It’s all falling apart for this Leftist. Their career is now on the ropes.
And this Democrat governor was exposed for scandalous ties to this foreign adversary.
A provocative new book is stirring the pot with claims of deep-seated corruption in California, zeroing in on Governor Gavin Newsom and his alleged entanglement with a nonprofit that critics say opened the door wide for shady Chinese corporations tied to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Titled Fool’s Gold: The Radicals, Con Artists, and Traitors Who Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All, authors Jedd McFatter and Susan Crabtree dedicate an entire chapter to unpacking Newsom’s history with ChinaSF, a program they argue acted as a pipeline for CCP-aligned businesses to infiltrate the Golden State.
The story begins with Newsom’s rise to power as San Francisco’s mayor in 2004, a victory fueled by robust support from the city’s Chinese community. The authors note that Newsom marked his win with a celebration in Chinatown, signaling early on that he was eager to champion its priorities.
One such priority, detailed in Chapter 3, was the creation of ChinaSF—a nonprofit initiative that, according to the book, became a Trojan horse for CCP officials and Chinese operatives looking to exploit California’s economic landscape.
The book takes readers on a journey to a pivotal moment in Newsom’s career: a trip to China where he was a guest of Vincent Lo, a prominent Chinese businessman with strong CCP connections, in a Shanghai “clubhouse.”
“It was during this meeting that Newsom and Lo hatched a long-term plan to turn San Francisco into the premiere gateway through which Chinese companies could invest and expand their businesses in the United States,” the authors assert. Upon returning home, an enthused Newsom reportedly told his team he’d allocate millions to launch ChinaSF, a public-private partnership designed to usher in a wave of Chinese investment. Three years later, in a flashy Shanghai ceremony, Newsom and Lo officially kicked off the initiative.
The numbers speak for themselves: from 2008 to 2018, ChinaSF reportedly generated nearly $5.5 billion in economic activity for San Francisco while luring 108 Chinese firms to the city. The book contends this was no small feat—ChinaSF left a mark on the Bay Area unlike any other Newsom-led effort. But the authors raise a red flag, alleging that among these companies were “several corrupt Chinese corporations” that slipped through the cracks.
One standout example is Suntech, a CCP-backed solar company personally courted by Newsom. The governor praised its CEO, Dr. Zhengrong Shi, on multiple occasions and even appointed him to ChinaSF’s advisory board. The book also points to real estate players like Z&L, a Chinese firm whose billionaire owner was later convicted of bribing a San Francisco official. Newsom allegedly pocketed over $23,000 in anonymous donations from the company, a detail that adds fuel to the authors’ fire.
Titled Feeding the Dragon, Chapter 3 dives into a laundry list of concerns about Newsom’s China ties. ChinaSF, the authors argue, wasn’t just about solar panels and real estate—it also positioned San Francisco as a global hub for biotech and pharmaceuticals.
“Dozens of Chinese biotech companies were drawn to the Bay Area with huge tax breaks and other incentives, but it appears that there was very little vetting,” they write. Among the recruits was JOINN Laboratories, a firm with ties to China’s military, raising eyebrows about the initiative’s oversight.
The allegations don’t stop there. The authors highlight ChinaSF’s cozy relationship with Huawei, the controversial Chinese tech giant flagged by the U.S. government as a security risk. “However, no one seemed to notice when an infamous Chinese company became their top financial sponsor in 2016,” the book reveals.
That year, Huawei headlined two ChinaSF events and set up a new R&D office in San Francisco. With the company raking in over $75 billion in revenue, the authors speculate it had plenty of cash to throw around—though the exact amount funneled to ChinaSF remains a mystery.
Adding another layer, the book notes that Newsom, as California’s lieutenant governor, trademarked his own wines in China and hosted lavish tastings for CCP elites in Shanghai. Even a liquor company, Kweichow Moutai, tied to bribery scandals, gets a mention as part of ChinaSF’s orbit.
Curiously, ChinaSF’s structure raises questions too. Once billed as a nonprofit, it operated as a limited liability corporation under the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce from 2009 to 2014. “In other words, for a period of time, ChinaSF was a private entity embedded in a local chamber of commerce,” the authors explain.
The chapter wraps up with a call for closer scrutiny. “Close analysis of available data reveals that most descriptions of ChinaSF by government and media have been vacuous and misleading,” they write. They paint it as a “complex bureaucratic mirage” that masked a massive transfer of wealth and technology to China, all while lacking transparency or accountability.
Newsom’s own words from 2008 echo in contrast: “San Francisco is proud of its long-standing relationship with China and its sister city, Shanghai. ChinaSF builds on this history of shared cultural and economic ties, and strengthens future economic prosperity through enhanced relationships between San Franciscan and Chinese businesses.”
Fool’s Gold doesn’t hold back, framing ChinaSF as a shadowy cornerstone of Newsom’s legacy—one that, in the authors’ view, demands a hard look beyond the press releases and ribbon-cutting ceremonies.
Stay tuned to the Conservative Column.
