The all-powerful Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is trying to infiltrate educational and social institutions in the US in an attempt to silence dissenting voices. The party also wants to strengthen its soft power outside China, says a report published by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.
According to the report, CCP is forcing ethnic Uygur people living abroad to toe the party line and spy for China. It reportedly threatens to harm expats' family members back home.
At the same time, a number of other organisations guided by the United Front Work Department − a government body, tasked with spreading the influence of the ruling party within and outside the country − are targeting foreign states and people settled abroad.
The report, titled "China's Overseas United Front Work: Background and Implications for the United States", will form the basis for recommendations suggested by the commission to the Congress on legislative action related to China.
The report highlights the scrutiny that overseas Chinese are subjected to by CCP not only as sources of projecting country's soft power but also to spy on individual and groups based abroad believed to be indulging in anti-party activities.
The report says President Xi Jinping echoed this sentiment when he declared at CCP's National Congress last year that the party would maintain contact with Chinese nationals abroad, and those who have come back and their relatives. The party will unite these family members so they can further the party's endeavour to revitalise the nation.
The publication of the report comes at a time when China is under international scrutiny for the reported detention of up to 10 lakh Uygurs in re-education camps in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. The world's attention was drawn to the plight of the detainees when a UN panel grilled Chinese representatives on the issue during a hearing on racial discrimination.
The CCP along with the Chinese state media has played down such concerns but the Chinese intelligence services continue to target Uygurs living in the US, says the report.
They are threatened that if they don't cooperate and start spying for China, members of their families living in Xinjiang will be sent to re-education camps.
The report also mentions the role played by Chinese Students & Scholars Association (CSSA), campus organisations. These groups are composed of Chinese students studying in various educational institutions in the US.
Many CSSAs deny they are affiliated with the Chinese government but a group at the University of Tennessee lists the Chinese Embassy in the US as its source for funds.
Last year, the University of California CSSA, guided by the Chinese Consulate, protested when the university invited the Dalai Lama to speak at its commencement ceremony.
The US government is also getting wary of the way CCP is exerting its influence and the surveillance tactics it is using as detailed in the report.
US military budget for 2019 has a clause which says no funding will be granted to educational institutions which have Confucius Institute study programmes.
Confucius Institutes, which have the backing of CCP, offer language and culture courses to non-Chinese students. Critics say they offer a sterilised depiction of China far removed from the truth and glosses over issues like suppression of Tibetans and Uygurs.
