UFWD: China has a ‘magic weapon’ that won Mao power in 1949. Xi has reactivated for his spy war

United Front Work Department (UFWD), described as “magic weapon” of People’s Republic of China by its founding leader Mao Zedong and its current president Xi Jinping, is once again at the centre of controversy.

According to a BBC report, The United Front has seen a renaissance of sorts in the last decade under Xi.

Following the end of the war in 1949 and the Communist Party’s rise to power, United Front activities were sidelined in favour of other priorities.

However, the “magic weapon” is back in the spotlight as Yang Tengbo, a 50-year-old Chinese businessman and alleged spy with links to Prince Andrew, was banned from the UK due to his ties to the UFWD.

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The UK authorities claim Yang built an “unusual degree of trust” with Prince Andrew and cultivated relationships with politicians to be “leveraged” by China.

The allegations against Yang surfaced last week when a Special Immigration Appeals Tribunal upheld a Home Office order barring him from the UK on national security grounds, following a lengthy legal battle.

The existence of UFWD, which is raising as much alarm in the West as Beijing’s growing military arsenal, is far from a secret.

A long-established and well-documented arm of the Chinese Communist Party, the UFWD has been embroiled in controversy in the past. Investigators from the US to Australia have linked the UFWD to numerous espionage cases, frequently accusing Beijing of using it for foreign interference.

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Beijing has denied all espionage claims, dismissing them as ludicrous, added the report.

What is the UFWD and what does it do?

The United Front, originally referring to a broad communist alliance, was once hailed by Mao Zedong as crucial to the Communist Party’s victory in the decades-long Chinese Civil War.

After the war ended in 1949 and the party took control of China, United Front activities were sidelined in favor of other priorities.

The version of United Front under Xi largely aligns with earlier incarnations: to “build the broadest possible coalition with all social forces that are relevant,” BBC quoted Mareike Ohlberg, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, as saying.

On the face of it, the UFWD is not shadowy — it even has a website and publishes reports on many of its activities. Yet, the full scope and reach of its work remain unclear.

While much of its focus is domestic, “A key target that has been defined for United Front work is overseas Chinese,” Ohlberg was quoted as saying.

Today, the UFWD works to influence discussions on sensitive issues, such as Taiwan — which China claims as its own — and the repression of ethnic minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang. It also seeks to shape how China is portrayed in foreign media, target Chinese government critics abroad, and co-opt influential overseas Chinese figures, reported BBC.

“United Front work can include espionage but (it) is broader than espionage,” Audrye Wong, assistant professor of politics at the University of Southern California, told BBC.

“Beyond the act of acquiring covert information from a foreign government, United Front activities centre on the broader mobilisation of overseas Chinese,” she said, adding that China is “unique in the scale and scope” of such influence activities.

China has long sought global influence, but its rise in recent decades has enabled Beijing to assert it more effectively.

Since Xi became president in 2012, he has actively shaped China’s global narrative, promoting a confrontational “wolf warrior” diplomacy and urging the diaspora to “tell China’s story well.”

According to the BBC report, the UFWD operates through overseas Chinese organisations, which staunchly defend the Communist Party abroad. These groups have censored anti-CCP artwork, protested the Dalai Lama, and been linked to threats against persecuted minorities like Tibetans and Uyghurs.

However, much of the UFWD’s work overlaps with other party agencies, often under a veil of “plausible deniability”, added the report.

It is this murkiness that is causing so much suspicion and apprehension about the UFWD.

When Yang appealed his ban, judges upheld the decision, agreeing with the secretary of state’s report that he posed a national security risk, partly due to his efforts to downplay his ties with the UFWD, reported BBC.

Yang, however, denies any wrongdoing, calling the espionage claims “entirely untrue.”

Cases like Yang’s are increasingly common. In 2022, British Chinese lawyer Christine Lee was accused by MI5 of using the UFWD to build relationships with influential figures in the UK. The following year, US citizen Liang Litang was indicted for providing information about Chinese dissidents to the UFWD.

In September, Linda Sun, a former aide in the New York governor’s office, was charged with using her position to benefit Chinese government interests, allegedly meeting a top UFWD official in 2017 who urged her to “be an ambassador of Sino-American friendship.”

It is not unusual for prominent Chinese figures to have connections with the party, especially in business, where approval is often essential.

But where is the line between peddling influence and espionage?

“The boundary between influence and espionage is blurry when it comes to Beijing’s operations,” BBC quoted Ho-fung Hung, a politics professor at Johns Hopkins University, as saying.

According to the report, the ambiguity has deepened since China passed a 2017 law requiring nationals and companies to cooperate with intelligence investigations, including sharing information with the government.

Hung argued that this law “effectively turns everyone into potential spies”.

The Ministry of State Security has released dramatic propaganda, warning that foreign spies are ubiquitous, “cunning and sneaky.”

Some students sent abroad on special trips were instructed by their universities to limit contact with foreigners and report their activities upon return, added the report.

Meanwhile, Xi is eager to promote China globally, entrusting a trusted arm of the party to project strength abroad.

This poses a growing challenge for Western powers: how to balance business with the world’s second-largest economy while addressing significant security concerns.

Wrestling with China’s overseas influence

Concerns about China’s overseas influence are fueling more hawkish sentiments in the West, placing governments in a difficult position.

Countries like Australia have responded with new foreign interference laws, criminalising those suspected of meddling in domestic affairs. In 2020, the US imposed visa restrictions on individuals involved in UFWD activities.

Beijing, irritated by these moves, has warned that such laws — and the prosecutions they provoke—are damaging bilateral relations, reported BBC.

“The so-called allegations of Chinese espionage are utterly absurd,” BBC quoted a foreign ministry spokesperson as telling reporters on Tuesday in response to a question about Yang.

“The development of China-UK relations serves the common interests of both countries,” added the spokesperson.

Some experts say that the long arm of China’s United Front is indeed concerning.

“Western governments now need to be less naive about China’s United Front work and take it as a serious threat not only to national security but also to the safety and freedom of many ethnic Chinese citizens,” Hung was quoted as saying.

But, he added, “governments also need to be vigilant against anti-Chinese racism and work hard to build trust and co-operation with ethnic Chinese communities in countering the threat together.”

Last December, Di Sanh Duong, a Vietnam-born ethnic Chinese community leader in Australia, was convicted of planning foreign interference for trying to cosy up to an Australian minister.

Prosecutors argued he was an “ideal target” for the UFWD due to his past political run in the 1990s and connections with Chinese officials.

The trial focused on his statement that the minister’s inclusion at a charity event would benefit “us Chinese” — raising the question of whether he meant the Chinese community in Australia or mainland China.

Duong’s conviction and subsequent prison sentence raised alarms that broad anti-espionage laws and prosecutions could easily be used to target ethnic Chinese individuals.

“It’s important to remember that not everyone who is ethnically Chinese is a supporter of the Chinese Communist Party. And not everyone who is involved in these diaspora organisations is driven by fervent loyalty to China,” BBC quoted Wong as saying.

“Overly aggressive policies based on racial profiling will only legitimise the Chinese government’s propaganda that ethnic Chinese are not welcome and end up pushing diaspora communities further into Beijing’s arms,” he added.

With inputs from agencies