Protecting Guardians: 1247 Chinese societies or organizations become contact points for China’s united front

Canada's "CTV Television Network" reported on the 6th that the Spanish-based international human rights organization "Safeguard Defenders" warned in its latest investigation report that China is expanding illegal police stations and surveillance networks overseas through overseas Chinese associations and community organizations. The report stated that China did not stop after the overseas secret police stations were exposed in 2022, but instead concealed and expanded the system. There are 1,247 community strongholds around the world recognized as the overseas contact points of China’s United Front Work Department.

The report, “A Formula for Repression – China’s Global Grid for Community Control,” points out that China has significantly expanded its network of illegal overseas police stations and “extended its reach” through a series of new community associations. There are 1,247 overseas Chinese associations in 91 countries around the world, which are suspected of acting as cover agencies for China's overseas secret police stations.

The latest figures represent a 12-fold increase from Conservation Defenders' four-year survey. In 2022, the organization discovered that 100 illegal Chinese police stations were operating in more than 50 countries, including Canada.

Laura Harth, director of China affairs at Protection Defenders and the lead author of the report, said: "This network is used to monitor overseas Chinese communities and monitor their every move, word and deed. In essence, they are monitored."

The report states that the Chinese Communist Party is "exporting its domestic surveillance and control systems to overseas Chinese communities around the world." Currently, more than 60 million Chinese citizens live overseas.

Michael Kovrig, senior adviser to the International Crisis Group, said the report revealed the "early stages" of the CCP's expansion of influence, aiming to influence the political choices of sovereign nations around the world.

Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat, was arbitrarily detained by the Chinese Communist Party in 2018. He said that the "shocking" mechanism of the Chinese Communist Party exposed by "Protection Defenders" may lead to "the gradual erosion of the rights of Canadian citizens to freely express their personal opinions and vote according to their wishes."

"Protection Defenders" stated that these overseas Chinese associations are run by overseas Chinese Communist Party workers and receive guidance from China's United Front Work Department. Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping once called the United Front Work Department a "magic weapon" for monitoring and controlling citizens wherever they are.

"Protection Defenders" successfully identified 1,247 community strongholds, which have been recognized on the websites or publications of Chinese police and prosecutorial agencies as overseas "liaison points" with the United Front Work Department.

China has claimed that there are "tens of thousands" of organizations around the world linked to the United Front Work Department.

Harth said that rather than reining in the exposure of past illegal activities, China has become better at covering its tracks. She said: "They have learned their lesson. The Public Security Bureau may have been too high-profile before, even hanging their own signs on the walls and doors (of these overseas bases). But after 2022, they have become more cautious and no longer publicly name the specific associations they work with."