The Near Enemy: China’s Subnational Reach Into the United States

Xi Jinping’s latest visit to the United States had echoes of his 2015 sojourn.1 The Chinese leader’s appearance at the 2023 APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in San Francisco featured as much direct engagement with American state, local, and commercial leaders as with counterparts in the U.S. federal government. But the subnational playbook of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was even more on display the month prior when California Governor Gavin Newsom visited China. Newsom met with Xi Jinping and other CCP leaders ostensibly to prepare for the November 2023 visit to California and to touch on matters of economic development and cultural exchange.

Recognition of the risks of playing pawn to the CCP’s subnational influence agenda was absent from Newsom’s public pronouncements before or press releases after his visit. That should not be surprising. An asymmetry exists within the U.S. federal system’s division of labor. National authorities carry responsibility for national security and international trade policy. State and local authorities focus on the provision of public goods and economic development that invites investment or job growth that can fuel a tax base. 

As a result, Chinese subnational influence efforts that disproportionately emphasize economic impact — particularly inbound investment at the subnational level — can bypass security mechanisms that exist at the national level. Chinese subnational influence efforts in the United States can therefore develop power centers of influence to shape state and local policy.

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