China Running Secret Influence Network in Germany, Report Reveals

On 5 Octo­ber 2024, Ger­man media report­ed that leaked doc­u­ments expose a covert Chi­nese Com­mu­nist Par­ty net­work oper­at­ing in Ger­many through its “Unit­ed Front” orga­ni­za­tion to pro­mote Bei­jing’s inter­ests. The arti­cle begins:

Bei­jing wants to turn the world into a large dic­ta­tor­ship based on the Chi­nese mod­el. In Ger­many, too, a net­work is work­ing on it in secret and has already come a long way. Ger­man politi­cians look the oth­er way – and in some cas­es even become accom­plices. Neon lights buzz on the ceil­ing and car tires squeal in the dis­tance. We meet the infor­mant in an under­ground car park. He’s scared and does­n’t want us to men­tion his name…

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Key Points:

1. A leaked list reveals 47 Unit­ed Front con­tacts in Ger­many, mak­ing it the sec­ond-largest net­work in the EU after France.
2. The net­work tar­gets influ­en­tial Chi­nese expa­tri­ates and descen­dants to pro­mote Bei­jing’s inter­ests in local pol­i­tics and business.
3. Sev­er­al indi­vid­u­als on the list main­tain close con­nec­tions with senior Ger­man politi­cians while alleged­ly work­ing with Chi­nese authorities.
4. The Unit­ed Front oper­ates by recruit­ing peo­ple out­side the Com­mu­nist Par­ty to advance Chi­nese goals through influ­ence rather than tra­di­tion­al espionage.