A leaked Chinese Communist Party membership roll shows thousands of party members employed by American and European companies.
Employees of companies key to American national security are among the two million CCP members listed in the data leak. Two such companies—Qualcomm and Boeing—regularly receive contracts from the Department of Defense and host a combined 516 CCP members. Other companies, such as HSBC, Volkswagen, and Hewlett-Packard, also employ thousands of CCP members.
AstraZeneca and Pfizer, two companies racing to roll out their coronavirus vaccines to the American public, employ a combined 100 members of the party.
The Communist Party database was first reported on by the Australian. Investigators tracked and cross-referenced names in the data leak, finding that party members made their way into senior positions in Western government agencies. CCP members managed to gain employment at the American, British, and Australian consulates in Shanghai.
The data leak comes after new revelations last week about China's influence in American politics. An Axios report revealed that a Chinese spy targeted the California Democratic political machine, initiated intimate relationships with mayors in the Midwest, and developed ties to Rep. Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.). House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) called for Swalwell’s removal from the House over his association with the spy.
The Trump administration has also voiced concern over Chinese influence at universities. Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to students and administrators at the Georgia Institute of Technology, saying that academic freedom at colleges and universities is under threat from the CCP.
"So many of our colleges are bought by Beijing," Pompeo said. "We see too often on American campuses that there is silence and censorship. It’s being driven by the Chinese Communist Party."