The United States Congress is currently investigating a series of left-wing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that may be acting as instruments of influence of the Communist Party of China (CCP) in American territory.
The investigation is currently advancing on two parallel fronts: investigations opened by committees of the House of Representatives into the so-called “Singham Network” and a formal report from the State Department that points to structured campaigns of manipulation and foreign interference in the US information sector.
What the State Department report says
The document, entitled “Combating Foreign Manipulation and Interference in Information”, was sent to congressmen last week. Excerpts were published by the newspaper New York Post. According to the report, China uses diplomats, state media outlets, digital influencers and NGOs to spread messages favorable to the regime and expand its political influence abroad and in the USA.
The text cites two NGOs linked to the American left as possible members of this ecosystem: Code Pink and People’s Forum. In a publication on X, the State Department stated that these organizations had “promoted content and mobilizations aligned with positions defended by Beijing” in the USA.
The US Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, Sarah Rogers, reinforced this thesis in a statement to the New York Post.
“Organizations like Code Pink and the People’s Forum denigrate the United States, whitewash the violence of Marxist regimes, and protect China while receiving resources from a network of donors with connections to the Chinese Communist Party,” she said, adding that “the State Department will seek full transparency for the networks of donors and NGOs that lobby our adversaries and seek to weaken the resolve of the United States.”
NGOs under investigation defend feminism and Marxism
Founded in 2002, Code Pink presents itself as a feminist and anti-war organization. She is known in the US for promoting protests against American military interventions. In recent years, Code Pink has started to defend the “China is Not Our Enemy” campaign, arguing that Washington is adopting an increasingly hostile stance against Beijing. According to the State Department report sent to Congress, in recent years the organization has promoted trips by its members to China, held virtual seminars with positive assessments of the communist revolution and published content favorable to the Beijing regime.
In turn, the People’s Forum, founded in 2018 and based in New York, presents itself as a “center for Marxist and anti-imperialist political training”. The organization promotes courses, debates and various progressive mobilizations in the USA. According to the State Department report, the People’s Forum studies and sells the Chinese Revolution as a model to be followed in the US and around the world. In recent months, the organization has also promoted acts in defense of regimes aligned with Beijing, including pro-Nicolás Maduro demonstrations, after his capture by American forces in January.
What is the “Singham Network”
In parallel with the government report, House committees are investigating what they classify as the “Singham Network”: a group of progressive organizations that, according to parliamentarians, receive financial resources from American businessman Neville Roy Singham, who currently lives in Shanghai, China.
According to the American press, ongoing investigations in Congress point to Singham as an individual with close links to the Chinese Communist Party, which raises suspicions that the resources he transferred to these entities would, in practice, be financing an influence network at the service of Beijing on American soil.
According to testimony given to the US House Ways and Means Committee at a hearing last week, Singham would have invested at least US$100 million to structure this network, moving the money through shell companies and donation funds to hide its origin.
According to witnesses heard by the committee, the businessman attended CCP propaganda training, shared offices with Chinese state media outlets in Shanghai and used loopholes in American tax legislation to channel tens of millions of dollars through funds managed by the bank Goldman Sachs.
According to lawmakers, both Code Pink and the People’s Forum, cited in the State Department report, are part of this network. In addition to them, the investigations mention four other organizations: the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a Marxist party involved in organizing protests; the ANSWER Coalition, an activist coalition focused on anti-war demonstrations; BreakThrough BT Media, responsible for the news website BreakThrough News; and Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, a Marxist institute that publishes critical analyzes of American foreign policy.
According to testimony heard at last week’s hearing, each of these entities fulfills a specific role within the pro-Beijing propaganda network. For example, the PSL and ANSWER mobilize protesters; the People’s Forum trains and coordinates activists; and BreakThrough News takes care of amplifying messages in the media.
A central point of the investigation is the possible application of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) against these organizations. The legislation requires individuals or entities that act politically on behalf of foreign governments to register with the United States Department of Justice and make public their sources of funding and the activities they perform.
If it is proven that resources sent by Singham were linked, directly or indirectly, to interests of the Chinese Communist Party – and that these entities, identified in the investigations as beneficiaries of these transfers, have acted on behalf of a foreign interest without due registration – they may be forced to formally register under the terms of FARA. In more serious situations, the legislation provides for the application of civil sanctions and even criminal liability against those who do not follow the law.
Singham case was revealed in 2023
The financing structure associated with Singham had already been revealed in 2023 in a newspaper report The New York Times. According to the article, after selling his company Thoughtworks for US$785 million in the United States, Singham directed part of his fortune to financing NGOs both in the US and abroad. According to the newspaper, the benefiting entities often combined progressive activism agendas with content aligned with Chinese propaganda.
At the time, Singham denied any political ties to Beijing: “I categorically deny any suggestion that I am a member of, work for, receive orders from, or follow instructions from any political party or government.”
Propaganda goes beyond NGOs
The spread of narratives favorable to the Chinese regime in the United States is not restricted to organizations investigated by Congress. In January of this year, the magazine Newsweek revealed, based on a survey by the digital analysis company Graphika, the existence of a network made up of 43 domains and 37 digital subdomains that posed as major press vehicles, such as The New York Times, The Guardian e The Wall Street Journal.
The pages reproduced the visual identity and excerpts of legitimate content from these vehicles to appear credible, while inserting editorial material aligned with Chinese state media and the Communist Party of China (CCP). The investigation identified technical connections between these websites and Chinese companies previously associated with digital campaigns promoting the communist regime. Some of the content would have been amplified by the operation known as “spamouflage”, which uses fake profiles and coordinated publications to boost propaganda on Western platforms.
