Over a decade, a longtime ally of Harris has maintained a close friendship with the top executive of the CCP group.

A Planet Chronicle Digital review uncovered that a longtime friend and mentee of Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running for Congress in California, has had a decade-long friendship with a top executive of a CCP front group.

In 2021, before James Chau became the president of the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), he tweeted, "Happy belated birthday to my friend and sister [Lateefah Simon] as she continues to lead the Akonadi Foundation and Meadow Fund."

"These are challenging times, but it is crucial to rely on skill and compassion," he said. "I eagerly anticipate witnessing the profound influence of your efforts."

James, who is currently running for Rep. Barbara Lee’s House seat and was a key speaker at the 2024 DNC convention on behalf of Harris, responded, "I love you, Hong Kong this summer!"

"You have the freehold on my heart," he responded.

In a social media post, Chau shared a photo of an art exhibit featuring a tree with numerous leaves and captioned it, "What are you THANKFUL for?" Although Chau felt the tree was "not large enough," Simon responded with a red heart emoji.

In 2018, Chau joined CUSEF and was working with its founder, The Hon. Tung Chee-hwa, before becoming the group's president in 2023. During this time, Chau engaged in two Twitter exchanges and several other social media posts.

Tung Chee-hwa, who served as a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), has been extensively reported on by Planet Chronicle Digital as a key figure in the CCP's united front system, which aims to advance the party's interests at home and abroad.

A report reveals that Julia Wilson, a Black public relations consultant, received more than $1 million from Chee-hwa's CUSEF to help the Chinese government understand Black Americans and establish influence with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Black leaders.

"In 2009, Tung Chee-hwa, the former chief executive of Hong Kong, visited me in my office with his staff from the China-United States Exchange Foundation. They wanted to know how we managed to elect a Black president. They were curious about our history and identity as African Americans. They asked for a white paper that would provide an overview of our journey to power and how we were able to vote for a Black man."

CUSEF's annual report, published in July, reveals that the "independent, non-profit and non-governmental foundation" is heavily influenced by the CCP, with advisers, partners, and donors all linked to the Chinese Communist Party. One of CUSEF's top partners is the People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, which was previously labeled as a "Beijing-based organization tasked with co-opting subnational governments" and seeking to "directly and malignly influence state and local leaders to promote the PRC’s global agenda," according to a 2022 report from the Biden administration’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

The China Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a key component of the CCP's apparatus, is among the partners on CUSEF's annual report. Other partners include top Chinese and American universities such as Princeton, Georgetown, Harvard, and Columbia. Additionally, Sidwell Friends School, the prestigious boarding school attended by former President Obama's daughters and President Biden's grandchildren, is also included on the list.

Several of CUSEF's donors, including Chinese billionaires, have ties to the Communist Party of China (CCP). Wang Jianlin, the billionaire chairman of the Wanda Group, is a CCP member and served in the 17th National Congress of the CCP. He is also a longtime member of the CPPCC. Bernard Chan, another donor listed in CUSEF's annual report, served as the Hong Kong Deputy to the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China for 15 years, the highest organ of state power in the CCP.

Several members of CUSEF's governing board have CCP ties, including Peter Woo, who is a member of the Standing Committee of the 11th CPPCC, and Liu Changle, the founder of the Chinese state-owned Phoenix Satellite Television, according to CUSEF's website.

Chau, who was previously an anchor for China's state-owned CCTV, has interviewed Tung multiple times and posted about him on his X account. In 2017, while serving as a contributor for China's state-owned CGTN, Chau interviewed Tung and discussed U.S.-China relations. A year later, he started working with Tung at CUSEF.

At the DNC this summer, Simon contemplated her enduring bond with Harris, recalling their shared history of collaborating in the early 2000s.

"At the 2024 DNC in August, Simon stated, "When she sees you, she truly sees you." He added, "She is the best among us. After working with Kamala Harris for five years to create programs that helped young people escape the criminal justice system, she wanted to address the root cause of a broken system.""

In 2008, Chau and Simon met in San Francisco while working to combat HIV and have been friends ever since. During a 2020 interview, they connected over the loss of their husbands and fathers, both of whom passed away weeks apart. The interview, which was part of CUSEF's "The China Current" digital platform, focused on the pandemic and the "inequities in a healthcare system" for people of color. At the end of the interview, Simon said, "I love you dearly, Mr. James. Let's talk more."

Simon was praised as "brilliant" by Chau in a Twitter post about a discussion on the history of black organizing in Oakland, one of the key locations in the global civil rights movement.

In 2019, CUSEF published a post on their website, emphasizing their collaboration with the Congressional Black Caucus and other civil society organizations concentrating on the Black community in the U.S.

No responses were received from CUSEF, the Simon campaign, or the Harris campaign when Planet Chronicle Digital reached out.