ABSTRACT
During his first term as General Secretary of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping engineered a major reform and revival of the United Front Work Department (UFWD), a Communist Party organ responsible for managing elites within China and abroad who are not members of the Party. The reform and elevation of the UFWD under Xi Jinping is consistent with his penchant to strengthen the role of the Communist Party over all aspects of China’s economy and society. It is also a response to changes occurring within China, and the Party itself. The climax of the elevation process occurred in 2015 with the establishment of a central united front work leading small group headed by Xi Jinping in July and the issuance of “regulations on the Work of the United Front of the Communist Party” in May.
Subsequent reorganisation and reforms occurred after 2015, adding new departments, and incorporating offices previously under the State Council to expand the UFWD’s capacity to manage elites and intellectuals who are not members of the Party. The strengthening of the UFWD under Xi Jinping has significant implications for the Party’s ability to perpetuate its rule domestically, as well as its ability to influence elites and ethnic Chinese globally towards that end.
