The United Front is a political strategy of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

(CCP) involving networks of groups and key individuals that are influenced or controlled by the CCP and used to advance its interests. It has historically been a

popular front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...

that has included eight legally-permitted political parties which have nominal representation in the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2, ...

and the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

(CPPCC). Under

CCP General Secretary The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the Party leader, head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secr ...

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...

, the United Front and its targets of

influence Influence or influencer may refer to: *Social influence, in social psychology, influence in interpersonal relationships ** Minority influence, when the minority affect the behavior or beliefs of the majority *Influencer marketing, through individ ...

have expanded in size and scope. United Front organizations are managed primarily by the

United Front Work Department The United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (UFWD; ) is a department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) which is officially tasked with "united front work". For this endeavo ...

(UFWD), but the United Front strategy is not limited solely to the UFWD. Outside of China, the strategy involves numerous

front organization A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gro ...

s, which tend to obfuscate or downplay any association with the CCP.

History

The CCP organized the "National Revolution United Front" () with the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

during the

Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...

of 1926–1928 and then the "Workers' and Peasants' Democratic United Front" () in the

Chinese Soviet Republic The Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) was an East Asian proto-state in China, proclaimed on 7 November 1931 by Chinese communist leaders Mao Zedong and Zhu De in the early stages of the Chinese Civil War. The discontiguous territories of the ...

era of 1931–1937.

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

originally promoted the "Anti-Japanese National United Front" (), with the name indicating that the

proletarian The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philoso ...

Chinese Communists had united with the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

against Imperial Japan in the 1930s. The United Front "assumed its current form" in 1946, three years before the CCP

defeated Defeated may refer to: * "Defeated" (Breaking Benjamin song) * "Defeated" (Anastacia song) *"Defeated", a song by Snoop Dogg from the album ''Bible of Love'' *Defeated, Tennessee, an unincorporated community *''The Defeated ''The Defeated'', al ...

the authoritarian governing party Kuomintang's Nationalist government of

Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...

. Mao credited the United Front as one of his "Three Magic Weapons" against the Kuomintang—alongside the

Leninist Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary vanguard party as the political prelude to the establishme ...

Chinese Communist Party and the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

—and credited the Front with playing a part in the

Chinese Communist Revolution The Chinese Communist Revolution, officially known as the Chinese People's War of Liberation in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and also known as the National Protection War against the Communist Rebellion in the Republic of China (ROC ...

.Compare:

Organs

The two organs historically affiliated with United Front are the United Front Work Department and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). According to Yi-Zheng Lian, the organs "are often poorly understood outside China because there are no equivalents for them in the West". Inside China, leaders of formal United Front organizations are selected by the CCP, or are themselves CCP members. In practice, United Front member parties and allied people's organizations are subservient to the CCP, and must accept the CCP's "

leading role A leading actor, leading actress, or simply lead (), plays the role of the protagonist of a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person who typic ...

" as a condition of their continued existence.

United Front Work Department

The United Front Work Department is headed by the chief of the

secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who is the ninth winner of the Ame ...

of the CCP's

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

. It oversees front organizations and their affiliates in multiple countries such as the

Chinese Students and Scholars Association The Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) () is the official organization for overseas Chinese students and scholars registered in most colleges, universities, and institutions outside of the People's Republic of China. The associati ...

, which helps Chinese students and academics studying or residing in the West, enjoining them to conduct "people-to-people diplomacy" on behalf of the People's Republic of China.

Activities

The United Front is a political strategy that the CCP has used to influence beyond its immediate circles while downplaying direct associations with the CCP. In theory, the United Front existed to give front organizations and non-Communist forces a platform in society. Historically, the CCP co-opted and re-purposed non-Communist organizations to become part of the United Front through tactics of

entryism Entryism (also called entrism, enterism, or infiltration) is a political strategy in which an organisation or state encourages its members or supporters to join another, usually larger, organization in an attempt to expand influence and expand the ...

. However, scholars describe the contemporary United Front as a complex network of organizations that engage in various types of surveillance and

political warfare Political warfare is the use of political means to compel an opponent to do one's will, based on hostile intent. The term political describes the calculated interaction between a government and a target audience, including another state's govern ...

for the CCP. Scholar Jichang Lulu noted that United Front organizations abroad "re-purpose democratic governance structures to serve as tools of extraterritorial influence." Additionally, many

non-governmental organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

in China or connected to China have been described as

government-organized non-governmental organization A government-organized non-governmental organization (GONGO) is a non-governmental organization that was set up or sponsored by a government in order to further its political interests and mimic the civic groups and civil society at home, or promote ...

(GONGOs) that are organized under the CCP's United Front system. According to a 2018 report by the

United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission The United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission (informally, the US-China Commission, USCC) is an independent agency of the United States government. It was established on October 30, 2000, through the Floyd D. Spence National Defe ...

, "United Front work serves to promote Beijing’s preferred global narrative, pressure individuals living in free and open societies to self-censor and avoid discussing issues unfavorable to the CCP, and harass or undermine groups critical of Beijing’s policies." According to ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'', nearly all Chinese embassies include staff that are formally tasked with United Front work. Scholar Jeffrey Stoff also argues that the CPP's "influence apparatus intersects with or directly supports its global

technology transfer Technology transfer (TT), also called transfer of technology (TOT), is the process of transferring (disseminating) technology from the person or organization that owns or holds it to another person or organization, in an attempt to transform invent ...

apparatus." In 2019, the United Front's aggregate budget across multiple institutions was estimated at over $2.6 billion which was larger than the Chinese Foreign Ministry's budget. According to the Taiwanese

Mainland Affairs Council The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) is a cabinet-level administrative agency under the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China in Taiwan. The MAC is responsible for the planning, development, and implementation of the cross-strait relations po ...

, the United Front uses

internet celebrities An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...

to carry out infiltration campaigns on

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

. Starting in January 2020, United Front-linked organizations in Canada and other countries were activated to purchase, stockpile, and export

personal protective equipment Personal protective equipment (PPE) is protective clothing, helmets, goggles, or other garments or equipment designed to protect the wearer's body from injury or infection. The hazards addressed by protective equipment include physical, elec ...

in response to the

COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China The COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). China was the first country to experience an outbreak o ...

. In September 2020, the CCP announced that it would strengthen United Front work in the private sector by establishing more party committees in regional federations of industry and commerce (FIC), and by arranging a special liaison between FICs and the CCP.

Relationship with intelligence agencies

In 1939,

Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai (; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman and military officer who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, premier of the People's Republic of China from 1 October 1949 until his death on 8 J ...

espoused "nestling intelligence within the united front" while also "using the united front to push forth intelligence." According to Australian analyst Alex Joske, "the united front system provides networks, cover and institutions that intelligence agencies use for their own purposes." Joske added that "united front networks are a golden opportunity for Party's spies because they represent groups of Party-aligned individuals who are relatively receptive to clandestine recruitment."

Notes

References

{{Authority control Organization of the Chinese Communist Party Political party alliances in China Popular fronts of communist states

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Technology transfer Chinese information operations and information warfare Espionage in China