Former US Cabinet secretary Elaine Chao, who is married to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, is facing fresh scrutiny over her reported links to Chinese CCP government bodies. According to documents and Chinese government and state media reports reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF), Chao was appointed to several positions by Chinese authorities, including roles linked to organisations associated with the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) United Front Work Department (UFWD).
Chao, who married Kentucky Republican senator McConnell in 1993, has held several senior positions in the US government. She served as Secretary of Labour under President George W. Bush and later became Secretary of Transportation during Donald Trump’s first presidency.
After leaving the Trump administration in January 2021, Chao served on the board of electric vehicle charging company ChargePoint and is now listed as a distinguished fellow at the Hudson Institute.
Chinese Communist Party officials appointed Sen. Mitch McConnell’s wife to multiple government positions, many of which partially overlapped with her two U.S. Cabinet posts, according to Chinese government and state media reports unearthed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.… pic.twitter.com/RLycNm4u1O
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) September 8, 2026
Reported Chinese appointments overlapped with US Cabinet roles
Chao, whose Chinese name is Zhao Xiaolan, was reportedly given at least four positions by the Chinese CCP government bodies from 2008 onwards. Some of the appointments were made while she was serving as a US Cabinet secretary.
The DCNF said its findings were based on translations of Chinese government and state media reports. According to the report, some of the organisations involved were connected to the UFWD, a powerful CCP body that works to influence people and groups outside the Communist Party.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission has previously described the United Front system as a tool used by Beijing to build influence and gain access to foreign technology and expertise.
One reported appointment came in 2009, when Chao was named an international advisor to the Wuhan municipal government. Chinese government reports said she was selected because of her “extensive experience and resources in international affairs” and her ability to help Wuhan attract overseas talent and improve international relations.
The reports did not say whether the position was paid.
Chao’s spokesperson, Patrick O’Connor, rejected the suggestion that she had formally worked for a foreign government. He said, “She has never held a position with a foreign government or acted on behalf of one. We are not aware she has met with representatives from UFWD entities.”
UFWD-linked groups reportedly appointed Chao
The report also highlighted Chao’s reported association with the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese (ACFROC), a group linked to the United Front system. According to the DCNF, ACFROC appointed Chao as an advisor and committee member of its fifth council in 2012, with the position continuing into 2017.
This period partly overlapped with Chao’s time as US Transportation secretary.
China experts told the DCNF that organisations such as ACFROC can play a role in Beijing’s overseas influence efforts. Cheryl Yu, a China studies fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, said such groups recruit prominent members of overseas Chinese communities.
“ACFROC recruits prominent diaspora figures, including businesspeople, lawyers, academics, media figures and leaders of community associations, particularly those with access, status or the ability to mobilise others,” Yu said.
Chao was also reportedly appointed an honorary chairwoman of the Jiading branch of the China Overseas Friendship Association (COFA) in 2008, while serving as Labour secretary. Her father, shipping businessman James S.C. Chao, was reportedly given the same honorary position.
Chinese state media reports said the Jiading branch had also appointed several local Chinese Communist Party officials as honorary chairmen.
Chao’s family also had reported links
The scrutiny is not limited to Elaine Chao. Her late sister Angela Chao and her father were also reportedly given advisory or honorary positions connected to Chinese government bodies and United Front organisations, according to Chinese government and state media reports cited by the DCNF.
Angela Chao was later identified as a director of COFA’s national organisation in 2019.
Ina Mitchell, a Chinese intelligence expert, described COFA as part of Beijing’s wider influence efforts. “COFA advances CCP objectives through soft power by using relationship-building, cultural diplomacy and people-to-people exchanges rather than coercion,” she said.
She added, “Many analysts characterise these activities as operating in the grey zone between legitimate public diplomacy and covert political influence.”
Chao’s spokesperson calls allegations ‘racist’
O’Connor strongly rejected the suggestion that Chao’s meetings and reported appointments indicated divided loyalties. He said that Chao had received many honorary degrees, titles and awards during her public career and that photographs with officials were common during such events.
He also argued that questioning Chao’s patriotism because of her Chinese background amounted to a double standard.
“No one seems to care when most American business or political leaders hold meetings in China, so it’s suspicious when the Daily Caller makes insinuations about a former two-time cabinet secretary of Asian descent, especially based on photos, some of which are decades old,” O’Connor said.
He added, “The secretary is a proud American who has devoted most of her professional life to serving the American people. To question her patriotism is a double standard, at best — racist, at worst.”
The spokesperson also said Chao was not fluent in Chinese and claimed she was unaware of some of the titles reportedly given to her.
However, the DCNF said contemporaneous Chinese state media reports appear to describe some of the appointments more directly. A 2010 interview, for example, reportedly featured Chao and her father, with her father saying that both he and his daughter were advisors to the Wuhan municipal government.
Experts raise counterintelligence concerns
The issue has raised questions about whether a serving US Cabinet official should accept positions connected to the Chinese government or United Front organisations.
Former Royal Canadian Mounted Police intelligence official Scott McGregor told the DCNF that such appointments could create counterintelligence and conflict-of-interest concerns. “This is not merely a matter of political optics or an abstract conflict-of-interest concern. It is a counterintelligence, governance and sovereignty issue,” McGregor said.
He argued that even without evidence of a direct exchange of favours, such relationships could create vulnerabilities.
“The absence of a proven quid pro quo would not make such an appointment acceptable; the appointment itself would create an avoidable and serious vulnerability in the executive branch,” he said.
Questions about Chao’s connections to Chinese government-linked organisations are not new. Similar concerns were raised as early as 2001, around the time of her nomination as Labour secretary. The issue has resurfaced again in 2026, including after McConnell was hospitalised in June and Chao travelled to China the following month.
McConnell’s office has declined to comment on the latest allegations.
