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Pivot to Peace

Website:

peacepivot.org/
Type:

Left-of-Center Foreign Policy Advocacy
Formation:

2020
Co-Founder:

Sheila Xiao

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Pivot to Peace is a left-of-center pro-China organization that according to some critics has ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 1 Pivot to Peace condemned the military attack and subsequent capture of former de facto Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, calling it a “kidnapping.” The organization also claimed that the military operation was “illegal,” adding that the reasoning for action, to stop the flow of drugs into America, was “a fig leaf over the true motivations,” which Pivot to Peace claimed included “grabbing Venezuela’s oil riches” and overthrowing a government that “opposed the global domination of American power.” 2

Pivot to Peace activist Litang Liang was arrested by the Department of Justice in May 2023 on charges that he was acting as an unregistered foreign agent for the Chinese government, including “providing photographs of and information about dissidents” in the Boston area, as well as “providing the names of potential recruits to [China’s] Ministry of Public Security.” He was found not guilty of the charges in 2025. 3 4

Background

Pivot to Peace is a left-of-center pro-China organization that, according to the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), has ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Pivot to Peace has claimed that it has “witnessed a profoundly disturbing reorientation” of U.S. foreign policy that puts China as a competitor, also claiming that the “new military doctrine of the Pentagon” has prepared for a “major power conflict” in the coming years. 1 5

The organization continued by claiming that this “reorientation” has created a feeling of “fear, animosity, and even hatred” towards the People’s Republic of China (PRC), as well as Chinese-American citizens and “other Asian peoples” in the U.S. 5

Statement on the U.S. Seizure of Nicolas Maduro

Pivot to Peace released a statement condemning the military action of the United States against former de facto Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro in January 2026. 2

Pivot to Peace “strongly” condemned the military capture of Maduro, calling it a “kidnapping.” The organization also claimed that the operation was “illegal,” adding that the reasoning for action, to stop the flow of drugs into America, was “a fig leaf over the true motivations,” which Pivot to Peace claimed included “grabbing Venezuela’s oil riches” and overthrowing a government that “opposed the global domination of American power.” 2

The statement concluded by calling for the American people to “express their rejection of the illegal assaults,” adding that it demanded the immediate release of “the kidnapped president.” 2

Affiliated Organizations

Pivot to Peace does not receive money directly, but rather through its fiscal sponsor, the Progress Unity Fund. The Progress Unity Fund is a radical-left fiscal sponsorship organization that supports the ANSWER Coalition, an anti-war and anti-Israel protest organization; Justice First, an advocacy organization with extensive connections to the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a socialist political party in San Francisco, California; and Women Organized to Resist and Defend, a pro-abortion feminist organization. 6 7 8

Pivot to Peace was a signatory on a statement released by No Cold War, a left-of-center anti-war advocacy group that is known to repeat Chinese Communist Party talking points based in the United States and the United Kingdom. Funding for the group has been traced to Neville Roy Singham, a radical-left multimillionaire sympathetic to the CCP. 9 10 The statement claimed that “increasingly aggressive statements and actions” from the United States to China “constitute a threat to world peace” and represent an obstacle to addressing issues such as environmentalism. 9

The ANSWER Coalition urged its supporters to attend a Pivot to Peace event in February 2022. The event was held to demand “peace, not war with China.” In its statement calling for its supporters to attend the event, ANSWER claimed that the United States had adopted an “increasingly antagonistic posture towards China” in recent years. The organization also called for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Taiwan. 11

A co-founder of Pivot to Peace, Sheila Xiao, was also as of 2026 the chair of the ANSWER Coalition’s Los Angeles chapter. 12

Arrest of Litang Liang

Pivot to Peace activist Litang Liang was arrested by the Department of Justice in May 2023 on charges that he was acting as an unregistered foreign agent for the Chinese government, with the government alleging he was “providing photographs of and information about dissidents” in the Boston area, as well as “providing the names of potential recruits to [China’s] Ministry of Public Security.” 3

Liang was acquitted of the charges in February 2025 after a jury found him not guilty. 4

References

  1. Contagious Disruption: How CCP Influence and Radical Ideologies Threaten Critical Infrastructure and Campuses Across the United States, n.d., https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/SID4P-Report_May-2024.pdf. 
  2. Pivot to Peace, “Statement on the American Attack on Venezuela,” Pivot to Peace, January 12, 2026, Accessed March 23, 2026. https://peacepivot.org/statement-on-the-american-attack-on-venezuela/. 
  3. “May 15: Mapping Roy Singham’s Pro-CCP Influence Network.” Tablet Magazine. May 15, 2024. Accessed March 23, 2026. https://www.tabletmag.com/the-scroll/articles/may-15-mapping-roy-singhams-pro-ccp. 
  4. Raymond, Nate. “Boston man cleared of US charges he acted as Chinese agent.” Reuters. February 10, 2025. Accessed March 23, 2026. https://www.reuters.com/legal/boston-man-cleared-us-charges-he-acted-chinese-agent-2025-02-10/. 
  5. “Mission.” Pivot to Peace. April 29, 2020. Accessed March 23, 2026. https://peacepivot.org/mission/. 
  6. “Support Pivot to Peace.” Pivot to Peace. April 22, 2020. Accessed March 23, 2026. https://peacepivot.org/campaigns/support-pivot-to-peace/. 
  7. Schilke, JoEllen. “WMNF interview with Party for Socialism and Liberation presidential candidate Peta Lindsay.” WMNF 88.5 FM. October 26, 2012. Accessed March 23, 2026. https://www.wmnf.org/wmnf-interview-with-party-for-socialism-and-liberation-presidential-candidate-peta-lindsay/. 
  8. “Progress Unity Fund.” Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed March 23, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/943382208/202512829349301851/full. 
  9. “Statement: A New Cold War against China is against the interests of humanity.” No Cold War. Accessed March 23, 2026. https://nocoldwar.org/statement. 
  10. “A Global Web of Chinese Propaganda Leads to a U.S. Tech Mogul.” New York Times. Accessed March 23, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/05/world/europe/neville-roy-singham-china-propaganda.html. 
  11. Brown, Nino. “THIS SUNDAY: Events in D.C. and San Francisco to demand “Peace, Not War with China!”.” ANSWER Coalition. February 23, 2022. Accessed March 23, 2026. https://www.answercoalition.org/this_sunday_events_in_d_c_and_san_francisco_to_demand_peace_not_war_with_china. 
  12. “AUTHOR: Sheila Xiao.” LA Progressive. Accessed March 23, 2026. https://www.laprogressive.com/author/sheila-xiao. 
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