The parent company of China-based online marketplace Temu employs a bevy of former Chinese Communist Party officials among their top executives — raising serious national security risks, experts told The Post.
Temu, a competitor to Amazon, has made aggressive inroads into the US.
Its parent company, the Shanghai-based Pinduoduo (PDD) is listed on the Nasdaq and has a current market capitalization of almost $200 billion.
Among the company’s top leaders are Xu Mintao, a director of public relations, who was previously a senior official in the State Administration for Market Regulation; and Zhou Qingtian, a public relations executive who is former deputy director of the Regulation Department of the Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation.
Guo Hua, a director of public affairs, previously served as deputy director of the Trademark Office of the State Intellectual Property Office.
Hu Qida and Tong Lei — both former judges of the People’s Court of Shanghai — were named as PDD directors of legal affairs.
Zhou Qingtian, a vice president of PDD, was a former official at the Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce
| Name | Current Position at Pinduoduo | Former Position |
| Wen Xue | Vice President of Pinduoduo | Former Inspector of the Advertising Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation |
| Xu Mintao | Pinduoduo Government Public Relations Director | Former Deputy Director of the Regulations Department of Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation |
| Zhou Qingtian | Vice President of Pinduoduo | Former Deputy Director of the Airport Branch of the Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce |
| Guo Hua | Pinduoduo Public Affairs Senior Director | Former Deputy Director of the Trademark Office of the National Intellectual Property Administration |
| Wang Jian | Senior Vice President of Pinduoduo | Former Member of the Judicial Committee of the Shanghai Second Intermediate People’s Court |
| Zhang Jiangzhou | Legal Director of Pinduoduo | Former Deputy Chief of the Civil Division of the Beijing Haidian Court |
| Hu Qida | Legal Director of Pinduoduo | Former Judge of the Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court |
| Tong Lei | Legal Director of Pinduoduo | Former Judge of the Shanghai Jing’an District Court |
| Jiang Shaocai | Pinduoduo Public Affairs Director | Former Director of the Party and Government Affairs Division of the Shanghai Taiwan Affairs Office |
| Dai Zhihui | Vice President of Pinduoduo | Former Assistant Director of the Information Technology Department (Data Center) of the National Internet Finance Association of China |
| Zhu Zheng | Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer of Pinduoduo | Formerly worked at the Ministry of Commerce and was stationed at the Economic and Commercial Office of a Chinese Embassy abroad |
| Song Yue | Pinduoduo Public Relations Policy Director | Former Deputy Director of the Anti-Monopoly and Anti-Unfair Competition Enforcement Bureau of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce |
Temu — which ran six ads during and after the Super Bowl this year — has growing clout in the United States, raising alarm among lawmakers in Washington, who worry its vast troves of U.S. consumer data could make it a national security threat.
In April Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) called on the Biden administration to investigate the company over concerns about intellectual property theft and the use of slave labor.
Cotton told The Post he wants the site banned in the United States.
“Chinese tech companies across the board are beholden to the Chinese Communist Party and PDD Holdings is no different. PDD’s subsidiary Temu, should have no access to the American market,” Cotton told The Post.
The names and backgrounds of PDD’s leaders were first revealed on Kejixun.com, a Chinese language news site back in April. The link was taken down shortly after The Post reached out to Temu and PDD.
“If this leak is accurate, it’s another clear indication of the many ties between the Communist Party of China and Chinese businesses — even ones, like Pinduoduo, that are nominally private,” said Isaac Stone Fish, founder and CEO of Strategy Risks, a China-focused data company.