United Front (China)

The CCP organized the "National Revolution United Front" (Chinese: 國民革命統一戰線) with the Kuomintang during the Northern Expedition of 1926–1928 and then the "Workers' and Peasants' Democratic United Front" (Chinese: 工農民主統一戰線) in the Chinese Soviet Republic era of 1931–1937. Mao Zedong originally promoted the "Anti-Japanese National United Front" (Chinese: 抗日民族統一戰線), with the name indicating that the proletarian Chinese Communists had united with the bourgeoisie against Imperial Japan[12] in the 1930s. It "assumed its current form" in 1946,[13] three years before the Chinese Communist Party defeated the authoritarian governing party Kuomintang's Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek. Mao credited the United Front as one of his "Three Magic Weapons" against the Kuomintang—alongside the Leninist Chinese Communist Party and the Red Army—and credited the Front with playing a part in his victory.[13][14]

The United Front is a strategy that the CCP has used to influence beyond its immediate circles while downplaying direct associations with the CCP.[15] In theory, the United Front existed to give front organizations and non-Communist forces a platform in society.[16] However, scholars describe the contemporary United Front as a network of organizations that engage in various types of political warfare for the CCP.[17] According to a 2018 report by the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, "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."[18] Scholar Jeffrey Stoff also argues that the CPP's "influence apparatus intersects with or directly supports its global technology transfer apparatus."[19]

Leaders of formal United Front organizations are mostly selected by the CCP, or are themselves CCP members.[20] This process is institutionalized in the CPPCC.[21] In practice, United Front member parties and allied organizations are subservient to the CCP, and must accept the CCP's "leading role" as a condition of their continued existence. Historically, the CCP co-opted and re-purposed non-Communist organizations to become part of the United Front through tactics of entryism.[22]

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.[23]

The United Front parties have nominal representation in the National People's Congress.

According to the Taiwanese Mainland Affairs Council the United Front uses internet celebrities to carry out infiltration campaigns on social media.[25]

In 2019, the United Front's budget was estimated at $2.6 billion which was larger than the Chinese Foreign Ministry's budget.[26]

The Chinese United Front also includes the following organisations:

• All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce
• People's organizations

The two organs traditionally 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".[13] Scholar Jichang Lulu noted that United Front organizations abroad "re-purpose democratic governance structures to serve as tools of extraterritorial influence."[27]

• People's organization
• Corporatism
• Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries
• China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification
• China Association for International Friendly Contact
• Chinese Association for International Understanding

• James D. Seymour (1987), China's Satellite Parties, Routledge, ISBN 978-0873324120

• Official website of the United Front Work Department, Central Committee of CPC