Kilts and Qipaos in Britain: Nearly 400 China 'United Front' Groups Thrive

The goal of the Chinese Qipao Association in Scotland is to celebrate the slim-fitting dress that is the quintessence of Chinese elegance. At least on the surface.

The association is one of nearly 400 groups identified by a Newsweek investigation that are embedded in British society but are also part of Communist Party of China networks that aim to spread influence around the world and help China achieve global pre-eminence by 2049. That has put China at the top of the list of global security threats for U.S. political and intelligence leaders—even ahead of Russia.

The extent of the organizations that are linked—directly or indirectly—to the party's United Front system in America's closest intelligence ally is revealed for the first time just as Washington is pressing its friends to do more to counter growing CCP influence and what is known as transnational repression of Chinese abroad. The United States has made multiple arrests recently.

From London's touristy Chinatown to windswept Stirling in Scotland, from South Wales to Belfast in Northern Ireland, Newsweek's investigation found 384 groups in the U.K. that are part of United Front networks amplifying the CCP's political line and working to influence public opinion overseas, for example by calling for unification with Taiwan in line with Beijing's policy, supporting party congresses and policies, extolling Chinese leader Xi Jinping, staging pro-Beijing demonstrations, and building relationships with politicians and business people at every level of society.

Some of the groups openly say they adhere to the Chinese constitution, as well as British laws. Some monitor the overseas Chinese community, especially since about 150,000 Hong Kongers fled to Britain, Hong Kong's former ruler, escaping deepening repression by Beijing at home. And some people in the groups have engaged in documented assaults on critics of the Communist Party.

Like the qipao association, many Chinese organizations in Britain have been set up for overtly cultural reasons and there is no evidence that all members are aware of their links to the Communist Party's United Front Work Department—an opaque department directly under the party's powerful Central Committee. Nor is there evidence that British members of the groups are necessarily involved in illegal activities. But those who have studied the overseas networks say the apparent innocence belies their significance.

"There are many reasons the presence of the United Front system in the U.K. matters," said Martin Thorley, a senior analyst at the Global Initiative for Transnational Organized Crime headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, who has researched the situation for years.

"Its main purposes are to neutralize threats to the party and ensure desirable scenarios for the party. It poses a danger to critics of the party, for example, extending the reach of a one-party state inside the U.K.'s borders," Thorley said.

The front "has an outsized influence on U.K. elites, engineering outcomes that are good for the elite in questions, good for the party, but in some instances potentially harmful for the U.K. as a whole," Thorley said.

Newsweek reached out to each group and person named in this article for comment, by telephone, email, on social media or in person. None responded to questions about their ties to the Front. The Chinese embassy in London did not respond, either.

Britain's interior ministry, known as the Home Office, said in an emailed statement that it did not comment on the details of intelligence or security matters, but added: "It is, and always will be, an absolute priority to protect the U.K. against foreign interference, and we will continue to call out and respond to malign activity."

"We are strengthening our laws through the National Security Bill, to provide the security and intelligence agencies with the tools they need to keep the U.K. safe," it said.

Activity by the United Front in Britain was thrown into the spotlight last year when the domestic secret service, MI5, issued an "interference alert" against lawyer Christine Lee. She was accused of coordinating covertly with the department to facilitate Chinese donations to British politicians to influence their decisions and public positions—allegations denied by China.

Kilts and Qipaos

The groups identified by Newsweek often have overlapping leadership and may be part of bigger umbrella organizations.

For example, Li Jiajia, honorary president of the qipao (pronounced "chee pow") dress association, has senior positions in 14 other organizations, according to her biography on Facebook. A YouTube video shows Li and others posing in their dresses with business people and local and national politicians wearing kilts or military uniform—including a member of the House of Lords. Li did not respond to requests for comment.

Li was born in Beijing where she attended the prestigious No. 4 Middle School before graduating from Edinburgh University with a degree in software engineering, her biography says.

"Loving art and literature," she headed the culture department of Edinburgh University's Chinese Student and Scholar Association—one of 99 universities-based groups identified by Newsweek that are not directly connected to the CCP department but conduct broader "united front work" according to Alex Joske, an author who has researched the associations extensively.

The qipao association is part of the Confederation of Chinese Associations in Scotland where Li is a deputy chairperson, according to the groups' websites.

That confederation's chairman, Li Luoan, has been appointed adviser to a front organization in China: the Shenzhen Overseas Exchange Association, official records show. A man answering his telephone number said "hello" in Chinese but hung up when asked a question. Subsequent calls rang unanswered or went straight to voice mail.

"The United Front activity is not new, though of course the resources put into it and the intensity of its work may well have been increasing in recent years," Kerry Brown, director of the Lau China Institute at King's College London, said via email.

