The Trump White House has repeatedly sounded an alarm about visitors with ties to China’s Communist Party coming to the United States, arguing that they are a potential security threat.
But the administration appears to have literally left the door open to a member of a Chinese government group when it went along with a plan to give the biggest purchasers of President Trump’s digital currency access to the president and the White House.
Mr. Trump launched a so-called memecoin, a type of cryptocurrency, just days before his inauguration. To bolster sales, the president’s business partners created a contest in April, offering the coin’s top buyers a tour of the White House and a private dinner with Mr. Trump at his Virginia golf club.
One of those buyers was He Tianying, who is a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, according to government documents in China examined by The New York Times.
That government group, referred to as the C.P.P.C.C., is an advisory body that seeks to broaden the Communist Party’s influence and solicit support from influential people in Chinese society.
Mr. He, who was registered at the Trump event as a resident of Hong Kong, advises the Chinese government through his role as a delegate of the Fangshan C.P.P.C.C., a district of Beijing. He is listed as a member of the organization’s science and technology committee. The Times could find no indication that Mr. He is a member of the Communist Party, and the government body he serves on is fairly low level.