There is a fine line there even when a private citizen that was part of a previous administration meets with high level government official of an adversary foreign government. A private citizen who previously held high-level US government office can technically be in violation of the Logan Act. The statute applies to "any citizen of the United States" who acts without authority to influence foreign governments regarding disputes with the US. The law does not provide an explicit exemption for former officials. Once they leave office, they lose their official authority to conduct diplomacy, meaning their unauthorized communications could theoretically meet the legal criteria for a punishable violation. The only way Chao would be in the clear is if she had prior approval of the State Dept for the visit and the reasons why she was meeting with a CCP official. She met with China's Vice President.
There is a fine line there even when a private citizen that was part of a previous administration meets with high level government official of an adversary foreign government. A private citizen who previously held high-level US government office can technically be in violation of the Logan Act. The statute applies to "any citizen of the United States" who acts without authority to influence foreign governments regarding disputes with the US. The law does not provide an explicit exemption for former officials. Once they leave office, they lose their official authority to conduct diplomacy, meaning their unauthorized communications could theoretically meet the legal criteria for a punishable violation. The only way Chao would be in the clear is if she had prior approval of the State Dept for the visit and the reasons why she was meeting with a CCP official. She met with China's Vice President.