Judy Chu, a Democratic Congresswoman from California, has a suspicion. If it weren’t for her “Chinese American descent,” Republicans wouldn’t be calling to remove some of her privileges to classified information because of ties to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) front groups.

Chu can cry “racism” all she wants, but a series of reports from the Daily Caller News Foundation exposed Chu’s connection to CCP front groups. In 2012, Chu was appointed the “honorary president” of the All America Chinese Youth Federation (AACYF). The DCNF reports that at least five members of AACYF leadership can be traced back to “alleged CCP intel fronts.” Chu held another honorary position for a group with CCP ties. In 2019, the Forums for Peaceful Reunification of China named Chu their “honorary chairwoman.” She’s since repeatedly lied about her connections to these groups.

Furthermore, Chu previously voted against the creation of the House Select Committee on China, tasked with investigating Chinese influence in the United States. In a January 10 statement released by the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), which Chu chairs, she claimed that the committee’s work would foster violence towards Asian Americans “because of the known risks of xenophobic rhetoric intensifying anti-Asian hate here in the United States.”

Chu’s statement added:

We cannot forget that rhetoric used around economic competition with Asian countries has resulted in the verbal and physical harassment and even murder of Asian Americans here at home.  Since March 2020 and former President Trump’s sustained references to the coronavirus as the "China virus," over 11,500 hate crimes and incidents against Asian Americans have been reported.

The real virus, you see, is racism. Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Covid-19 lab leak hypothesis is most likely true in the eyes of the U.S. Energy Department.

“As the House of Representatives embarks on the formation of this committee, CAPAC reminds all members that this committee should not be used as an open invitation to engage and traffic in blatantly xenophobic anti-China rhetoric that we know historically results in physical violence and emotional harm against Asian Americans across the country,” Chu’s statement continued. “Further, this committee cannot be used to promote policies that result in the racial profiling of our communities, but rather it must be directly focused on specific concerns related to the government of the People’s Republic of China.”

Chu thinks herself a victim of this profiling in the wake of Republican’s efforts to revoke Chu’s security clearance. She makes a completely obvious point: If Chu were not of Chinese background, she likely wouldn’t have extensive connections to cultural and political organizations fronting for the Chinese government. But only she is allowed to make this observation. The real offense is not Chu’s ties to Chinese front groups, it’s the gall to notice them.