Often the groups were "preaching to the converted!" Brown said, describing activities such as "party visits, seminars, support for groups like business, students, overseas Chinese, who clearly have a clear obligation to listen to the Chinese government." He said the issue should not be overstated.

"China does not have a message that offers an existential threat to the outside world," Brown said. "Attributing some nebulous, mysterious powers to China to come and magically influence our thinking and ideas is flattering to China and undermines ourselves," he said.

From Professional Organizations to Political Ones

A breakdown of the groups identified by Newsweek gives 64 chambers of commerce; 52 "hometown associations" based on place of origin in China; 34 professional organizations including three that aim to participate in politics—one for each of Britain's three main political parties—a guild for medical doctors, and some that promote China's "Belt and Road" global infrastructure initiative. There are seven "peaceful reunification" societies, 19 media, and 109 other groups that focus on culture, education or other issues.

Nearly one-third—139—have registered with Companies House, Britain's official business registry. All the groups were identified by Newsweek via extensive Chinese-language research of publicly available government documents, state media accounts, and on-the-ground reporting.

In the party's words, the role of United Front is to "hold high the banner of patriotism, unite compatriots at home and abroad who love the Chinese nation, strengthen ties, enhance friendship, promote cooperation, and serve to unify the motherland and revitalize China," according to media and official statements.

While most of the groups are active in culture or business, there are also outright political ones such as the London-based Promotion of China Reunification Society in U.K., whose six regional British subsidiaries are part of a global network headquartered in China that seeks the unification of China and Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a breakaway province.

In a sign of the importance for the CCP of United Front activities, in early May, Chinese leader Xi Jinping personally greeted hundreds of members from around the world, including Britain, at a "Conference of Friendship of Overseas Chinese Associations" in Beijing's Great Hall of the People—a sign of the highest political honor.

They are "a vital force in building a community of human destiny," said Shi Taifeng, head of the United Front Work Department and a Politburo member, using a phrase that is Beijing's vision of a new international order.

Many of the groups describe activities that are benign, such as promoting Chinese business ties and helping Chinese citizens abroad. But veteran British diplomat Charles Parton said their activities go beyond that—including acting as a 'front radar' to gather information.

"They will pass on leads to the intelligence services or to those who can exploit them," said Parton, now a fellow at London's Council on Geostrategy.

At Least Six Police Proxies

Allegations that China is operating "police stations" abroad grabbed world headlines last year although China has said there is no such thing—and that the stations only help with renewing driving licenses and other mundane tasks.

British authorities have referred to four such proxy police operations in Britain. But Newsweek's research found an additional two previously unreported groups that connect to local departments of China's Ministry of Public Security and to the United Front.

A businessman, Lin Ruiyou, head of the U.K. Fujian Association, has operated one of the police proxies, according to U.K. media reports. Lin could not be reached for comment, but in a video distributed on YouTube late last year he denied it, saying, "I absolutely do not work for the UFWD in China, nor do I hold any position or public office in the Chinese government."

Yet, Newsweek has confirmed that a Lin Ruiyou is a delegate to a core, formal United Front organization—the Xiamen city branch of the China Overseas Friendship Association. There are about a dozen delegates from the U.K. in the Fujian-province-based association.

British police investigations have so far found no evidence of illegal activity by China in such operations, Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said.

"However, these 'police service stations' were established without our permission and their presence, regardless of whatever low-level administrative activity they were performing, will have worried and intimidated those who have left China and sought safety and freedom here in the U.K. This is unacceptable," he said in a recent statement to parliament.

In response to a freedom of information request by Newsweek, London's Metropolitan Police said its Counter Terrorism Command had been assessing whether further investigation was needed.

"We work closely with partners and communities to identify any repressive activity by foreign states in London and the UK, and disrupt this activity where possible," it said. No arrests have been announced.

Three Court Proxies

Newsweek also identified three United Front-linked guilds in the U.K. that work with the Chinese judiciary's People's Courts to bring cases to court in China, according to Chinese-language state media reports, photographs and official documents.

Zhang Yuxia, the head of multiple groups in the U.K. including the Chinese Dance and Culture Association, organized a first "British and Chinese Tea Culture Art Festival" in 2018 together with the U.K. parliament, according to media reports and photographs. Invitees included Chinese embassy officials, British politicians, a youth science and technology delegation from Shanghai, and a top United Front official from China's southern Yunnan province. Subsequently Zhang traveled to China to meet with the official to set up joint technology and cultural projects.

Zhang was quick to congratulate Chinese leader Xi on his third term last year with a call to "tell the China story well."

In April this year, Zhang was appointed as a U.K.-based "overseas mediator" assisting courts in southern Hainan province resolve cases involving people from China in the U.K., according to state media reports and a photograph of the appointment ceremony. The appointments are made by a committee comprising the Hainan High People's Court and the United Front, according to Chinese-language state media reports.

