United Front Work Department


The United Front Work Department is an organ of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party responsible for conducting "united front work." It gathers intelligence on, manages relations with, and attempts to gain influence over elite individuals and organizations inside and outside mainland China, including in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and in other countries.
The UFWD focuses its work on people or entities that are outside the CCP, especially in the overseas Chinese diaspora, who hold political, commercial, religious, or academic influence, or who represent interest groups. Through its efforts, the UFWD seeks to ensure that these individuals and groups are supportive of or useful to CCP interests and that potential critics remain divided.

History

The United Front Work Department was created during the Chinese Civil War, and was reestablished in 1979 under paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. Since 2012, the role and scope of the UFWD has expanded and intensified under CCP general secretary Xi Jinping.

Civil war and gaining power

United front policies were most used in two periods before the Chinese Communist Revolution, namely from 1924 to 1927, and from 1936 to 1945, when the CCP cooperated with the Nationalist Party ostensibly to defeat the Japanese. The simplest formulation of united front work in the period was to "rally as many allies as possible in order to...defeat a common enemy." According to Mareike Ohlberg, its stated goal was to "build the broadest possible coalition with all social forces that are relevant".
In the early years, the CCP also used united front policies to cooperate with "disaffected warlords, religious believers, ethnic minorities, overseas Chinese, and minor parties and groups," in order for the CCP to appear democratic and to persuade key groups that the Nationalists were "illegitimate and repressive while the CCP embodied progress, unity, and democracy."
Li Weihan was director of the UFWD from 1944 to 1964. Regarding religious policy, Li's view was that there were few counterrevolutionaries among religious believers, and that the majority were "patriotic". He believed that the CCP should be patient with most religious believers and work to increase their political consciousness. Li contended that the CCP should avoid harsh stances on religion, deeming harsh measures as counterproductive and damaging to the Party's credibility.
After seizing power, the CCP continued to deploy united front strategies to train intellectuals, "and, using thought reform based on criticism, began the transformation of the old society intellectuals." This involved violent elimination of what were termed "bourgeois and idealistic political beliefs," to instill faith in "class struggle and revolutionary change."

Cultural Revolution

During the Cultural Revolution, the UFWD was accused of being "capitulationist" and forced to shut down.

Reform and opening up

In 1977, Ulanhu became head of the UFWD. In this role, he contributed to the political rehabilitation of those related to pre-Cultural Revolution policies of the UFWD, such as Li Weihan.
In the late 1970s the policy was used for the common cause of economic reform. From there the CCP expanded the scope of its work internationally during the reform era, and again following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. The department includes a bureau tasked with handling Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and overseas affairs, and articulates the importance of using overseas Chinese populations to promote unification.
In 1980, the CCP Central Committee approved a request by the UFWD to create a national conference for religious groups. The participating religious groups were the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the Islamic Association of China, the Chinese Taoist Association, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, and the Buddhist Association of China.
It played an important role in building support for "One country, two systems" in Hong Kong during the 1980s and 1990s, operating under the name of the "Coordination Department." The UFWD has been critically described as serving to co-opt non-Communist community leaders outside China, and "using them to neutralize Party critics," sometimes coercively.
Scholar of Chinese political history John P. Burns presents in his book The Chinese Communist Party's Nomenklatura System excerpts from internal party documents demonstrating the role of the UFWD. The UFWD is to "implement better the party's united front policy and to assess and understand patriotic personages in different fields... so that we can arrange for correct placements for them and fully mobilize and bring into play their positive role in the Four Modernizations and to accomplish the return of Taiwan to the motherland so as to fulfill the cause of uniting the whole country, and to carry forward and solidify the revolutionary, patriotic united front."
The UFWD was used in the early years of PRC rule "to guarantee CCP oversight" over groups that were not directly associated with the Party and government. Those groups, including NGOs, were brought under the authority of the UFWD, whose job it was to “continuing to play its part in mobilizing and rallying the whole people in common struggle” after the Liberation in 1949. When the CCP "shifted its focus from the 'mass line' to 'class struggle', the real united front disappeared. While the United Front Department still existed, its duties of uniting with all forces for the 'common struggle' shifted mainly to serving the Party's leadership and 'consolidating the proletarian dictatorship'," according to Brookings Institution visiting fellow Zhang Ye. According to Roger Faligot, the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre led to the "growing use of party organizations, such as the United Front Work Department and friendship associations, as fronts for intelligence operations." Based on their actions in Taiwan and elsewhere the United Front Work Department appears to be used as a cover to conduct intelligence operations against targets of interest to the CCP.

Xi administration

In 2018, the United Front Work Department went through a reorganization as part of the deepening the reform of the Party and state institutions in which it absorbed the State Administration for Religious Affairs and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office to become two internal bureaus. As part of the "one institution with two names" system, the UFWD retains OCAO and SARA as external nameplates. The UFWD also assumed direct control of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission. With the reorganization, the UFWD effectively became China's main agency overseeing and managing ethnic, religious and overseas Chinese affairs. The State Religious Affairs Commission and the State Council Overseas Chinese Office were also merged within the United Front Work Department.

Structure

The UFWD is reported to have over 40,000 personnel and does not disclose its budget. However, it was estimated to have a budget of at least US$2.6 billion in 2019. It oversees and directs eight minor and subordinate parties and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. Huaqiao University and Jinan University are directly managed by the UFWD.

Internal organization

Between 2015 and 2018, the UFWD grew to 12 bureaus:
  • General Office : Oversees the functioning of the department, including its finances, security, assets, and work with other government and Party bodies.
  • Policy and Theory Research Office : Handles ideological and policy research, internal propaganda, and the drafting of important documents. Works with other government agencies to develop propaganda efforts abroad.
  • First Bureau—Party Work Bureau : Governs affairs related to the eight minor political parties legally allowed to operate in China.
  • Second Bureau—Minority and Religious Work Bureau : Researches and recommends policy on minorities in the country, and liaises with other government agencies in their related work. Also supervises religious work.
  • Third Bureau—Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan United Front Work Bureau : Coordinates and communicates with friendly figures in Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
  • Fourth Bureau—Non-public Economic Work Bureau : Coordinates with figures from the private sector.
  • Fifth Bureau—Independent and Non-Party Intellectuals Work Bureau : Liaises with non-Party intellectuals.
  • Sixth Bureau—New Social Class Representatives Work Bureau : Focuses on the "new social class", i.e., the rising Chinese middle class.
  • Seventh Bureau : Responsible for ethnic minority and religious work, particularly as it relates to Tibet.
  • Eighth Bureau : Responsible for ethnic minority and religious work, particularly as it relates to Xinjiang.
  • Ninth Bureau—Overseas Chinese Affairs General Bureau : Coordinates and communicates with friendly figures in overseas Chinese affairs. It runs the China Overseas Friendship Association, which merged with the China Overseas Exchange Association in 2019.
  • Tenth Bureau—Overseas Chinese Affairs Bureau : Coordinates and communicates with friendly figures in overseas Chinese affairs.
  • Eleventh Bureau—Religious Work General Bureau : Researches and recommends policy on religious affairs in the country, and liaises with other government agencies in their related work.
  • Twelfth Bureau—Religious Work Bureau : Researches and recommends policy on religious affairs in the country, and liaises with other government agencies in their related work.
  • Department Party Committee
  • Retired Cadre Office : responsible for the welfare of retired employees of the department.

    Directly-affiliated institutions

The UFWD manages the following directly affiliated institutions: