Audrye Wong and Francis de Beixedon
The united front operates abroad as a political machine, helping to get people elected by fielding candidates, mobilizing votes, and building power bases.
Asian-Americans are growing in numbers yet remain key swing voters. Beijing’s role in shaping the political leanings of this demographic could have an enduring impact on who the United States’s leaders are.
In New York City, individuals and networks connected to the Party’s united front system have helped elect at least three local politicians in the last three years.
John Chan, a power broker whose networks span U.S. and Chinese officials, supported a 2022 proposal that would have created New York City’s first majority-Asian district, opposing established Asian-American community groups in the process. This likely would have given united front-linked groups a more dependable way to select and back elected representatives.
In April, the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) newly-appointed Deputy Consul General in New York met with overseas Chinese community leaders from across the city (World Journal, April 28). The meeting was hosted by BRACE (Asian-American Community Empowerment; 美国亚裔社团联合总会), a grassroots organization founded by John Chan, a prominent power broker with extensive connections to the PRC government (Washington Post, September 3, 2024; The New York Times [NYT], December 9, 2024). The Deputy Consul General praised BRACE for providing community services and safeguarding the rights and interests of overseas Chinese, while Chan thanked the consulate for its continuing support.
Just one month earlier, Chan’s close connections were on display once more—this time with New York politicians. Chan successfully persuaded two representatives to petition the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou to revisit a previously rejected visa application, in order to facilitate a crucial medical procedure for a local resident he met through BRACE (Huaren Toutiao, April 23). Chan’s position as a power broker, with his close ties with U.S. and PRC officials, as well as to a network of local community organizations, is illustrative of a key strategy underpinning Beijing’s influence efforts: cultivating individuals with links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at the core of ethnic Chinese communities with a view to building up a political influence machine over the long term.
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