China’s Christine Fang had relationship with Eric Swalwell: FBI

Hailing from China, Fang Fang attended California State University (CSU) East Bay in Hayward, California, United States. Also known as Christine Fang, she served as the president of the university’s Chinese Student Association and the campus chapter of Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs (APAPA).

BIOGRAPHY

While in the U.S., Fang allegedly worked for China’s main civilian spy agency called the Ministry of State Security (MSS). She attended campus events, political gatherings, civic society conferences and campaign rallies where she met elected officials and other prominent figures including Mike Honda, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California from 2001 to 2017, and Ash Kalra, who was a member of the San Jose City Council for eight years before being elected to the California State Assembly from the 27th district on December 5, 2016.

Federal Bureau of Investigation electronic surveillance once caught Fang having sex in a car with a mayor from Ohio, USA. When the mayor asked her why she was interested in him, she told him she wanted to improve her English.

Fang also had a relationship with Eric Swalwell, who assumed office a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California’s 15th district since January 3, 2013. There are no Federal Election Commission records that show that she made donations, which are not allowed from foreign nationals.

An intern Fang recommended was placed into Swalwell’s office in Washington, D.C., USA. Here are 13 more things about her:

1. While attending CSU East Bay, she was working for Beijing, China and she acted at the direction of MSS, according to U.S. counterintelligence officials.
2. U.S. officials first noticed her while they were investigating a different person, who they suspected to be an MSS officer working undercover as a diplomat in the consulate in San Francisco, California, and while her main intelligence handlers were based in China, she met and spoke with the suspected MSS officer in the U.S. several times.
3. She was known to be either in her late 20s or in her early 30s when she left China and moved to the U.S. in 2011 to enroll as a student at CSU East Bay.
4. She connected with politicians across the U.S. especially in the San Francisco Bay Area of California from 2011 to 2015 and specifically targeted up-and-coming local politicians who had the potential to make it to the national level, according to an Axios report. 
5. In 2012, she helped organize a meeting for Judy Chu, who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California’s 32nd district from 2009 to 2013, in Cupertino Community Hall in Cupertino, California.
6. She volunteered in the office of Bill Harrison, the mayor of Fremont, California from 2012 to 2016, and participated in several local political and community events. 
7. For her work as the CSU East Bay’s Chinese Student Association president, she was one of the two recipients of the Pioneer Pride Award from the 2012-2013 SOLAR Awards of the Chinese consulate in San Francisco.
8. In 2013, she helped with a fundraiser for Tulsi Gabbard, who assumed officer a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii’s second district that year.
9. In 2014, she helped raise funds for the reelection campaign of Swalwell and she volunteered for the unsuccessful U.S. House of Representatives bid of Ro Khanna, who was eventually elected in the House from California’s 17th district in 2016.
10. A Midwestern mayor, who was much older than her, referred to her as his girlfriend during a conference in Washington in 2014, according to former Cupertino mayor Gilbert Wong, who had seen her frequently at political events. 
11. In 2015, Swalwell told cut off all ties to her after being alerted by federal investigators about her behavior and activities and told them he had a relationship with her.
12. After she left the U.S. in 2015, she was barred from reentry. 
13. In a 2017 case memorandum, the FBI concluded that investigators had “not found violations of federal corruption statutes perpetrated” by Swalwell and subsequently retitled the case to focus on her and alleged election-law violations.

TIMELINE

While in the U.S., Fang grew her network of politicians across the country by attending regional conferences for mayors. She was accused of having sexual or romantic interactions with at least two Midwestern mayors.

2010s

• In March 2014, she introduced Wong to Xu Qin, who served as the mayor of Shenzhen, China from 2010 to 2017, at an event for U.S. municipal officials hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.
• In May 2015, Swalwell told investigators he had physical relations with her “on a handful of occasions” but neither dated her nor had a romantic relationship with her. 
• In August 2015, FBI officials warned Harrison about her suspected activities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• She was supposed to attend an event in Washington, D.C. in June 2015 but shortly before the event, she left the U.S. She told an acquaintance from California on the same trip that she unexpectedly needed to go back to China.

2020s

• On December 8, 2020, Axios published a report by Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian and Zach Dorfman of the Aspen Institute about her, referring to her as a suspected Chinese intelligence operative.
• On August 17, 2026, the White House Transparency Task Force released declassified records, which revealed that Swalwell told FBI investigators in 2015 he had a physical relationship with her.