On July 29th and 30th, the United Front Work Conference of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was held in Beijing. Xi Jinping delivered a speech.
Xi said, “Promoting the great unity of the Chinese people is the historical responsibility of China’s patriotic united front work in the new era. To do this job well, we must . . . truly unite all Chinese people in different parties, nationalities, classes, groups, and with different beliefs, and those who are living under different social systems.”
Obviously, “those who are living in different social systems” refers to ethnic Chinese who are living outside of China.
“(We ought to) strengthen the overseas patriotic forces, building up the cohorts who know and befriend China.” … Xi added, “We must do a good job in our united front work in cyberspace,”
The CCP’s united front work strives to track down, maintain relationships with, influence and sway prominent people and groups both inside and outside of China. It focuses on individuals or groups outside the CCP, particularly in the community of overseas Chinese, in an effort to make sure that they support or serve the CCP’s goals. The CCP’s central committee has a United Front Work department.
Source: People’s Daily, July 31, 2022
http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2022-07/31/nw.D110000renmrb_20220731_1-01.htm