Government Action Needed to Counter Communist Chinese Influence: Epoch Reader Poll

More than 200 incidents of espionage and more than 1,200 thefts of intellectual property have been committed against the United States by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over the last 25 years.

That’s according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a bipartisan think tank.

Those numbers represent the tip of an iceberg, according to an overwhelming majority of respondents to the latest reader poll from The Epoch Times.

The vast majority of poll respondents, 95 percent, strongly agreed that infiltration by the CCP in the United States is widespread in all fields of society.

An even higher proportion strongly agreed that the CCP is able to take advantage of the openness of American society in order to achieve that aim.

Most were convinced the federal government must take stronger action to prevent nefarious activity by the CCP on American soil.

Respondents were less certain that using American power to counter the CCP threat posed to other countries—with the exception of Taiwan.

Here’s what readers saw as a problem, and what they think should be done about it.

Infiltration of US Institutions

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The overwhelming majority of poll respondents strongly agreed that CCP infiltration, espionage, and influence campaigns are widespread in the United States.

The CCP has a history of infiltrating U.S. institutions, including vital infrastructure, educational institutions, and even government offices.

Some of those incidents involved the use of electronic components, many of which are produced in China.

Beginning as far back as 2022, China’s state-backed Salt Typhoon hacking group began conducting espionage in the United States and other countries. The group penetrated major telecommunications companies, including Verizon, AT&T, and CenturyLink, the White House announced in December.

Verizon and AT&T confirmed to The Epoch Times by email that the hackers had targeted a “a small number of high-profile customers in government and politics.” Verizon said its systems were secure as of Dec. 29.

Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) wrote to Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler on June 4, outlining the threat of the CCP using rogue components installed in Chinese-made solar power converters to attack the U.S. energy grid.

“It’s terrifying that Communist China might have a kill switch hidden in solar panels operating in the U.S.,” Scott wrote on social media on June 4.

A former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was arrested along with her husband in February on charges of acting as agents of the CCP.

Linda Sun (R), a former aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and her husband, Chris Hu, exit the federal court in Brooklyn, New York City on Sept. 3, 2024. Huang Xiaotang/The Epoch Times

The aide to a California city council member was arrested by the FBI in December and charged with scheming with a recently sentenced Chinese spy to amplify China’s influence in U.S. politics.

The CCP has conducted other influence campaigns in the United States.

House Republicans launched an investigation on June 13 into a China-based billionaire, Neville Roy Singham, for allegedly funding protest groups in the United States, including one reportedly linked to riots against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Los Angeles.

In 2018, Congress restricted funding for universities hosting Confucius Institutes, Chinese language and culture programs on U.S. campuses, over concerns that the CCP-funded organizations were exercising undue influence on U.S. students.

Many universities closed their institutes, according to the Government Accountability Office. Though some appear to have simply rebranded the institutes, according to a report from the National Association of Scholars.

Poll respondents by a wide margin favored government action to restrict the CCP’s ability to use America’s open society on the same terms as U.S. citizens.

Though not mentioned in the poll, more than 1,800 respondents voiced concern in written comments over CCP ownership of American real estate.

Some favored an outright ban on property ownership by Chinese nationals. Others said Chinese companies should be barred from owning or renting farmland or property near critical sites such as military bases.

The State Department announced on June 18 that screening for student visa applicants from China will now include a review of their social media accounts.

Intimidation and Harassment

Beyond collecting data and spreading propaganda, the CCP has taken direct action to control Chinese nationals living in the United States, including some naturalized citizens.

The FBI arrested two Chinese nationals in 2023 in connection with operating a secret police station in Manhattan.

“The [People’s Republic of China], through its repressive security apparatus, established a secret physical presence in New York City to monitor and intimidate dissidents and those critical of its government,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

The CCP has employed wide-ranging tactics, including lawfare, paid protestors, media attacks, and outright violence to intimidate critics of the regime, including some U.S. citizens.

People walk by a building (center) that is suspected of being used as a secret police station in Chinatown for the purpose of repressing dissidents living in the United States on behalf of the Chinese government stands in lower Manhattan in New York City on April 18, 2023. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Since 1999, participants in Falun Gong, a spiritual practice originating in China, have faced brutal persecution in that country, including imprisonment, torture, and forced organ harvesting. That harassment has extended to U.S. soil as well.

Shen Yun, a traditional Chinese performing arts group based in New York State that depicts China before communism, has been targeted with negative media campaigns and even bomb threats.

The State Department on Feb. 7 denounced the CCP’s targeting of Shen Yun, which also portrays the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong in its performances, telling The Epoch Times: “We condemn such acts of intimidation and urge protection of the right to free expression. We urge the Chinese Communist Party to end its now 25-year campaign to eradicate Falun Gong.”

Two Chinese nationals were arrested on June 3 on charges related to smuggling a dangerous biological pathogen into the United States. One of the two possessed information describing membership in and loyalty to the CCP, according to the Department of Justice.

Defunding institutions that accept funding from CCP-related entities was favored. Ninety-seven percent of respondents strongly agreed that CCP funding of protest groups opposing the U.S. government should not be allowed.

The federal government should “cut off funding to universities doing classified research that do not follow security protocols with respect to foreign nationals,” one respondent wrote.

Respondents also overwhelmingly favored more stringent screening of Chinese nationals seeking to enter the United States.

America First

While poll respondents overwhelmingly favored strong action to prevent the CCP from gaining a foothold in the United States, they were less enthusiastic about countering CCP influence in other countries.

Convincing majorities either strongly or somewhat agreed that more comprehensive action should be taken to target Chinese spies in the United States (97 percent) and that education should be provided to businesses, politicians, and those in academia on how to spot infiltration by the CCP and protect against it (95 percent).

“Be aware. Educate people. Do more politically,” one responder wrote.

A clear majority, more than two-thirds of respondents, agreed that the United States should support Chinese nationals fleeing persecution by the CCP, and the United States was not doing enough to counter the CCP threat in other countries.

However, those statements also drew the highest percentage of ambivalent responses. More than one-fifth of respondents expressed neutrality on those issues.

Written responses indicated that Taiwan may be exempted from any feelings of international neutrality.

A boat supporting Taiwanese independence and UN membership moves up the East River past the United Nations in New York, on Sept. 27, 2024. Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images

Commenters spoke in favor of increased cooperation with Taiwan, supporting Taiwanese resistance to the CCP, and exempting Taiwanese students from any immigration action against Chinese nationals.

This reader poll from The Epoch Times was conducted by email and social media on June 18–19, 2025, and generated 14,654 participants. Participants responded to 15 statements indicating strongly agree, somewhat agree, neutral, somewhat disagree, or strongly disagree.

An open-ended question, “What should the United States be doing to counter CCP infiltration in America?” received 7,780 written responses.