Xi Calls on Overseas-Educated Scholars Association to Better Serve Its United Front Strategy to Infiltrate the West

Xi’s letter highlighted the association’s affiliation with the CCP’s United Front Work Department and its overseas infiltration function.

Chinese students stage their December graduation photographs early as they prepare to fly home early due to the pandemic in Manchester, England, on Oct. 7, 2020. Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping’s congratulatory letter to the Overseas-educated Scholars Association of China (OSAC) highlighted its function as a CCP-controlled organization to infiltrate the West, which has attracted international attention.

Authorities in Beijing celebrated the 110th anniversary of the establishment of OSAC, also known as the Western Returned Scholars Association, on Oct. 21. Mr. Xi called on the association to “rally talent from around the world and pool strengths of creativity for the development of the cause of the Party and the country” in his letter.