Chinese Intel Asset Buys Real Estate On White House Doorstep

A high-ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is behind the purchase of a historic building just hundreds of feet from the White House, according to a new investigation.

The Philip Qiu and Family Foundation purchased the Securities Building, located approximately 650 feet northeast of the White House grounds, for $8.4 million on July 21, according to the Daily Caller. 

The foundation’s namesake, Philip Qiu, has held multiple positions in Chinese government, security, and organizations linked to the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, the Caller reported.

“The CCP is like a kind, but firm parent,” Qiu said in 2021, according to the Caller’s translation of a Chinese announcement. “It has guided our people out of hardship, led China’s sons and daughters to build a new country and is steering us toward great national rejuvenation.”

The purchase has raised national security concerns due to both Qiu’s background and the building’s proximity to the White House. Former CIA operations officer Bryan Dean Wright told the Caller that a property in such a location could be used for intelligence collection, including as a listening post or for collecting electronic communications.

Qiu, whose Chinese name is Qiu Feili, began his career as a detective with the Criminal Investigation Team in Shanghai, which is part of Shanghai’s Public Security Bureau, a subordinate to China’s Ministry of Public Security. 

The Caller investigation also found that Qiu has held at least three positions in organizations connected to the CCP’s United Front Work Department, whose activities the House Select Committee on the CCP has described as a combination of influence and intelligence operations.

Among those positions, Qiu has served since 2021 as chairman of the Shanghai Overseas Chinese Foundation (SOCF), which operates within Shanghai’s United Front system. At a 2021 foundation meeting, Qiu pledged that the organization would carry out Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s orders on overseas Chinese affairs, often referring to the CCP as “our party,” according to the Caller. 

The Philip Qiu and Family Foundation is also connected to the Chinese American Museum in Washington, D.C. (CAMDC), which Qiu co-founded in 2017 with Chen Xiaoping, also known as Neil Chen. Chen previously chaired the SOCF and has held several positions in the Chinese government.

The museum says it is not “funded, controlled, or influenced by any foreign government,” but the Caller found that Chinese government entities have co-sponsored at least eight of its programs. Four reportedly received support from religious entities controlled by the United Front Work Department.

Michael Lucci, CEO of the national security advocacy group State Armor, told the Caller that the risks posed by Qiu’s ownership of the property were “screamingly obvious” and urged the federal government to intervene.

At the time of publication, Qiu and the CAMDC had not responded to The Daily Wire’s request for comment.