'I love you': Longtime Harris ally has been friends with CCP group's top exec for over a decade

In early 2022, a year before James Chau became the president of the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), he wrote on Twitter, "Belated best wishes to my friend and sister [Lateefah Simon] as she builds on her years is [sic] service [Akonadi Foundation] to lead Meadow Fund."

"These are complex times - yet also times in which skill and compassion count even more," he continued. "Looking forward to seeing the deep impact of your work."

Simon, 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 James. Hong Kong this summer!"

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

In another social media post, Chau posted a picture of what appears to be an art exhibit of a tree with dozens of leaves and a caption that reads, "What are you THANKFUL for?" Chau said the tree is "not large enough" and tagged Simon, prompting her to respond with a red heart emoji.

Fox News Digital has extensively reported on Tung Chee-hwa, who served as a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a key part of the CCP's united front system, which operates to advance the CCP's interests at home and abroad.

"In 2009, the former chief executive of Hong Kong [Tung Chee-hwa] visited me in my office with his staff from the China-United States Exchange Foundation, and they wanted to know how we got a Black president," Wilson, whose office is across the street from the White House, told college students during a 2017 presentation. "They were saying, 'We don't know anything about Black people. So can you write us a white paper and share it with us? How did Black people get enough power to vote a Black man into office?' So they really needed an overview of our history. Who are we? Who are African Americans?"

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

Earlier this summer at the DNC, Simon reflected on her longtime friendship with Harris, including her experience working alongside her in the early 2000s.

"When she sees you, she truly sees you," Simon said in August at the 2024 DNC. "She is the best among us. After working with Kamala Harris day in and day out for five years to create programs that supported young people to get out of the criminal justice system once and for all with good jobs, with opportunity, she wanted to get to the root cause of a broken criminal justice system."

Chau and Simon met in San Francisco in 2008 while working to combat HIV and have been friends over the years, including connecting over her husband and Chau's father both passing away weeks apart, according to the opening segment of a 2020 interview between them, which was part of CUSEF's "The China Current" digital platform. At the end of the interview, which revolved around the pandemic and the "inequities in a healthcare system" for people of color, Simon said, "I love you dearly, Mr. James. Let's talk more."

Fox News Digital reached out to CUSEF, the Simon campaign and the Harris campaign, but did not receive any responses.