The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) United Front Work Department has long conducted intelligence-gathering and influence operations abroad by embedding itself in seemingly benign overseas organizations. These groups often operate in plain sight — shaping public opinion, supporting pro-Beijing policies, and sometimes interfering in election processes — while enjoying the legal protections and tax benefits afforded to nonprofit organizations in open societies.
For too long, Western governments largely ignored these activities. That may finally be changing. In recent days, bipartisan lawmakers in the United States and United Kingdom have taken concrete steps to demand greater accountability from organizations suspected of advancing Beijing’s agenda.
Hometown Associations and Marxist Groups in America
On April 8, 2026, House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano. They urged a thorough review of U.S. tax-exempt organizations linked to the CCP’s United Front that may be violating rules against political campaign intervention.
The letter builds on a February 2026 Ways and Means hearing that exposed how foreign actors exploit America’s nonprofit sector to sow division and distort political discourse. A key figure highlighted was Neville Roy Singham, an American tech entrepreneur now based in Shanghai and married to Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans. Fox Digital investigations show Singham has funneled more than $278 million into Marxist and far-left groups in the U.S., including The People’s Forum, to incite anti-American protests and create chaos in American cities, all while promoting pro-China propaganda.
The letter also spotlights the troubling transformation of Chinese “hometown associations.” Originally created to help immigrants from the same provinces or towns adapt to life in America, many have been co-opted by the United Front. A 2025 New York Times investigation identified more than 50 such groups in New York City alone that actively promote Beijing’s agenda — meeting regularly with Chinese consular officials, fundraising for and openly endorsing pro-Beijing candidates, and even mobilizing to unseat a New York state senator who attended a banquet with Taiwan’s president.
Many of these hometown groups operate as 501(c)(3) nonprofits, which are legally barred from significant political activity. Some leaders of hometown groups have gone even further, collaborating with Beijing’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
In 2023, the FBI arrested two officials from the America Changle Association in New York City for allegedly operating an illegal Chinese “police station” out of their offices to harass dissidents. Separately, former New York gubernatorial aide Linda Sun was arrested and charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent; evidence presented in her case showed close coordination with leaders of major hometown associations in New York City, including the United Chinese Associations of the Eastern United States, which declared itself a foreign agent of China.
Highlighting these examples, Moolenaar and Smith urge both U.S. Treasury and the IRS to conduct “a thorough review of how tax-exempt organizations in the United States, which are influenced by foreign adversaries like the People’s Republic of China, are violating our laws and engaging in prohibited political campaign interventions that undermine our democracy and the integrity of the tax-exempt status for other organizations that are engaging in legitimate charitable purposes.”
The 48 Group Club in the U.K.
Across the Atlantic, a transatlantic group of lawmakers is applying similar pressure. On April 9, 2026, Moolenaar, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, and Labour MP Sarah Champion sent a letter to the 48 Group Club, a prominent London-based organization that describes itself as a networking hub for U.K.-China business ties.
With the 48 Group’s strong connections to the U.K.’s economic and political elites, it is viewed by Beijing as a key player in its efforts to exert influence in Britain. Therefore, “the CCP is incentivized to cultivate influence with the organization to provide it with channels of leverage over the United Kingdom, its government, and, by extension, its British and international audience. In turn, senior leaders of the 48 Group have been on the record repeatedly spouting CCP talking points and propaganda,” according to the letter.
The lawmakers’ letter describes the 48 Group as a venue through which Beijing cultivates access to Britain’s economic and political elites. With more than 500 members and once counting former Prime Minister Tony Blair as an honorary fellow, the group has hosted senior CCP officials and promoted narratives favorable to Beijing. Its longtime chairman, Stephen Perry, was recognized as the only Briton among ten foreign recipients of the prestigious China Reform and Friendship Medal.
In 2020, a compelling book titled Hidden Hand: Exposing How the Chinese Communist Party Is Reshaping the World alleged that the 48 Group was becoming a key instrument for Beijing’s influence and intelligence operations in the United Kingdom. In response to the troubling accusations, Perry took the drastic step of suing to block the book’s release in both the U.K. and Canada.
The lawmakers’ letter also references the well-publicized case of Yang Tengbo (also known as Chris Yang), a former honorary member of the 48 Group. Yang cultivated close ties with Prince Andrew before being banned from the U.K. in 2023 on national security grounds for alleged “covert and deceptive activity” linked to the United Front.
Highlighting these incidents, the bipartisan letter demands that the 48 Group produce compliance, risk, and due-diligence records related to its partnerships with individuals or entities tied to the United Front system.
Time for Vigilance and Reform
Whether the 48 Group complies or whether U.S. authorities launch meaningful investigations remains to be seen. What is clear, however, is that these letters mark an important awakening. Democratic nations can no longer afford to treat influence operations disguised as cultural exchanges, community groups, or business networking as harmless.
Protecting the integrity of our nonprofit sectors, election processes, and elite institutions requires more than sporadic scrutiny. It demands systematic oversight, updated regulations on foreign funding and political activity, and a willingness to confront uncomfortable truths — even when they involve longtime “friends of China.”
By shining a light on these networks, lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic are sending a necessary message: Open societies will defend themselves. Influence operations hidden in plain sight must be exposed, and the rules that allow them to thrive must be strengthened. The security of our democracies depends on it.
