Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration is publicizing it’s opened a trade office in Taiwan – amid accusations a former staffer tried to thwart efforts to recognize the country’s sovereignty as a spy for China.
The state’s economic development arm, Empire State Development, announced plans last week to open a Global NY International Trade Office with the goal of building relationships with the Democratic nation that China claims as its own.
The announcement follows the bombshell indictment of former staffer Linda Sun, who prosecutors claim used her post in state government to thwart recognizing the autonomy of Taiwan.
In the aftermath of the spying allegations, Hochul took a tepid stance toward recognizing Taiwan.
“I support the Biden administration when it comes to representation of our foreign interests. I’m not going to intercede in that,” Hochul said in response to questions by The Post about whether she recognized Taiwan as a sovereign independent nation.
According to reporting from the National Review, Hope Knight, a senior Hochul administration official and head of ESD, also attended an event to celebrate Taiwan’s National Day last week.
The governor’s take on Taiwan came into focus after Sun, a former mid-level staffer in Hochul and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration, was slapped with corruption charges. Sun and her husband Chris Hu have pleaded not guilty to violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act, visa fraud, money laundering and alien smuggling.
The feds said Sun used her posts in the governors’ administrations to scrub references of Taiwan from press releases and block meetings between state officials and diplomats from Taipei.
“I have managed to stop all relationships between the [Taipei Economic and Cultural Office] and the state. I have denied all [r]equests from their office,” Sun wrote in a message to a Chinese consulate official in January 2019 included in the indictment.
In exchange for her work, Sun received millions of dollars in gifts from China, the feds allege. These include her $3.5 million Manhasset home, a luxury condo in Hawaii, a 2024 Ferrari Roma and Nanjing-style salted ducks prepared by the private chef for the Chinese consulate, according to the charges.
Sun was quickly fired in March 2023 after presenting a fake proclamation to the Chinese Consular General caught the eye of state officials who alerted the state inspector general. Sun worked at ESD and her portfolio included overseeing parts of the Global NY program covering the same areas as the new offices from 2015 to 2018.
An ESD spokesperson said the Taiwan office was “piloted” beginning last year. ESD hosted and conducted trade missions with Taiwanese firms over the last year, the spokesperson added.
“New York is emerging as a global hub for the semiconductor industry, of which Taiwan is the undisputed leader,” the spokesperson said.
“As we work aggressively to onshore our supply chain and expand domestic manufacturing, New York benefits from positive, productive partnerships with countries like Taiwan, with whom we learn from and trade with,” they added.
The rep said ESD has been engaged with the Taiwanese government through the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office and the American Institute in Taiwan prior to 2023.
