In 2023, the FBI arrested two Chinese-Americans, Lu Jianwang and Chen Jinping, for operating a Chinese police station in Manhattan. Chen pleaded guilty and faces up to five years in prison for acting as a Chinese agent, while Lu, who has connections to Chinese authorities, pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. He faces 20 years for obstruction of justice.
According to the Department of Justice (DoJ), the police station was established to monitor and intimidate Chinese dissidents in the U.S. What is concerning, however, is that this is not an isolated case of serious infiltration. Nor is such activity limited to the U.S. alone. Safeguard Defenders, a Madrid-based NGO, has identified 102 Chinese police stations in 53 countries.
The audacity of operating police stations in other countries highlights how far China is willing to go to silence critics as it seeks global dominance in economic, military, and cultural fields. This ability was not built overnight. Its foundation was laid by Mao Zedong himself with the creation of the United Front Work Department (United Front), one of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “three magic weapons,” alongside armed struggle and party building. The front reports directly to the CCP’s central committee.
According to Cheryl Yu, a China expert and fellow of the Jamestown Foundation, Mao described the United Front’s work as “unifying our real friends to attack our real enemies.” Deng Xiaoping expanded that to a more aggressive approach: “unifying those who can be unified, neutralizing those who can be neutralized, and dividing those in the enemy camp who can be divided.” Current CCP supreme leader Xi Jinping has used it for the “Great Rejuvenation” of China.
Yu’s detailed report states that the first mention of the United Front working abroad appears in a 1985 document. Another document lists five overseas tasks: increasing people’s love for the motherland and the party; promoting Chinese culture; encouraging Chinese abroad to support their country’s development; promoting unification with Taiwan; and creating a positive international environment for the CCP.
Over decades of “assiduously cultivating” overseas Chinese groups, the CCP has turned those seemingly harmless goals into a global network of influence—groups and individuals it can mobilize to promote its interests. Yu’s report states there are over 2,000 such groups in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Germany; the worldwide number could reach “tens of thousands.”
Hellbound and Down 