'Weak Link' Gavin Newsom Took $50K From Chinese EV Exec of Now-Blacklisted 'Chinese Military Company,' According to New Pentagon Classification
'The Department of War has blacklisted BYD for a reason,' a former US ambassador says.
'It means that there is a threat to the national security of the United States.'
June 9, 2026
California governor Gavin Newsom (D.) received $50,000 in campaign contributions from a Chinese electric vehicle executive whose company the Pentagon blacklisted this week over its ties to China's military.
Li Ke, a Chinese national who serves as the executive vice president of the China-based BYD Company and president of its subsidiary BYD Americas, donated $20,000 to Newsom's gubernatorial campaign in 2018 before giving another $30,000 to his 2022 reelection effort, according to California campaign finance disclosures reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon. That's more money than Li has ever spent supporting all other California candidates combined. (Federal law allows foreign nationals who have obtained a green card to donate to any federal, state, or local campaign.)
Since Li—who is also known as Stella Li and is reportedly married to BYD's billionaire founder and CEO Wang Chuanfu, a member of the Chinese Communist Party and ally of Chinese president Xi Jinping—made the donations, Newsom has cultivated a close relationship with BYD, providing friendly government contracts worth billions to the company and even commending it during a visit to its Shenzhen, China, headquarters in 2023.
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/weak-link-gavin-newsom-took-50k-from-chinese-ev-exec-of-now-blacklisted-chinese-military-company-according-to-new-pentagon-classification/
