News Analysis
Beijing recently made Shi Taifeng the new minister of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) in a move that can be seen as part of an escalation of overseas influence peddling by the Chinese Communist regime, a China expert suggests.
Shi also leads the China Overseas Friendship Association (COFA), which recruits wealthy and influential Chinese people living in different countries around the world to become directors of COFA and operate as influencers in their local areas for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). All COFA directors and members must be approved by the UFWD.
“The so-called COFA is UFWD’s overseas ‘sock puppet,’” Li Yanming, a China expert living in America, said to The Epoch Times….