The United States has taken tougher action against members of front-linked groups in its midst. In April, the Department of Justice arrested two leaders of one in New York for running a police proxy and charged them with conspiracy to act as agents of the Chinese government and obstruction of justice.

Newsweek has previously identified more than 600 groups linked to the United Front in the United States.

"In the U.S., there is what I would call 'justified paranoia'," said Claudia Astarita, a lecturer in Chinese politics at Sciences Po in Paris who says the groups are engaging in "entryism," or infiltration by an outside political system.

Some groups in Britain are open about their party links back home.

One of those is another Hainan group, the U.K. Hainan Business Association, perched high up in 36-story, silver Stratosphere Tower in east London's vibrant district of Stratford. On the one hand the association says it does business, but co-founder Xiang Jingyi said by telephone to Newsweek that it also offers connections to "government people" in China without specifying further.

"We do it for passion," she said.

Some organizations highlight the high-level contacts they have built in Britain, often with photos of meetings with prominent British politicians, among them former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

Hong Kongers Bear the Brunt

Among those most concerned about United Front operations in Britain are the Hong Kongers who have fled from China's increasingly iron grip.

Hong Kongers say the groups monitor and intimidate democrats among Britain's approximately half a million ethnic Chinese diaspora.

Sometimes tensions flare into the open. This June, two Hong Kong students were beaten in Southampton by a group of Chinese students brandishing a Chinese flag. Last October, Chinese diplomats at the Manchester consulate were filmed beating a Hong Kong protester. And in 2021, pro-Hong Kong and pro-Beijing protesters fought in London's Chinatown.

There are suspicions of more subtle influence too.

At the end of May, Guildford Baptist Church, south of London in an area where many exiles have settled, cancelled a planned event about "Sheep Village"—a children's book written by a group of Hong Kong speech therapists about a village of sheep who pursue justice against hostile wolves.

Church leaders said they were "mindful of the wider impact" on a church community of "many nationalities". The organizers alleged pressure from China. Asked whether it had played a role, a church spokesperson initially promised comment but then stopped responding to requests.

Hong Kong exiles believe Beijing is going all out to keep an eye on them and curb their activities.

Many were suspicious of a newly founded Hong Kong People Association in leafy Ealing in west London that offered to help them find jobs, healthcare and education. Behind it was William Je, who has been a member of at least two United Front organizations, one in Chongqing in China and one in Hong Kong.

"They sounded pro-Hong Kong but it's obvious they were not," Nathan Law, a democracy activist from Hong Kong who lives in London, said in an interview. "The way they talked, the words, the terminology they used, they weren't part of the civil society."

In the U.S., the FBI was suspicious of Je, too—though the investigations were over financial fraud rather than political activity. In March, the Department of Justice charged Je in absentia, and his controversial business partner, the New York-based, China-born Guo Wengui, with financial fraud of more than one billion dollars. Guo is also politically controversial, having, for example, allegedly bribed a former deputy head of the Ministry of State Security in China, according to Chinese news reports.

"He vehemently denies all the allegations," Richard Merrin, CEO of Spreckley, Je's PR agency, said in an emailed statement to Newsweek, asked about the DOJ charges. The agency declined to say where Je was or to make him available for an interview. It did not respond to a query about Je's front involvement.

An office manager at the Hong Kong People Association's registered address in Ealing said Je had not been there in recent weeks. He has another registered address two buildings along the busy Uxbridge Road, where the manager said Je was highly security conscious. Newsweek could not establish when Je had last been there.

The Hong Kong People Association did not respond to requests for comment.

"Though the groups may chart their own course, there is always the risk of the Party taking control, because there is no effective defense against it," said Thorley, the researcher, adding, "the party lets the leash slacken, but it always has a hold."

Pressure for Action

While the U.K. will soon publish an updated National Security Bill in a bid to manage unwanted foreign political influence and interference—not just from China but also Russia and elsewhere—a part of the bill that would oblige foreign political actors and groups to register has been delayed over civil society concerns it could be too sweeping. Known as the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, it would broadly mirror an act in the U.S., the Foreign Agents Registration Act, that was established in 1938 to expose Nazi propaganda.

Overall, "It is in the public interest for there to be more public information about the activities of authoritarian powers on U.K. soil," said Sam Dunning, the head of UK-China Transparency, a civil society group.

For exiled Hong Konger Law, the British government needs to do more to protect Hong Kongers from the Communist Party's overseas reach.

"The way the United Front works, it is very difficult to track it. They don't say, 'we are state media or state actors,' they say, 'we are voluntary Chinese people just doing what we want,' but behind it they are working for the government," he said.

Cheryl Yu, a senior researcher at the Common Sense Society, contributed to this report. Additional reporting by John Feng.