A new report from the Jamestown Foundation warns that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using a massive global network to influence politics into democratic countries, including the U.S.
The report maps more than 2,000 organisations linked to the CCP’s United Front Work Department, a system designed to impose the CCP’s influence and ideology without using force.
The CCP uses this system to shape political, social, and economic environments in ways that serve the party’s goal, which is becoming the dominant global power and advancing claims such as the annexation of Taiwan.
The report says the organisations often look legitimate, such as cultural groups, business and trade associations, professional societies, schools, and Chinese-language media.
Researchers said much of the influence effort is neither obvious nor illegal activity.
Most of the United Front work happens through informal ties, such as personal relationships, invitation to China, honorary titles, and privilege access.
The report said the same United Front influence is active in the U.S. and other democracies.
Cheryl Yu, Fellow in China Studies at Jamestown Foundation, said there is a need to protect communities against the CCP’s influence.
“This is not a question of ethnicity. It is a question of state-directed political influence inside a democracy,” she said. “And protecting targeted communities is part of protecting our democratic institutions.”
Jamestown Foundation President Peter Mattis said the danger is that these groups can end up speaking for communities.
“When we let some of these leaders represent whole communities, we are letting the party take away the voice of our citizens. And they’re using the legitimacy of our citizens to put the party’s voice and Beijing’s perspective into our politics, into our decision-making’ he said.
Researchers said recognising how these networks operate is key to protecting societies from foreign influence.
