Eugene Yu, the 65-year-old CEO of American election technology company Konnech, was criminally charged earlier this month for allegedly storing Los Angeles election worker data on servers in the People’s Republic of China.
Konnech develops software that manages the poll workers, poll locations, campaigns, assets, and supplies necessary to run elections in the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Public records reveal that a Chinese election software company named Jinhua Hongzheng Technology (金华鸿正科技有限公司) uses the controversial U.S. election software company’s patents.
Hongzheng Technology operates in more than 20 provinces across China in partnership with Lenovo, Huawei, China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile and specializes in providing electronic voting systems to China’s National People’s Congress.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has designated China Telecom, China Unicom, China Mobile, and Huawei as “national security threats.”
Hongzheng Technology claims on social media that “its predecessor "Jinhua Yulian Network Technology Co., Ltd." (Konnech., Ltd) was established in November 2005.”
In other words, the Chinese company that provides electronic voting systems to the Chinese Communist Party claims it’s a byproduct of Michigan-based Konnech.
Hongzheng Technology also claims to have “more than 20 government customers in North America.”
The company’s social media features Chinese characters written below the official seals of Washington D.C., Detroit, Michigan, and St. Louis, Missouri, among other U.S. counties.
Hongzheng Technology posted Konnech’s U.S. patent (#8949745), "Device and method for selection of options by motion gestures" onto an archived “Chinese and American Patents” page on its website hongzhengtech.cn.
Eugene Yu (Okemos, MI), Jun Yu (Zhejiang), and Guojun Shao (Jinhua) invented this patent, and Konnech features the same patent in its marketing material.
Guojun Shao is a longtime software developer and employee of Konnech.
Public records show that Guojun Shao and Jun Yu are two of the seven registered owners of Hongzheng Technology.
Hongzheng Technology also posted a Chinese patent (#CN104618378A), “System and data processing method for network voting of absent electorates,” awarded to inventors Chen Wei and Shao Guojun on February 13, 2015.
Konnech Chinese subsidiary Jinhua Konnech Inc transferred the Chinese patent to Jinhua Hongzheng Technology.
Chen Wei is a Ph.D. in Cryptography from Beijing University, a member of the prestigious China Cryptography Society, a professor at Zhejiang University, and a Deputy General Manager at Hongzheng Technology.
Konnech registered “hongzhengtech.cn” for Hongzheng Technology to admin@konnech.com on July 31, 2015.
As a result, the U.S. election software company had core control over Hongzheng Technology’s website—a Chinese company partnered with Chinese telecom giants that specializes in providing electronic voting systems to the Chinese Communist Party.
The day before Eugene Yu’s arrest, the New York Times confirmed that Konnech owned a Chinese subsidiary named Jinhua Yulian Network Technology (金华宇联网络科技有限公司).
Konnech claims that the company has never “had any association with the Chinese Communist Party.”
However, public records show that Konnech’s Chinese subsidiary regularly bid on government contracts to provide “electronic voting systems” to China’s National People’s Congress.
Public records also reveal that Eugene Yu, also known as Jianwei Yu (于建伟), worked for the Chinese Communist Party as a Project Manager of the Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone from 1983 until 1985.
After graduating from Zhejiang University in 1982, Yu worked for the Chinese government until he moved to the United States in 1986 to pursue his MBA at Wake Forest University.
Yu established Konnech in 2002 and started his Chinese subsidiary Yulian Network in Zhejiang, China, on November 29, 2005.
He registered his Chinese subsidiary's website, "yu-lian.cn,” to eyu@konnech.com on February 25, 2006.
On a 2013 archived version of Yulian Network’s website, Yu praised the vision of the former Chinese President, who he called “Comrade Jiang Zemin.”
The U.S. election software CEO wrote in Chinese about his success with “Election Management Solutions Detroit,” “U.S. Overseas Voters,” and creating election software with “Chinese characteristics.”
Here’s Yulian Network’s “Consultation Service” page in Chinese:
And here’s Yulian Network’s “Consultation Service” page translated into English:
Konnech’s Chinese subsidiary says that it develops election software following the principle of “political tasks first and economic benefits of enterprises second” and that the company has perfected election management theory “in line with China’s national conditions.”
The Chinese subsidiary also says that it provides election solutions for all levels of the Chinese Communist Party: National People’s Congress (NPC), Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), trade unions, overseas Chinese Federations, Communist Youth Leagues, villages, and towns.
Konnech now admits that its Chinese subsidiary developed the company’s U.S. election software since Eugene Yu founded Yulian Network in 2005.
Here’s Yulian Network’s “Customer Case” page in Chinese:
And here’s Yulian Network’s “Customer Case” page translated into English:
Hongzheng Technology built on the success of Konnech’s Chinese subsidiary and has helped more than 430 National People’s Congress clients in more than 20 provinces achieve success on the road of "standardization, informationization, normalization and wisdom."
Here representatives from Zhejiang Jiashan People's Congress, Hubei Yichang People's Congress, Hubei Provincial People's Congress, and other delegations of China’s National People’s Congress visit Hongzheng Technology’s offices:
Here Hongzheng Technology displays awards and certifications:
Here Hongzheng Technology acknowledges that although the company was started in 2015, it actually began in 2005, when Konnech’s Chinese subsidiary was founded:
In conclusion, Eugene Yu worked for the Chinese Communist Party before he came to the United States.
His Chinese subsidiary, which developed U.S. election software, also developed election software for the Chinese Communist Party.
Eugene Yu transferred patents to and registered the website of Hongzheng Technology—a Chinese company partnered with China’s telecom giants that specializes in providing electronic voting systems to the Chinese Communist Party.
Hongzheng Technology publicly claims that Konnech is its “predecessor,” and that it has “more than 20 government customers in North America.”
Lastly, a December 17, 2020, article reveals that Hongzheng Technology “has hired a domestic cryptography doctoral team to continue to invest in election voting and government information security encryption.”
“To maintain the industry’s leading position, the company continues to develop and innovate, and has hired Mr. Yu Jianwei, well-known in the international election field, as the company’s technical and business consultant.”
Perhaps the United States, Canada, and Australia should also consider hiring Mr. Yu Jianwei (于建伟) to run their elections if he hasn’t already been administering them “in line with China’s national conditions.”
Top national security officials warn that China's bulk data collection program has already compiled a ‘dossier’ on every American.
The Department of Homeland Security warns that Chinese law requires Chinese businesses and citizens to support and facilitate China’s government’s access to data collection, transmission, and storage.
Chinese law compels Chinese companies to cooperate secretly with Chinese security and intelligence services, provide Beijing with data, encryption keys, and other technical information, and even to install “backdoors” in equipment that create security flaws vulnerable to exploitation by Chinese entities.
Konnech CEO Eugene Yu has been developing U.S. election software with “Chinese characteristics” for the last twenty years.
