Chinese Communist Party uses united front work to target U.S. universities, think tanks, and local governments

The Chinese Communist Party expands united front work operations to recruit and mobilize civil society outside China's borders, targeting U.S. community organizations, wealthy proxies, universities, local governments, and consulting agreements. The party exploits constitutional freedoms offered by democracies to build political influence networks. Many of these avenues are not illegal by themselves, but they become vectors for further influence relationships. United front work initially targets entities for cooptation or coercion, then uses them to develop additional relationships and expand influence operations.