At the centre of the web is the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification. It creates a statement or a political line, and ‘peaceful reunification’ bodies all over the world act as repeaters, all presenting themselves as grass-roots organisations.

They’re nothing of the sort. This is a propaganda and manipulation network of the United Front Work Department, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party whose unrelenting role is to advance the party’s influence.

In a 12 June Strategist article, American researcher Shannon Van Sant told us of China’s rising influence in Africa, including the activities of so-called councils for peaceful reunification. In fact, they’re almost everywhere, with more than 200 branches globally.

‘Reunification’ in the name means achieving control of Taiwan by Beijing; ‘peaceful’ just makes it sound nicer. The central council in Beijing was established in 1988, and the targets of the whole apparatus are Chinese people living abroad. The idea is to keep them politically in line.

Last month, we saw ‘peaceful reunification’ bodies in Niger, Cameroon, Tanzania, Chad and Angola issuing boilerplate statements against a 20 May speech by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te. Meanwhile, similar groups in Congo, Guinea and Mozambique criticised the visit to Eswatini by the Taiwanese president, and the group in Namibia lambasted a visit to Taiwan by the Paraguayan president.

All of these bodies are run by local people of Chinese ethnicity, not necessarily from China. The statements are issued only in Chinese, and all reflect CCP messaging from the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification.

These purportedly local statements are then repeated globally in Chinese-language media outlets, which themselves are usually controlled or at least heavily influenced by the United Front Work Department.

Wherever one looks – the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Ireland, Spain, Japan, Greece or New Zealand – such ‘peaceful reunification’ bodies operate openly. An anti-Lai screed issued by Beijing in April was ‘signed’ by 58 such ‘peaceful reunification’ organisations around the world.

Similar bodies in Australia likewise serve as conduits for CCP messaging. On 14 May, Arthur Wu, chairman of the Victorian Association for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China, issued a statement criticising Lai for ‘seeking independence and opposing unification.’ The statement also opposed US arms sales to Taiwan. On 15 May, the Australian Alliance for Peaceful Chinese Reunification, headed by Qian Qiguo, issued a statement in Sydney on ‘firmly upholding the one-China principle’ (which is not Australian policy), condemning ‘Taiwan independence separatist activities’ and ‘collusion with external forces’. It also urged ethnic Chinese in Australia to unite in pursuing ‘the realisation of the complete reunification of the motherland and the China Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation!’

On 25 May, the first symposium of the new Youth Committee of the Oceanic Alliance for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China was held in Sydney. Members of its committee opposed Lai’s 20 May speech and his ‘concocted two-state theory’. Tian Fei, the Alliance’s deputy head, added that ‘national reunification is a historical inevitability for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.’

Often laughed off as insignificant, these organisations and their propaganda are effective.

The first such body in Australia was the Australian Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China (ACPPRC), established by United Front figure William Chiu in 2000. This was later headed by Huang Xiangmo, who by 2019 had had his Australian permanent residency stripped due to reported concerns by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation over his links to the CCP.  Sub-branches were established in various states and across the Pacific.

The federal government in 2023 declared the ACPPRC to be an entity related to a foreign government, specifically China, under the Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme, though it still exists and last month commemorated the 11th anniversary of Chiu’s death.

Since its listing in 2023, the ACPPRC has been overtaken by the Australian Alliance for Peaceful Chinese Reunification, the activities of which are now promoted in the People’s Daily, as are those of the Oceanic Alliance. The government hasn’t yet listed the Australian Alliance as an entity related to a foreign government.

These bodies are clearly testing the Australian government to see how far such comments in support of a foreign state can be made without drawing a government response.

Beijing is succeeding in crafting a global narrative of its views and place in the world through propaganda and is hoping that democracies will offer no resistance. Resistance, though, is not futile.