Eric Swalwell campaign hit with renewed scrutiny over China-ties: ‘Once Again’

FIRST ON FOX: California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign continues to be funded by Keliang “Clay” Zhu despite concerns about his ties to China and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Zhu donated an additional $25,000 to Swalwell’s campaign earlier this month, after already donating $5,000 to Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign in November and before. donated over $10,000 to his House campaigns.

Zhu is a partner at DeHeng Law Offices PC, a leading law firm in Beijing with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and also donated thousands of dollars to Swalwell’s gubernatorial campaign. The law firm’s website shows that its sole “Silicon Valley office,” located in Pleasanton, California, appears to have only one lawyer working there: Zhu, who has a history of fighting for Chinese interests in the United States.

“Once again, Congressman Swalwell found himself with his hand in the CCP’s cookie jar,” lamented Michael Lucci, a leading China expert and founder and CEO of State Armor Action. “It’s simply outrageous that Congressman Swallwell would take even more money from Keliang Zhu after Zhu’s ties to the CCP were made public.”

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California gubernatorial candidate Eric Swalwell salutes before speaking at the 2026 California Democratic Party state convention in San Francisco, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

A Fox News Digital study published in January found that the law firm Zhu is a partner in was founded as China Law Officewhich was a subsidiary established by the CCP Ministry of Justice in the early 1990s before being renamed DeHeng Law Offices in 1995.

Although the firm, which has more than two dozen offices in China, presents itself as independent, the firm and its lawyers continue a long history of cooperation with Chinese government departments and large state-owned enterprises. Many of the firm’s China-based lawyers have also worked in Chinese politics.

Zhu, a native of China, touts several examples of how he has helped Chinese state-owned enterprises and other Chinese companies gain a foothold in the United States: according to his biography on the law firm’s website.

For example, he boasts of having represented a “major public company investment fund in the acquisition of majority stock in a Silicon Valley data analytics software company,” which he valued at $100 million. Another biography for Zhu’s touts how he “helped Chinese companies and funds make investments of more than $9 billion in chips, unmanned vehicles, new energy, artificial intelligence, industrial automation and biopharmaceuticals in the United States.”

“On behalf of Chinese companies, he repeatedly negotiated with the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and other organizations and carried out compliance plans, which significantly reduced the risks of non-compliance for Chinese customers in the United States,” the biography continues.

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The biographies also state that Zhu helped advise “a Shenzhen government investment fund on its compliance with CFIUS regulations in the United States” and represented “WeChat users in a landmark lawsuit that sued President Trump and successfully ended his ban on WeChat in 2020.”

At the time, the first Trump administration sounded the alarm on WeChat and said that “data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party to access Americans’ personal and proprietary information” and expressed concern that the CCP would use the data to track down dissidents or control messages inside the United States, such as by launching disinformation campaigns. Similar efforts to restrict WeChat have been made in countries including Australia and India, according to the White House.

Meanwhile, after a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to block a Texas law banning Chinese nationals from owning or leasing land in the state, Zhu called the legislation “unjust, unconstitutional and un-American,” according to AsAmNews, a daily news site focused on Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities. Zhu also expressed disapproval of a Florida law intended to prevent individuals from foreign countries adversaries of the United States, such as China, from purchasing land.

Chinese land grabs in the United States are an ongoing concern for lawmakers. Currently, Congress is considering several bills related to the issue, while nearly two dozen states have already passed laws aimed at implementing changes regarding foreign land purchases in their states. (Getty Images)

DeHeng Law Office’s other China-based attorneys also have experience working in Chinese politics. This has been done largely through the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, which is a “key mechanism for multi-party cooperation and political consultation” under the leadership of the CCP, according to the CPPCC website, and a crucial tool in the United Front’s strategy for influencing U.S. policy.

For example, Zhixu Wu, who is “manager and senior partner” of DeHeng Law Offices based in Kunming, China, is a member of the “Standing Committee of the 13th Kunming Committee of the CPPCC” and a member of “the 12th Yunnan Committee of the CPPCC”. His biography also states that in 2017 he was previously awarded “the title of ‘Excellent League Member’ for the second assistance event of the National Lawyer Service Group”, which was approved by the “Eight Office of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, Lawyer Notarization Work Guidance Department of the Ministry of Justice.”

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Swalwell’s ties to China have already come under scrutiny, particularly after Chinese national Christine Fang, also known as “Fang Fang,” was granted privileged access to him and his campaign. It was seen by U.S. officials as part of a China-linked counterintelligence effort aimed at influencing and cozying up to U.S. political figures.

Swalwell has repeatedly claimed that he severed ties as soon as U.S. intelligence officials warned him of the threat and that a Congressional ethics investigation into the matter ultimately found no wrongdoing on Swalwell’s part. However, he was ultimately removed by Republicans from his position on the House Intelligence Committee, with then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy citing Swalwell’s past run-ins with a suspected Chinese spy.

Fox News Digital last month discovered a never-before-seen Facebook post from the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, from 2013, showing Swalwell touting “great potential” for U.S.-China cooperation during a meeting with a senior CCP diplomat early in his career, which took place at the same time Swalwell was allegedly targeted by Chinese espionage efforts.

The Facebook post was also “liked” by Fang Fang, according to Fox News Digital’s review.

California Congressman Eric Swalwell, then a freshman, was seen posing in a photo with Deputy Consul General at China’s Bay Area Consulate in San Francisco Song Ru’an in 2013. (Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in San Francisco)

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“First, Swalwell had a fiery romance with CCP honeypot Fang Fang. Then he was caught taking campaign money from China’s favorite big law firm. Either the congressman is completely oblivious to the dangers of flirting with CCP operatives, or he doesn’t care and would accept a check from Xi Jinping himself,” Lucci told Fox News Digital. “Congress should pass a law banning campaign money from Communist China before Swalwell’s sweet tooth tempts him to look for another CCP honeypot or cookie jar.”

The Swalwell campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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