Difference between revisions of "United Front Work Department"
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===Controlling the narrative=== | ===Controlling the narrative=== | ||
| + | To advance the CCP narrative that the world is biased against China, the CCP has stepped up its United Front work to stifle criticism of the CCP, spread positive views of the CCP, and incentivize [[voter]]s in foreign democracies to influence their domestic policies in ways favorable to [[PRC]]. The CCP has also cracked down on what it terms “historical nihilism,” or attempts to undermine Beijing’s official history. | ||
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During anti-CCP protests in [[San Francisco]] surrounding the 2008 Olympic torch relay, former U.S. intelligence officials said Chinese security officials monitored and directed counterprotesting blocs of thousands of Chinese students to drown out [[Beijing]]’s critics, which ''[[Politico]]'' called an “operation … by a hostile foreign intelligence service to forcibly suppress [[First Amendment]] activities in a major American city.” U.S. law defines “conspiracy against rights” as conspiring to “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person … in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same” or going “in disguise … or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured.” The UFWD efforts at suppressing protests on U.S. soil to promote its narrative is as much a problem of [[civil rights]] as it is a problem of [[national security]].<ref>https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/27/silicon-valley-spies-china-russia-219071/</ref> | During anti-CCP protests in [[San Francisco]] surrounding the 2008 Olympic torch relay, former U.S. intelligence officials said Chinese security officials monitored and directed counterprotesting blocs of thousands of Chinese students to drown out [[Beijing]]’s critics, which ''[[Politico]]'' called an “operation … by a hostile foreign intelligence service to forcibly suppress [[First Amendment]] activities in a major American city.” U.S. law defines “conspiracy against rights” as conspiring to “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person … in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same” or going “in disguise … or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured.” The UFWD efforts at suppressing protests on U.S. soil to promote its narrative is as much a problem of [[civil rights]] as it is a problem of [[national security]].<ref>https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/27/silicon-valley-spies-china-russia-219071/</ref> | ||
Revision as of 00:07, June 10, 2021
The United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the CCP Central Committee is the core organization used to advance the Chinese Communist Party's interests with the goal of co-opting organizations that might threaten it. Foreign targets can include the overseas Chinese communities, government officials, education institutions and any persons deemed influential.
The CCP's United Front system mobilizes the party's “friends” to strike the party's enemies. The system was greatly energized and expanded by Xi Jinping. It operates inside foreign political parties, diaspora communities, colleges and corporations, all with the goal of promoting the party's interests. The express goals of the United Front system include undermining social cohesion, exacerbating racial tension, and using of psychological warfare (psyops), media warfare (propaganda and fake news), and legal warfare (lawfare).
The CCP uses propaganda and influence operations as a means of projecting its power and weakening its enemies. Chief amongst the targets for these kinds of operations is the United States. These operations are coordinated and directed by the UFWD.[1]
Controlling the narrative
To advance the CCP narrative that the world is biased against China, the CCP has stepped up its United Front work to stifle criticism of the CCP, spread positive views of the CCP, and incentivize voters in foreign democracies to influence their domestic policies in ways favorable to PRC. The CCP has also cracked down on what it terms “historical nihilism,” or attempts to undermine Beijing’s official history.
During anti-CCP protests in San Francisco surrounding the 2008 Olympic torch relay, former U.S. intelligence officials said Chinese security officials monitored and directed counterprotesting blocs of thousands of Chinese students to drown out Beijing’s critics, which Politico called an “operation … by a hostile foreign intelligence service to forcibly suppress First Amendment activities in a major American city.” U.S. law defines “conspiracy against rights” as conspiring to “injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person … in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same” or going “in disguise … or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured.” The UFWD efforts at suppressing protests on U.S. soil to promote its narrative is as much a problem of civil rights as it is a problem of national security.[2]
Overseas dissident groups
Chinese intelligence services have specifically targeted ethnic minorities such as Uyghurs living overseas, threatening to send their families still in Xinjiang to internment camps, or keep them there, if the former do not agree to spy for China. According to Uyghurs who have been threatened in this way, this coercion is intended “not only to gather details about Uyghurs’ activities abroad, but also to sow discord within exile communities in the West and intimidate people in hopes of preventing them from speaking out against the Chinese state.”
Other organizations
In addition to the UFWD, a range of CCP military and civilian organizations are active in carrying out United Front work, either working directly for the UFWD or under the broader leadership of the CPPCC. The broad swath of actors involved in this work underlines that while certain organizations like the UFWD and CPPCC are explicitly involved in implementing United Front work, the strategy is a priority for the “whole Party.”
Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification
The China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification (CPPRC)—a prominent organization promoting China’s take over of Taiwan—is directly subordinate to the UFWD and has at least 200 chapters in 90 countries, including 33 chapters in the United States registered as the National Association for China’s Peaceful Unification. The CPPRC has become one of the most prominent groups claiming to represent the Chinese diaspora communities and is a leading organization mobilizing international Chinese communities in support of Beijing’s policies.
A separate entity, the Liaison Department of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) General Political Department (GPD), facilitated the activities of a number of front organizations—including “friendship” and “cultural” associations—as part of its broader mission to conduct propaganda operations, perform perception management,[3] and gather intelligence.
China Association for International Friendly Contact
The China Association for International Friendly Contact (CAIFC)[4] is a United Front organization run by the Liaison Department of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission, active in intelligence collection. The department aims to dampen foreign army morale and break them up.[5]
The National Endowment for Democracy argued in its December 2017 report, Sharp Power: Rising Authoritarian Influence, that targets of CCP influence operations are often under the mistaken impression that media, academic, and friendship organizations operate independently from the CCP, but “[m]ost, if not all, of the Chinese entities that engage with their peers abroad unequivocally serve national party goals—either by following official or unofficial guidelines, or by avoiding taking positions that might violate [CCP] guidelines or jeopardize the regime’s goals.”
See also
References
- ↑ https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/Research/China's%20Overseas%20United%20Front%20Work%20-%20Background%20and%20Implications%20for%20US_final_0.pdf
- ↑ https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/07/27/silicon-valley-spies-china-russia-219071/
- ↑ According to the Department of Defense, perception management comprises “actions to convey and/or deny selected information and indicators to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives, and objective reasoning as well as to intelligence systems and leaders at all levels to influence official estimates, ultimately resulting in foreign behaviors and official actions favorable to the originator’s objectives.... Perception management combines truth projection, operations security, cover and deception, and psychological operations.” U.S. Department of Defense, Joint Publication 1-02: Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, April 12, 2001 (as amended through October 31, 2009), 411. http://jitc.fhu.disa.mil/jitc_dri/pdfs/jp1_02.pdf
- ↑ http://www.caifc.org.cn/
- ↑ CAIFC was established in 1984 by Deng Xiaoping, and his daughter Rong has been a vice-president of the organization since 1990. CAIFC is subordinate to what was formerly known as the GPD/LD intelligence bureau. A report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission described the CAIFC “…a front organization for the former General Political Department, performs dual roles of intelligence collection and conducting propaganda and perception management campaigns…”. It has been described as “…a major platform for the People’s Liberation Army General Political Department Liaison Department (GPD/LD) now subsumbed into the Central Military Commission Political Work Department.
External links
- China’s Overseas United Front Work Background and Implications for the United States, U.S.-China Economic Review Commission Staff Research Report, Alexander Bowe, August 24, 2018.