left the US suddenly in mysterious circumstances, even raised funds for two former presidential contenders.
One of them, Congressman Eric Swalwell, a Democrat member of an influential government intelligence committee, refused to say yesterday whether he had sex with her, claiming their relationship was ‘classified’.
Fang, dubbed the ‘Chinese Mata Hari’ after the Dutch exotic dancer who spied for Germany during the First World War, arrived in the US in 2011 as a university student, according to the news website Axios.
At the time, she was believed to have been in her late 20s or early 30s and appeared well-off as she drove a white Mercedes.
She abruptly vanished in 2015 when the FBI started to investigate her and has not been seen in the US since. It is thought she is back in China.
Intelligence officials said Fang worked for Beijing’s secretive Ministry of State Security and was ‘on a mission’.
They reportedly know of at least two mayors who had romantic relationships with her for about three years, seemingly at the same time.
Sources said FBI electronic surveillance caught a mayor from Ohio having sex with Fang in a car.
When the politician asked her why she was attracted to him, Fang said she wanted to improve her English, Axios reported, citing US intelligence officials.
A second mayor, described as older and ‘from an obscure city’ in the Midwest, called
‘Charismatic but secretive’
Fang his ‘girlfriend’ at a conference in Washington, recalled a fellow attendee, Gilbert Wong.
Mr Wong said the mayor i nsisted that the pair were deeply in love despite their large age difference.
Although officials do not believe Fang obtained any classified information, she may have helped place ‘ unwitting subagents’ in politicians’ offices, sources said.
Fang helped get at least one intern into Mr Swalwell’s office, two insiders told Axios. She also raised money for his 2014 reelection campaign.
Mr Swalwell is a California congressman who has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump and briefly ran for the Democrat presidential nomination last year.
He accused the White House of leaking the story to discredit him, while the president’s son Donald Jr has described him as a ‘threat to national security’.
The congressman, who was single at the time, said he cut off ties with Fang as soon as he discovered that the FBI was investigating her and had not seen her for six years.
He met her in 2012 when she was involved in student politics in the Bay Area of California.
His office told Axios it would not discuss their relationship ‘to protect information that might be classified’. Mr Swalwell, who sits on the House intelligence committee, has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Fang also helped raise funds for Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who also ran for the Democrat nomination, but she denies ever meeting the suspected spy.
Acquaintances of Fang during her US stay described her as ‘charismatic’ and ‘well liked’ but also ‘secretive’ and ‘suspicious’. She never talked about her family or home, they said.
The FBI first became suspicious of her while investigating a suspected spy at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco.
China’s US embassy declined to comment and Fang could not be reached.