Sze-Fung Lee
The activities of consular officials from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the United States and other countries appear to extend beyond the standard provision of consular services. This implies not only the breaking of diplomatic norms, but also the violation of international—as well as US domestic—law. The US government has announced that it is aware of PRC activities that are seeking to influence congressional races and candidates in the country’s November elections (US Department of State, October 7). It has not stated whether it is aware of the penetration of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials directly into local communities via consular “pop-up” events. These events, held at non-designated diplomatic facilities, are often co-hosted with organizations connected to the CCP’s united front system. Some of these organizations appear to have been involved in influencing previous election races (US China Press, July 31, 2023; China Brief, October 4).
Much of the activity surrounding these consular events occurs in the digital domain. Increased activity is found before and after pop-up events, usually coordinated across Chinese and Western social media platforms and between official accounts and those of state-affiliated media. Online content serves two purposes. One is informational, to broadcast general information about the events themselves for potential attendees and to document their execution. The other is to propagandize on behalf of the Party-state. Two narrative frames recur throughout the content posted about the pop-up events: The characterization of the consular officials—and, by extension, the CCP—as benevolent and willing to go above and beyond for its citizens, and of those citizens as grateful, in turn, to the “motherland” for taking care of their needs.
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