<![CDATA[Asian-American Republican group dismisses Cindy Yang, political fundraiser and alleged brothel spa founder]>
An Asian-American Republican group has dismissed from its staff Cindy Yang, who came under scrutiny after New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft allegedly solicited a prostitute at an establishment she formerly owned, and for her apparent business selling access to members of the US administration for Chinese clients.
The National Committee of Asian American Republicans fired 45-year-old Yang, who also goes by the names Yang Li and Yang Lijuan, on Friday following a report by the Miami Herald detailing Yang's connections with the White House, committee executive director Cliff Li told the South China Morning Post.
"We do appreciate all her efforts as one of our top volunteers promoting public participation", said Li of Yang, who served as the group's director of community engagement in Florida.
Li said her position was terminated when the Asian GOP, as the committee is known, became "aware of all the allegations towards her", but did not elaborate when asked about which specific allegations led to her dismissal.
According to the Herald, Yang's family still owns a number of Tokyo Day Spas in South Florida, online reviews for which refer to the availability of sexual services at the establishments.
Yang, who was not charged in the human trafficking investigation that saw the closure of 10 Asian day spas in Florida, has denied any legal wrongdoing. The Jupiter, Florida spa that Kraft allegedly patronised for sexual services, Orchids of Asia Day Spa, was sold by Yang to another owner in 2013.
That current owner, Zhang Hua, has pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering and running a house of prostitution. Kraft has been charged with two counts of soliciting prostitutes at the spa.
Who is Cindy Yang " and how is she connected to Donald Trump?
"[Cindy Yang's] private businesses have absolutely nothing to do with our activities", said Li of the Asian GOP. "We wish her well, and hope all [this] media coverage won't be a major discouragement for the Asian Americans' participation of political processes."
Mentions of her name in meeting minutes posted online by the political group have recently been scrubbed from its website, according to comparisons of live and cached versions of the site.
Yang's cellphone appeared to be switched off on Monday, and she did not respond to a message left requesting comment.
Yang was thrust into the national spotlight last week when the Herald published photos posted to her private Facebook account showing that she had attended US President Donald Trump's annual Super Bowl party to mark this year's National Football League championship game between the Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams.
One photograph on her account " which was deleted or made private on Friday " was a selfie Yang took with Trump.
Another photograph she posted to her Facebook page showed a signed card of thanks from Trump and his wife Melania, thanking Yang for her "friendship and dedication to our cause".
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"Leaders like you in Florida are the key to fulfilling our bold agenda to Make America Great Again!" the message continued.
Yang's support of the Trump administration appears to reach beyond her own community outreach work in Florida, however. This weekend Mother Jones reported that Yang had operated an investment firm that offered Chinese clients access to US political figures.
A since-deleted website for the company said it had "arranged taking photos with the President" and could organise dinners at the White House and on Capitol Hill, according to Mother Jones.
A New York City-based business partner of Yang, Jing Li, is close to the Trump family and has arranged for Chinese business executives to attend at least two Trump fundraisers, a source who attended one such event in New York told the Post.
Jing helped to bring about 20 businesspeople from the Chinese community to the fundraiser for Trump on December 2, 2017, at Cipriani, an upscale Manhattan restaurant and banquet hall, the source said.
The executives, many of whom travelled from China, paid as much as US$5,000 to attend and another US$10,000 to have a photo taken with Trump, according to the source.
Days before the event, Yang gave US$5,400 to Trump's campaign fund and US$23,500 to the Trump Victory political action committee, according to an analysis of federal political contributions by the Herald.
Robert Kraft and the complexities of prostitution
Posts on Jing's account on WeChat, the Chinese social media platform, show her activity in Republican Party politics. A caption on two of the posts reads: "Heading towards Mar-a-Lago after passing through tight security, I've already been asked if I'm Wendi Deng. Do we look alike?" The badge she displays in both posts is for a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago on March 3, 2018.
Jing's WeChat posts also show frequent contact with Ivanka Trump, often suggesting they meet for lunch.
Calls to Jing's mobile phone went to voicemail and she did not immediately respond to questions left there about her fundraising activities or her association with Yang.
Beyond her advocacy for the Trump administration and courting of Chinese investors seeking access to it, Yang has also played an active role in a US chapter of a mainland Chinese organisation aimed at furthering the Chinese Communist Party's cause of reuniting the country with the self-governed island of Taiwan.
In a biography of Yang posted to a WeChat public account that profiles prominent Chinese living in America, in 2016 Yang became deputy chairwoman of Florida's branch of the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification.
Patriots owner Kraft charged with soliciting sex at Orchids of Asia parlour
The council is a non-profit organisation founded in 1988 under the direction of Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping for the purpose of supporting Taiwan's reunification with mainland China.
At a June 2016 ceremony " attended by Yang " marking the establishment of the council's Florida branch, Chinese dignitaries in attendance included Li Qiangmin, China's Consul General in Houston, Texas, according to the council's official website.
Reunification with Taiwan, long a strategic priority of the CCP, took on renewed urgency in January, when Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Beijing and Taipei to start talks on unification and adopt a "one country, two systems" solution for the self-governed island similar to that now in place for Hong Kong.
In a biography of Yang posted on WeChat, she is described as having been born in 1973 in northeastern China's Harbin province, and having come to the US in 1999 as a student.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
