The Chinese Communist Party has spent years currying favor with Utah government officials, with remarkable success, according to a report.
An investigation by the Associated Press found that China and its United States-based affiliates have been working with leading Utah figures since at least 2007. Chinese figures have formed close ties with the Mormon church, state senators and representatives, and other community leaders.
Frequent foreign visits, business ties, and even legislative influence have all blossomed from Beijing’s efforts, creating a situation that many U.S. analysts see as a precursor for the rising superpower’s larger ambitions toward domestic influence.
The ties show “how pervasive and persistent China has been in trying to influence America,” Frank Montoya Jr., a retired FBI counterintelligence agent, told the outlet.
“Utah is an important foothold,” he continued. “If the Chinese can succeed in Salt Lake City, they can also make it in New York and elsewhere.”
The true extent of Beijing’s ties is difficult to measure, as Utah law doesn’t require elected officials to disclose their personal business dealings. But both Beijing and the lawmakers in question are largely open about the connections, insisting that it’s all in good faith.
China “values its relationship with Utah,” a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy told the outlet. Any “words and deeds that stigmatize and smear these subnational exchanges are driven by ulterior political purposes.”
“China’s not going anywhere. China’s going to be a world force. They’re going to be a player for the foreseeable future and trying to understand what that implies for the United States or for the state of Utah and get a concept of that seems to be a valuable endeavor,” state Sen. Curt Bramble, a conservative Republican, said.
The Associated Press identified a group of at least 25 Utah lawmakers who have taken frequent trips to China since 2007. Emails and messages obtained by the outlet showed that Beijing has been able to exert direct legislative influence, getting lawmakers to delay or oppose legislation against its interests.
One area of particular focus from Beijing has been the Mormon church. The church views China as a possible breeding ground for converts, a view that Chinese figures looking to gain influence exploit. One Chinese exchange student arrested after spying reported that he had been baptized into the Mormon church in an effort to get closer to other Utah residents.
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A key figure in China’s influence campaign is Taowen Le, a Chinese citizen and former paid representative of a Chinese province, who moved to the U.S. and converted to Mormonism. Le frequents leading political circles in Utah and uses his position and faith to push closer relations with the Chinese government. In one case in 2021, he urged a lawmaker against sponsoring a resolution that condemned China’s treatment of its Uyghur Muslims, comparing negative media coverage of Chinese President Xi Jinping to negative coverage of the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith.
Though China and pro-Beijing figures in Utah insist the cooperation between China and the state is benevolent, U.S. analysts and officials hold that it is part of a malicious influence campaign from the Chinese Communist Party meant to further Beijing’s interests through covert means.
