Influencing politicians in the West is an important part of the Chinese regime’s overseas activities—the main purpose being that these politicians back Beijing’s policies at critical times, said Li Fengzhi, a former intelligence officer of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Ministry of State Security.
He said this was particularly so with ethnic Chinese politicians in the West, and warned that these politicians need to be careful to draw a clear line between the CCP and China.
“They must hold on to their conscience and obey the laws in their countries,” said Li, who defected from the regime in 2004 and now lives in the U.S.
China experts and fellow politicians have questioned whether the Chinese regime’s support for John Liu in the New York City comptroller race is evidence for the regime’s influence over the candidate. John Liu’s candidacy has been promoted by China’s state-run media, by organizations with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party, and on Chinese regime Web sites.
The Fukien American Association, raised at least $70,000 for Liu’s campaign, according to the World Journal. The Fukien American Association is one of the leading CCP-supported organizations, according to Ko-lin Chin, a leading expert on Chinese gangs.
The state-run China News Service (CNS) has run 32 reports on John Liu during this campaign, with 20 of them related to his campaign for city comptroller. This tally does not include 30 other reports during the past year that were not related to the election but also referred to him. All of the reports about John Liu, whether they discussed his campaign or not, painted him in a positive light.
“The politicians who get high publicity on the CCP’s official media are often those who are close to the CCP privately or are ones whom the CCP nurtures,” said Li. “The CCP doesn’t promote or defame someone for no reason. This is an easy way to tell who the CCP’s friends are.”
Li said the CCP often offers a lot of money and publicity to certain politicians and, at the same time, gets emotionally involved with them. The same is true by seeing who the CCP awards or honors, or campaigns for, he said. “This person is probably very close to the CCP.”
John Liu visited China in 2007, as arranged by Lü Chengrui, the chairman of the Shandong Association of New York. Lü is also the chairman of the recently-formed United Federation of Chinese Associations. The highlight of the visit was John Liu receiving the “World Is Beautiful Because of You: Award for Chinese Influencing the World,” an award sponsored by media entities with close ties to the Chinese regime.
On Feb. 22, 2009, the United Federation of of Chinese Associations held a fundraising party for John Liu in Flushing, Queens. This fund raising event was announced on chinaqw.com, which is the Web site for “China Voice,” a Web only newspaper. According to its Web site, it is “the only propaganda agency targeting overseas Chinese that publishes solely on the Web.”
Using the Community
The CCP uses members of overseas Chinese communities, and Chinese student and scholar associations to work for the regime—in the name of serving the Chinese nation, said Li.
The CCP also finds Western organizations and pro-CCP media to be its mouthpieces. These domestic organizations and media will have a more direct influence on their politicians as the members of such organizations are often local citizens.
All of these efforts fall under the United Front Work Department, an entity that sits below the Communist Party’s Central Committee.
